Russia is increasingly using Chinese components instead of American ones in its Shahed-type drones to protect them against electronic warfare systems.
The Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said this in a post on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.
HUR released information about nearly 200 new parts and components found in six types of Russian weapons. These include the CRP antenna used in Shahed drones, the North Korean KN-24 ballistic missile, the onboard computer from a Kh-47 Kinzhal ballistic missile, and unmanned aerial vehicles such as the Supercam S350, Gerbera, and Zala.
In the new CRP antennas for the Geran-2 drone (Russia’s name for Shahed), only two chips were of American origin. This indicates Russia’s effort to reduce its dependence on components from countries that have imposed sanctions against it.
Previously, HUR reported that Shahed drones used in 2025 featured new jamming-resistant antennas labeled in Chinese. In one such antenna, out of 15 components, only two were made by U.S. companies — Texas Instruments and Linear Technologies.
The majority of other parts were Chinese-made, including transceivers, signal generators, signal converters, and other microchips. For example, the main CRP chip — which analyzes incoming signals and determines which ones to ignore — was produced by Beijing Microelectronics Technology Institute (BMTI).
For the first time, a component made in India — a clock buffer from Aura Semiconductor — was discovered in Russian weaponry.
Two other components have yet to be identified but are likely also of Chinese origin.
In total, the “Components in Weapons” section of the War & Sanctions portal has cataloged 4,672 parts found in 164 types of weapons Russia has used against Ukraine.
In 2024, Russia increased its import of Chinese machine tools for defense industry use.
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Source: Russia replacing American components in Shahed drones with Chinese ones – Ukraine intel
