The Russian Molniya and Phoenix UAVs use components made in China and some Western countries, including Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands. This is reported by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, citing data posted on the War & Sanctions portal on sponsors and accomplices of aggression.
‘Molniya’ is an aircraft-type strike unmanned aerial vehicle launched from a special catapult and guided by an operator as an FPV drone. The UAV has a range of up to 40 km and a warhead of up to 5 kg, which is ten times less than the Shahed's.
In addition to hunting military targets, Russia uses Molniya to terrorise civilians in cities and districts close to the front line. In November of this year, a high-rise building and a shopping centre in the Saltiv district of Kharkiv were targeted, injuring several people. Given that the UAV is controlled and guided directly by the operator, civilian objects were deliberately targeted.
Previously, Russia has also used similar UAVs without warheads to overload Ukrainian air defences.
‘The Molniya has a fairly simple design and cheap components, mostly Chinese. The labelling of the electric motor, flight controller, camera and most electronic components corresponds to Chinese manufacturers - FATJAY, SpeedyBee, Caddx, Huayi Microelectronics, Trex Technologies, etc.
However, the Chinese flight controllers, like many other boards of various Russian weapons, are powered by microcontrollers labelled by the Swiss manufacturer STMicroelectronics. In addition, the engine control board uses converters labelled by the American manufacturer Vishay and capacitors by the Japanese manufacturer Rubycon.
‘The Phoenix is a reconnaissance UAV that its developer, Russia's TAIP LLC, calls a ‘development of the Orlan-10’. The ‘filling’ contains components labelled by manufacturers from five countries - the United States, Switzerland, China, the Netherlands, and Taiwan. The largest number of components - 7 - are labelled by STMicroelectronics, headquartered in Switzerland and manufactured in nine countries on three continents.