We are publishing a list of Western companies that enable Russia to manufacture its ballistic missiles. These companies supply Russia with critical components ranging from chemicals and chips to navigation systems. According to experts’ estimates, around 30% of the components used in the Kremlin’s deadly weapons come from countries including the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Taiwan, and even Switzerland. Moscow is unable to produce most of these components on its own. Without this “help” from the West, Russia would therefore be unable to manufacture these weapons.
Russia Is Modernizing Its Ballistic Missiles
Ukraine’s military intelligence has revealed details about how Russia’s Iskander-M ballistic missiles are manufactured. The information includes data on the components used in the missiles, as well as the names of specific companies involved in their production and the individuals responsible for running these facilities.
The components include chips, integrated circuits, laser navigation systems, chemicals, metals, and carbon fiber. With the help of third countries and intermediaries, such components for Iskander-M and Zircon missiles continue to make their way to Russia. Moscow often takes advantage of the import channels available through countries such as Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and China, says Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian president’s commissioner for sanctions policy.
“If this is stopped, sanctions are imposed, and export controls are put in place, the effect will not be immediate. But all these measures will force Russia to reconsider its plans for continued ballistic missile production. It is good that sanctions are in place, because without them, the Kremlin might perhaps be producing not 1,300 missiles a year, but 10,000. Nevertheless, in absolute terms, production is still increasing, and that is a bad thing. That is why we believe that the additional sanctions proposals we have developed will help achieve the desired effect and stop this process,” Vlasiuk said in an interview with PostPravda.Info.
What Components Are Russians Buying From the West?
The report released by Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) contains several sets of data, including an interactive 3D model of the missile, information about its main components, and more than 170 Russian- and foreign-made components identified in missiles used by Russia.
HUR also published information on 82 Russian and two Belarusian companies involved in the production of ballistic missiles, as well as data on 108 key individuals associated with these facilities and 121 pieces of foreign-made technological equipment used by companies involved in the manufacturing process.
A significant portion of the data was published for the first time. This includes information on 140 components, 35 companies, and 108 individuals.
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According to Ukrainian intelligence, despite years of efforts to replace foreign components with domestic alternatives, the 9M723 missile still relies on a significant number of foreign-made components. Of the 140 components identified, only about one-quarter were manufactured in Russia. Sixty-three components come from U.S. manufacturers, eight from Switzerland, another eight from Belarus, four from Germany, four from Taiwan, and three from China.
The missile’s guidance system is particularly dependent on foreign-made components. In one of the system’s key elements—the module that processes flight data received from the laser gyroscope—only five of the 43 components were manufactured in Russia.
Among the most critical components are microprocessors, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), memory chips, digital-to-analog converters, and analog-to-digital converters. According to HUR, these are manufactured, among others, by U.S. and Taiwanese companies including DM&P Electronics, Xilinx, a company owned by AMD, Atmel, a company owned by Microchip Technology, Winbond Electronics, Micron Technology, and Analog Devices.
Ballistic Missiles Remain the Greatest Threat
HUR has also reported that Russia has used a modernized version of the 9M723-2 missile, unofficially known as the Iskander-1000. According to Ukrainian intelligence, the missile was used for the first time during one of the combined missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital this summer.
The 9M723-2 is reportedly part of a system known as the Bora-M. Thanks to a larger engine and a suitably modified launcher, the missile is believed to have a range of up to 550 kilometers (342 miles), compared with approximately 390 kilometers (242 miles) for the 9M723-1. The missile’s other structural elements are believed to remain essentially the same as those of the 9M723-1.
Ukrainian intelligence emphasizes that Russian attacks using ballistic weapons have become one of the main elements of Russia’s aerial campaign against Ukraine in recent months. HUR points out that carrying out such attacks primarily at night, combined with the very short flight time of ballistic missiles to Kyiv, gives them a terroristic character. The goal of such actions is reportedly to intimidate the population and pressure Ukraine into accepting an end to the war on terms favorable to Russia.
In addition to U.S. companies, leading manufacturers of sensitive components include companies from Taiwan, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, among others. There are no Polish companies on the list. Ukraine wants its allies not only to monitor their manufacturers but also to impose stringent sanctions on all Russian companies that help Putin’s war machine build ballistic missiles. According to Ukrainian estimates, there are around 100 such companies in total, Vlasiuk said.
