From China to Germany: HUR identified foreign equipment at Russian ballistic missile production facilities

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published information on 30 units of foreign-made technological equipment used by Russian enterprises to manufacture ballistic missiles and their components. This was reported by UNN with reference to data from the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Despite sanctions restrictions, Russia’s military-industrial complex continues to depend on foreign technologies.

Details

On the War&Sanctions portal, Ukrainian intelligence published data on equipment manufactured in China, Germany, Taiwan, the United States, Turkey, Switzerland, and Italy, which is used by Russian enterprises to manufacture missiles, altimeters, aerodynamic control surfaces, gyroscopes, and other weapons components. The Main Directorate of Intelligence notes that Russia is still unable to fully replace the industrial equipment of the world’s leading manufacturers with domestic analogues.

At the same time, the number of Chinese machine tools and machining centers, including five-axis ones, is increasing at Russian defense enterprises. Chinese equipment also depends on foreign components, including European, Japanese, and Taiwanese numerical control systems, servomotors, high-precision spindles, bearings, and measurement systems.

Among the equipment identified by intelligence:

• the GX-650 five-axis universal machining center manufactured by the Chinese company Hyper Machine Tool, which is used by the Votkinsk Plant. The enterprise manufactures 9M723 "Iskander-M" ballistic missiles and the missile section of the Kh-47M2 "Kinzhal" air-launched ballistic missile;
• turning and milling machining centers manufactured by the Chinese company Shtral, which are used by the "PEMZ \"Molot\"" enterprise to produce electronic equipment units for "Iskander-M" missiles;
• measurement equipment manufactured by the German company Rohde & Schwarz, installed at the "UPKB \"Detal\"" enterprise, which manufactures altimeters for "Zircon" missiles.

The Main Directorate of Intelligence emphasizes that, in order to limit Russia’s ability to continue producing weapons, it is necessary to strengthen international control over the supply of industrial equipment and components. In particular, intelligence calls for checking the end users of products and the actual locations where they are used, controlling the supply of spare parts, software, and consumables, and regularly auditing distributors and intermediaries.

They propose paying particular attention to investigating cases in which foreign products reach Russia’s military-industrial complex and identifying their supply chains.

In addition, Ukrainian intelligence calls for restricting the supply of numerical control systems, tools, and other components to Chinese manufacturers whose equipment is delivered to Russian defense industry enterprises.

We remind you

On October 24, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy imposed sanctions against those involved in the production of Russian ballistic missiles.