American microchips found in captured Russian military equipment - intelligence

In the captured or partially destroyed Russian military equipment, Ukrainian experts found a large number of foreign microchips.

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According to lists of components shared by Ukrainian intelligence with The War Zone, Russian military equipment is heavily dependent on foreign microchips, especially those made in the United States.

So, in the Barnaul-T air defense command and control vehicle, eight microchips from American manufacturers such as Intel, Micrel, Micron Technology and Atmel Corp were found in its communication systems, in the Pantsir air defense system - five microchips of American production from AMD, Rochester Electronics, Texas Instruments and Linear Technology. And in the X-101 cruise missile, at least 35 American-made microcircuits were found, including those manufactured by Texas Instruments, Atmel Corp. Rochester Electronics, Cypress Semiconductor, Maxim Integrated, XILINX, Infineon Technologies, Intel, Onsemi and Micron Technology.

When opening the optoelectronic system of the Ka-52 Alligator turret, Ukrainian specialists found 22 American-made microcircuits and one Korean-made microcircuit. US manufacturers included Texas Instruments, IDT, Altera USA, Burr-Brown, Analog Devices Inc., Micron Technology, Linear Technology, and TE Connectivity.

The publication notes that the origin of the microcircuits found in these Russian weapons is unclear. These chips did not have to be sourced directly from manufacturers. In addition, there is a huge and largely unregulated market for recycled chips, mostly from China, and many of them seem quite old.

“The parts list contains some of the most detailed information to date on where the Russians get critical microchips, semiconductors and other components. The items on these lists raise serious questions about Russia's ability to produce the technological components that power its war machine and about the ability of countries like the United States to secure those technologies.

“Foreign electronic components in captured enemy equipment once again prove the “effectiveness” of Russian “import substitution” and emphasize the complete dependence of the aggressor country on Western technologies,” the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry added.

Recall that we recently wrote that Because of US sanctions, Russia uses chips from refrigerators and dishwashers in military equipment.

Source: Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, The War Zone