#Anti-Drone Industry

[chandupalle]

[284 Pages Report] The global anti-drone market size was valued at USD 1.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 5.2 billion by 2028; it is expected to register a CAGR of 26.6% during the forecast period.

[mohitbisresearch]

The global counter-UAS (anti-drone) market is estimated to reach $6.44 billion in 2031 from $1.57 billion in 2021, at a growth rate of 15.18% during the forecast period 2021-2031. The major driving factor for the market's robustness is the need to monitor and maintain the growing number of satellites launched.

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According to Nilopal Ojha, Lead Analyst, BIS Research, “The growing number of malicious drone activities around critical infrastructures, have propelled the demand for the counter-UAS system. Hence, the demand for counter-UAS system is expected to increase during the forecast period.”

[nando161mando]

CAPTCHAs tech companies exploiting free labor to train AI vision for defense contractors military drones and autonomous weapons

[defencestar]

United against drone threat: Rheinmetall, Anduril to build advanced anti-drone system

United against drone threat: Rheinmetall-Anduril to build advanced anti-drone weapon

Rheinmetall-Anduril to build Europe’s most advanced C-UAS: In a move to combat the growing threat of drone warfare, German defense company Rheinmetall and American defense technology firm Anduril Industries announced a partnership at the Eurosatory trade show. Their goal: to develop the most sophisticated Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-sUAS) defense system specifically for European…

[nmsc-market-pulse]

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭: 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬

Welcome to our latest video where we dive deep into the rapidly growing 𝐃𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭.

As the use of drones continues to expand across various sectors such as military, commercial, and recreational, the need for effective counter-drone technologies has become more critical than ever.

𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐒𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: https://www.nextmsc.com/drone-countermeasures-market/request-sample

𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨, 𝐰𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞:

🔹 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙊𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬: A comprehensive look at the current state of the drone countermeasures market, including market size, growth trends, and key driving factors.

🔹 𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙄𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨: Discover the latest advancements in counter-drone technologies, from RF jamming and spoofing to laser systems and drone nets.

🔹 𝙆𝙚𝙮 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧𝙨: An analysis of the major companies leading the charge in developing and deploying cutting-edge counter-drone solutions.

🔹 𝙍𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙇𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙚: Insights into the regulations and policies shaping the development and deployment of drone countermeasures around the world.

𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭: https://www.nextmsc.com/report/drone-countermeasures-market

Join us as we uncover the fascinating world of drone countermeasures and discuss what the future holds for this vital industry.

𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐰: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJuVRxfBo-Dsog7BgDE4uPQ

[drone9futuristic]

Terra Drone and Toshiba Join Forces to Expand Drone Safety and Management

Toshiba offers a comprehensive anti-drone security solution that tackles potential threats posed by malicious drones. Their expertise in radar systems allows them to develop cutting-edge solutions to safeguard customers against emerging threats in the evolving airspace.  Toshiba remains dedicated to ensuring air safety through innovative technologies,  as the drone industry continues to introduce novel services and applications. 

[jcmarchi]

T-90S Is More and More Common in Ukraine - Why Is That Weird? - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/t-90s-is-more-and-more-common-in-ukraine-why-is-that-weird-technology-org/

T-90S Is More and More Common in Ukraine - Why Is That Weird? - Technology Org

The Russian Ministry of Defense has published a new propaganda video that shows some of its tanks meant for the war in Ukraine. It turns out that the T-90S, a main battle tank that was originally designed for export, is also serving in Ukraine.

The T-90S was developed as an export version of the tank. Image credit: Vitaly V. Kuzmin via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The T-90 is a family of modern main battle tanks produced in Russia since 1992. The T-90 was designed to replace the T-72, but of course, it didn’t replace anything and the T-72 is still the spine of the Russian armoured forces. The T-90M Proryv, sometimes derisively referred to as Putin’s pride, is technically the most advanced tank in the Russian forces, since the T-14 Armata simply does not exist.

There are several versions of the T-90. The T-90S was developed specifically for export to India, Turkmenistan and Algeria, among other countries interested in the T-90 platform. However, in 2023, these export tanks appeared in Ukraine instead. And now the number of T-90S tanks in Ukraine is increasing. One has to wonder if this means that the Russian forces are lacking tanks.

