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Ukraine: Drones, Sanctions Evasion, and Dive-Bombing [1]

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Date: 2023-08-30  

I just watched an interesting new video from "Magyar" (the "bada-BOOM! Jaga-jaga!" guy) pointing to an interesting article about how Russia has been evading sanctions in order to produce their drones.

Хробачий дрон-камікадзе Ланцет,а ключові компоненти європейські🇪🇺 та америцькі🇺🇸. Рік тому=зараз

(The Lancet kamikaze worm drone, and the key components are European🇪🇺 and American🇺🇸. A year ago=now)

I thought that it was interesting that they’d had their own drone closely shadowing this Russian kill vehicle as its operator hunted for prey. What’s not clear is what, if anything, they’d attempted in order to take it out. (The autotranslation is sketchy, and even drops out at points.)

The article that he spotlights is here:

Czech engines, US electronics. How the Russian-made Lancet attack UAVs expose holes in anti-Russian sanctions

Bohdan Miroshnychenko, Ukrainska Pravda, 20 August 2023 Back in July, the Ukrainian General Staff said Russia had only 50 Lancets left, and yet the Russians are still using these drones. Kamikaze UAVs are still flying by the dozen as the Russians continue to produce them. The Lancets are stuffed with sophisticated electronics not produced in Russia. However, Western parts have no problem getting to the aggressor's military factories. The flows are large enough to ensure that Russia can both maintain the existing production rates of these drones and expand them many times over. Although it seems that the maximum has been squeezed out of technology sanctions, in fact, there are still many obvious gaps.

There's also concern about machinery and tooling being imported in a manner to evade sanctions. Machines from Germany, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, and China — among others — are known to be used by the Russians in their armaments industry. In part, this is because they’ve been spotted in Russian propaganda videos.

After the first strike on the Kerch Bridge i saw similar complaints about the Western road-building equipment used to repair its surface. It should be kept in mind that much of this gear may have been inside Russia long before the '22 invasion. But probably not all of it.

In any case, most of the the parts, as well as consumables — epoxy composites, polyamide adhesives, polymer film — being used to manufacture these drones almost certainly were not sitting in warehouses inside Russia before those sanctions went into effect.

But the problem does not lie with just specialised gear. Much of this stuff is really generic, making it extremely difficult to police.

One of the critical components in producing any UAV is printed circuit boards, requiring such materials as photoresist and fibreglass, as well as related equipment and expendables. Despite the sanctions, Russia keeps getting all these components from various Western and Asian countries. After all, these drones are equipped with many purely civilian electronics. These include the cheapest chips used in children's toys or Samsung vape batteries.

The report discusses how shell companies in many countries are used to ship parts and equipment around in a manner that can prove difficult block. And one nation’s sanctions against specific companies may not match its own neighbour’s. Clearly, a lot more has to be done to consolidate these efforts if there’s going to be real bite to the measures that have been undertaken to strangle Russian capacities.

One might point the finger at the governments of the countries that host these shell companies, but the issue isn’t necessarily that they are turning a blind eye. The global economy is gigantic and there’s plenty of room to hide within it. This clearly isn’t a simple problem.

Sanctions alone may not shut down Russia’s ability to continue this conflict but they almost certainly have caused them many problems. Let’s hope that more can be done to plug many of the holes through which Russia has been passing these items.

Dive Bombing with Arnie

I also recently saw this video from the YouTuber Civ Div, a fromer US Marine who’d fought with Ukraine’s International Legion. Although he is still inside Ukraine he’s no longer on the front lines. (Perhaps because he’s a bit flaky?) While he’s been training others, he’s also been posting a lot of videos from his friends within the Legion. (Check out his channel.)

In this one he’s hanging out with one of the guys who’s provided most of those videos, and who’s been training up as an FPV drone operator. His drone has a 3d-printed munitions carrier designed to allow him to conduct dive-bombing attacks.

Note that the unfortunately extensive pixelation in the video is due to the desire to mask the location where these operators are training. There isn’t much to be excited about the video but i wanted to included it for the clever dive-bomber munitions rail. This should save the Ukrainians a lot of money in drones, as the operator will be able to bring the bird back to be reloaded.

"Eyes and Sting"

United 24 has more about Robert "Magyar" Brovdy and the unit that he created, the Magyar Birds Attack Drone Company, 59th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade.

Jaga-jaga!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/30/2190584/-Ukraine-Drones-Sanctions-Evasion-and-Dive-Bombing

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