More than dozen American companies produce details discovered in Iranian drones

The parts, which are manufactured by at least 13 different companies from the United States of America, were discovered in one of the Iranian-made Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles that shot down in the fall of 2022 in Ukraine.

CNN reports this with reference to Ukrainian intelligence data, Rubryka writes.

This data, as noted by the TV channel, is another proof that, despite the sanctions, Iran still finds many commercially available technologies. Of the 52 components that the Ukrainians removed from the drone, 40 were manufactured by 13 different American companies, and the rest by companies in Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan, and China.

According to the assessment of Ukrainian intelligence, among the American-made components found in the drone are almost two dozen parts manufactured by Texas Instruments, in particular:

• microcontrollers, voltage stabilizers, and digital signal controllers;
• GPS module manufactured by Hemisphere GNSS;
• microprocessor manufactured by NXP USA Inc.
• and printed circuit board components manufactured by Analog Devices and Onsemi.
• Also found were components made by International Rectifier, now owned by Germany's Infineon, and Swiss company U-Blox.

All of the companies that responded to CNN's inquiry stressed that they condemn any unauthorized use of their products, noting that combating the diversion and misuse of their semiconductors and other microelectronics is an industry-wide problem that they are working to address.

Sanctioned Iranian companies appear to be successfully circumventing efforts to cut off critical components and electronics supplies. For example, the company that built the downed drone — Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation — has been under US sanctions since 2008.

According to CNN, Ukraine transferred information about American components in Iranian drones to the United States as early as the end of 2022. But, the TV channel adds, the possibilities of combating the problem of unauthorized use of electronics are limited.

For years, the United States has imposed strict restrictions and sanctions in the field of export controls to prevent Iran from receiving high-tech materials. U.S. officials are now considering tightening enforcement of those sanctions, encouraging companies to monitor their own supply chains better and identify third-party distributors who illegally resell products.

There is no evidence that any of the companies whose details were found in Shahed-136 are in violation of US sanctions laws and knowingly exporting their technology to Iran. Even if many companies promise to increase monitoring, it is often very difficult for manufacturers to control where these very common parts end up in the global market.

Reference

In November, the United States imposed additional sanctions against individuals and entities involved in the production or transfer of Iranian drones to russia, and in December — also against russian institutions due to their involvement in the illegal purchase of drones from Iran and their use in the war in Ukraine.

The EU also introduced new sanctions against Iran for supplying russia with drones to wage war against Ukraine.