According to the UK Ministry of Defence, Russia has lost at least 2,600 main battle tanks in Ukraine. Other sources indicate that Russia actually lost more than 3,000 main battle tanks since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022. Russia boasts that it produces tanks in large quantities and quickly, but the truth is that many tanks are now being pulled from long-term storage.

The T-90S tanks that Russia is throwing at Ukraine were most likely produced for other countries, but Russia has no other choice and uses them itself. Maybe the orders are going to be late? There is another explanation – some analysts claim that the buyers could have rejected those tanks due to manufacturing defects.

T-90S (Indian complectation) in service in the Russian Armed Forces with typical field upgrades. No, it’s not Rosoboronexport that got generous and handed over RF military modern tanks from export orders – It’s a different story here, during the fulfillment of contracts some… pic.twitter.com/fLaal8eruZ

— Andrei_bt (@AndreiBtvt) February 9, 2024

T-90 tanks are supposed to be modern, with active armour protection, electronic warfare systems and everything that the Russian military industry can offer. But even these tanks are shielding themselves against kamikaze drones with cope cages. They don’t work, because the FPV drones are very maneuverable and can dive under those grilles quite easily.

At least two T-90S tanks were already destroyed in Ukraine. But the T-90S should not be underestimated. The T-90S has a powerful 125 mm gun and a powerful 750 kW engine. It may also have the Tshu-1 self-defence system, which is an IR device that blinds some anti-tank missiles (not all T-90S have it). The Kontakt-5 dynamic armour protection is also supposed to protect the T-90S from total destruction. In addition, T-90 tanks in Ukraine are increasingly seen with jammers, which are supposed to disrupt drones.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: Tech.wp.pl, Wikipedia

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[kamogryadeshi]

At night, the Russians attacked the southern regions of Ukraine with missiles and attack drones.

In Odesa, the Russians fired Onyx and Iskander-M missiles, which hit the center of the city and a preserved industrial building. Several high-rise residential buildings and a museum in the historic part of the city, classified as a UNESCO heritage, were damaged.

The attack by Shahed drones was aimed at the port infrastructure of Odesa. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed 15 drones.

There are hits in warehouses. 5 people were injured

The Russians fired a X-31 anti-radar missile at Kherson, which damaged a 5-story residential building. There is no information about the victims.

The Russians fired an X-59 missile at Mykolayiv region, which was destroyed.

Photo: Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

There's been talk about another hostage deal. I don't refer to that much, because so much of it is happening behind the scenes, is not being reported on, or is deliberately lied about to put pressure on one of the factors in the equation, I don't see a point in talking about it unless there's confirmation that there is a deal. That's what I did before, that's what I'll continue to do.

There's more than enough proof that Hamas used the hospitals in Gaza as bases for their terrorist activity, I've written about it multiple times, and yet the lie that Hamas did no such thing is SO big, and SO many people and organizations, which are considered reputable, were complicit in covering for Hamas' crimes, that every additional piece of evidence matters. Now we have the confession of a Gaza hospital director, who admits that he not only collaborated with Hamas' terrorist usage of his hospital, he actually joined Hamas, and was a member of this terrorist organization himself. He also testifies that Hamas used hospitals, because it considered them safe places (meaning, they knew the IDF is NOT going to attack there).

I mentioned in my daily post yesterday, that the Houthis' attempt at blockading Israel has become a threat to global economy. Today, the US has accordingly announced an international coalition of 10 countries so far (officially, it's reported that some countries will participate anonymously) to combat this terrorist threat from Yemen, funded by Iran. There's at least one Arab country that officially joined this coalition, Bahrain (one of the Arab countries that Israel has peace with). This reminds me once again of the First Gulf War. World order in regards to Iran is taking shape in front of our eyes. This is important stuff, with consequences much bigger and longer lasting than the war in Gaza, though very much connected to it (even if we won't feel them immediately).

Another drone from Lebanon infiltrated Israel's north today, it was intercepted by the IDF. I'll also take this opportunity for a reminder that rocket fire into Israel continues, even if I don't mention it in every update post. In the last 24 hours, many rockets were fired into Tel Aviv and central Israel.

