American microchips were found in the seized Russian military equipment
Ukrainian specialists found many foreign microchips in the seized or partially destroyed Russian military equipment.
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According to the lists of components that Ukrainian intelligence shared with The War Zone, Russian military equipment is highly dependent on foreign microchips, especially those made in the United States.
Thus, eight microchips from American manufacturers, such as Intel, Micrel, Micron Technology and Atmel Corp., were found in the Barnaul-T air defense command and staff vehicle, and five American-made chips in the Pantsir SAM. AMD, Rochester Electronics, Texas Instruments and Linear Technology. And in the X-101 cruise missile was found at least 35 chips made in the United States, including those manufactured by Texas Instruments, Atmel Corp. Rochester Electronics, Cypress Semiconductor, Maxim Integrated, XILINX, Infineon Technologies, Intel, Onsemi and Micron Technology.
During the dismantling of the optoelectronics’ system of the Ka-52 “Alligator” tower, Ukrainian specialists found 22 American-made chips and one Korean-made chip. Manufacturers in the United States 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 chips found in these Russian weapons is unclear. These chips did not have to be obtained directly from the 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 list of components contains some of the most detailed information to date about where 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 on which its military machine relies, and about the ability of countries such as the United States to ensure the safety of these technologies,” – said The War Zone expert.
“Foreign electronic components in the seized enemy equipment once again prove the “effectiveness” of Russia’s “import substitution” and emphasize the full dependence of the aggressor country on Western technology,” – added in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