A Hamas money launderer, in charge of transferring money from Iran and other countries to Hamas, money which fuels the organization's terrorist activities and fighting, has been killed in Gaza.

Actor Alec Baldwin was stopped by anti-Israel protesters, when he happened to pass by them in NYC. They demanded he condemn Israel, because apparently if you're a celebrity, you HAVE to have an opinion about every political subject in the world, and it's okay to harass you about it in your private time. That's not bullying if you're famous. But what's even more infuriating, is that the protesters implied Baldwin wouldn't condemn the Jewish state, because he works in Hollywood, meaning they repeated the age old antisemitic trope that Jews control the American film industry. These are the same people who make it unsafe for Jews to leave council meetings that discuss the war, without police protection. At what point do we call out this violent, bullying behavior, harming regular people, as an illegitimate form of protesting?

These are Amiram Cooper, Yoram Metzger and Chaim Perry. All of them are in their 80's.

They've been kidnapped by Hamas, which released a vid of them in captivity. The vid has not been published in Israeli media, as seems to have been the general policy when it comes to this part of Hamas' psychological warfare. I heard the familiy members (who obviously were shown the vid) of two of these kidnapped men. Both relatives said that all three men (who are from the same community) don't look like themselves, that they lost a lot of weight and seem to be in a bad shape.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[chandupalle]

[284 Pages Report] The global anti-drone market size was valued at USD 1.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach USD 5.2 billion by 2028; it is expected to register a CAGR of 26.6% during the forecast period.

[mohitbisresearch]

Anti-Drone Market is estimated to reach $6.44 billion in 2031 from $1.57 billion in 2021, counter-UAS Market at a growth rate of 15.18% during the forecast period 2021-2031.

[girlactionfigure]

🔅Wed morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

( Update 1 of 2 )

🔻AIR ATTACKS.. 

.. North - Hezbollah

ROCKETS at Gesher HaZiv, Nahariya, Sa'ar, Hanita, Ya'ara, Metzuba, Shlomi, Betzet, Lehman

ROCKETS at Margaliot

ROCKETS at Even Menachem, Zarit, Netua, Fassuta, Shomera, Shtula

ROCKETS at Alkosh, Matat, Netua, Fassuta, Hurfeish 

Interceptions without alarm reported over the Kinerret

.. South East - Iranian Shia Militias of Iraq

SUICIDE DRONE at Kushi Rimon

.. South West - Hamas

ROCKETS at Kissufim

▪️TERROR - KOCHAV YAIR.. ramming attack - 4 policemen were injured and the terrorist was shot dead.

▪️VIOLENT ANTI-GOVT PROTESTS JERUSALEM.. MK Zeev Elkin:  Hard pictures in Jerusalem. There is no place for breaking the law and harming the police! There is no place for police violence and excessive use of force!  Please stop! We are not enemies to each other. Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran are the enemies! We are in the middle of a war against a murderous enemy who wants to destroy all of us, the supporters of the government and its opponents.

Head of Shin Bet.. “The violent discourse on the Internet and some of the scenes we saw tonight in Jerusalem, go beyond the accepted rules of protest, harm the ability to maintain public order, may lead to violent friction with the security forces, hinder them from fulfilling their duties and even harm secure individuals.

There is a clear line between a legitimate protest and a violent and illegal protest. This is a worrisome trend that may lead to dangerous areas that should not be reached."

And our enemy watches Al Jazeera and laughs.

▪️IDEAS.. Head of Yisrael Beitenu, former Minister of Defense, MK Avigdor Lieberman:

"The Israeli government must make two immediate decisions:

1. In the security field, there is no justification for purchasing aircraft for a total amount of approximately NIS 35 billion. It is impossible for militias in sandals to be able to launch cruise missiles and UAVs (suicide drones) towards Israel, while in order to attack in Yemen, the Israel needs to put an entire squadron into the air for a flight thousands of kilometers south.

Therefore, instead of purchasing airplanes for approximately 35 billion shekels, you can purchase airplanes for approximately 20 billion shekels, and invest 10 billion shekels in establishing an effective missile force that will meet the security challenges, and five billion shekels to strengthen the land army.

2. In the economic field, we must immediately bring to Israel about a quarter of a million foreign workers, who are needed in the construction, industry, agriculture and hotel industries.

After almost half a year of war, it's time to change mindsets.”

( Update 2 of 2 )

🔻AIR ATTACKS.. 

.. North - Hezbollah

ROCKETS at Alkosh, Matat, Netua, Fassuta, Hurfeish 

▪️CEASEFIRE LEAKS.. The Lebanese Al Mayadeen from a "senior source in the resistance": The new proposal submitted by Israel today does not provide an answer to the main issues that Hamas insists on and therefore there is no progress in the talks.

Al-Arabiya: Israel showed some flexibility proposing establishing 3 safe crossings to the north of the strip, but demanded health checks on the hostages in return.

▪️MORE INFO ON ARAVAH DRONE ATTACK.. At around 1 a.m., a suspected drone flying from the eastern direction entered Israeli airspace in the Arabah region, just north of Eilat, according to the IDF.

The "suspicious aerial target" set off sirens at a popular roadside store in the area.

The IDF says it fired an interceptor missile at the target, although it is not clear if it was shot down. (Fabien)

▪️MORE INFO ON THE RAMMING ATTACK.. a 26-year-old man from the Arab city of Tira rammed his vehicle into four cops near the town of Kochav Yair, police say. One of the officers was seriously wounded.

The assailant then fled to a nearby West Bank checkpoint, where he allegedly tried to stab the guards there. The guards at the Eliyahu Crossing returned fire, killing the suspect.

His family: our son has mental disorders. It was not on a nationalistic basis.

▪️IRANIAN SHIA MILITIA SAYS ATTACKED HAIFA?  The Shia militias in Iraq claim: We attacked the airport in Haifa early in the morning with a UAV.  No such attack.

▪️PASSOVER ECONOMY.. Min. Of Economy found a 32% gap between expensive and discount grocery chains on the ‘average basket of Passover foods’.  It also noted an overall 4% increase from last year.

[tomorrowusa]

Pardon me for not shedding tears over the death of the misogynistic theocratic thug Ebrahim Raisi.

As a strong supporter of Ukraine, I note that Iran under Raisi has supplied Russia with Shahed drones which have murdered or maimed thousands of Ukrainians.

Of course Raisi, first and foremost, has repressed and killed countless Iranians over the span of his brutal career.

Iran’s hardline President Ebrahim Raisi — once seen as a potential successor to 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — died after his helicopter crashed into trees in a mountainous northwestern region of the Islamic Republic on Sunday.  The Iranian branch of the Red Crescent humanitarian network said on Monday its search and rescue teams had reached the crash site and “found no signs of the helicopter’s occupants being alive.” The discovery of the burned-out wreckage of Raisi’s helicopter among blackened trees — with seemingly only the tail surviving the crash — followed hours of searches in the fog-bound mountain valleys of Dizmar forest near the border with Azerbaijan.  [ ... ] Raisi, 63, was a conservative cleric and former judiciary chief who was responsible for decades of vicious crackdowns against his own people’s aspirations for greater personal freedoms and democracy, arresting, torturing and executing tens of thousands of the Islamist regime’s opponents.  Educated in the seminary city of Qom and dubbed “the butcher,” he was alleged to have been involved in the execution of thousands of political prisoners in the late 1980s, according to Iran’s opposition. As judiciary chief, he was also directly responsible for the wave of arrests and executions that followed massive anti-regime protests in 2019-2020.  As president, he oversaw the iron-fisted repression of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Tens of thousands were arrested, and the death toll is estimated at more than 500. 

Raisi was a way bad person – even by the standards of the ruling theocratic mafia in Iran.

As for the helicopter crash that killed Raisi, look to Iran's terrible air safety record.

Iran's poor aviation safety record

The cause of the helicopter crash is not yet known - but Iran has a poor air transport safety record. This is at least partly the result of decades of US sanctions, which have severely weakened its aerial fleet. President Raisi was on board a Bell 212 helicopter, state news agencies said. The model was made in the US and could not have been sold to Iran since the 1979 revolution. Previous ministers of defence and transport, as well as commanders of Iran’s ground and air armed forces, have died in plane or helicopter crashes. When reformers led Iran's government, they aimed to modernise the country's fleet of aircraft by negotiating a deal with the West that would see sanctions lifted in return for limiting Iran's sensitive nuclear activities and allowing in international inspectors However, these efforts stalled when President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal and reimposed sanctions. Reformers were subsequently opposed and mocked by hardliners, who insisted that Iran could rely on its domestic industries and foreign allies to improve aviation safety.

Iran has been devoting more attention to building killer drones than to maintaining its own aircraft. The helicopter crash is poetic justice of sorts.

[mariacallous]

Shortly before noon on Aug. 19, 2023, a Russian cruise missile sliced past the golden onion domes and squat apartment blocks of the Chernihiv skyline in northern Ukraine. The Iskander-K missile slammed into its target: the city’s drama theater, which was hosting a meeting of drone manufacturers at the time of the attack. More than 140 people were injured and seven killed. The youngest, 6-year-old Sofia Golynska, had been playing in a nearby park.

Fragments of the missile recovered by the Ukrainian armed forces and analyzed by Ukrainian researchers found numerous components made by U.S. manufacturers in the missile’s onboard navigation system, which enabled it to reach its target with devastating precision. In December, Ukraine’s state anti-corruption agency released an online database of the thousands of foreign-made components recovered from Russian weapons so far.

Russia’s struggle to produce the advanced semiconductors, electrical components, and machine tools needed to fuel its defense industrial base predates the current war and has left it reliant on imports even amid its estrangement from the West. So when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, major manufacturing countries from North America, Europe, and East Asia swiftly imposed export controls on a broad swath of items deemed critical for the Russian arms industry.

Russia quickly became the world’s most sanctioned country: Some 16,000 people and companies were subject to a patchwork of international sanctions and export control orders imposed by a coalition of 39 countries. Export restrictions were painted with such a broad brush that sunglasses, contact lenses, and false teeth were also swept up in the prohibitions. Even items manufactured overseas by foreign companies are prohibited from being sold to Russia if they are made with U.S. tools or software, under a regulation known as the foreign direct product rule.

But as the war reaches its two-year anniversary, export controls have failed to stem the flow of advanced electronics and machinery making their way into Russia as new and convoluted supply chains have been forged through third countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, which are not party to the export control efforts. An investigation by Nikkei Asia found a tenfold increase in the export of semiconductors from China and Hong Kong to Russia in the immediate aftermath of the war—the majority of them from U.S. manufacturers.

“Life finds a way,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, quoting the movie Jurassic Park. The official spoke on background to discuss Russia’s evasion of export controls.

Some of the weapons and components analyzed by investigators were likely stockpiled before the war. But widely available Russian trade data reveals a brisk business in imports. More than $1 billion worth of advanced semiconductors from U.S. and European manufacturers made their way into the country last year, according to classified Russian customs service data obtained by Bloomberg. A recent report by the Kyiv School of Economics found that imports of components considered critical for the battlefield had dipped by just 10 percent during the first 10 months of 2023, compared with prewar levels.

This has created a Kafkaesque scenario, the report notes, in which the Ukrainian army is doing battle with Western weapons against a Russian arsenal that also runs on Western components.

It is an obvious problem, well documented by numerous think tank and media reports, but one without an easy solution. Tracking illicit trade in items such as semiconductors is an exponentially greater challenge than monitoring shipments of conventional weapons. Around 1 trillion chips are produced every year. Found in credit cards, toasters, tanks, missile systems, and much, much more, they power the global economy as well as the Russian military. Cutting Russia out of the global supply chain for semiconductors is easier said than done.

“Both Russia and China, and basically all militaries, are using a large number of consumer electronic components in their systems,” said Chris Miller, the author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology. “All of the world’s militaries rely on the same supply chain, which is the supply chain that primarily services consumer electronics.”

Export controls were once neatly tailored to keep specific items, such as nuclear technology, out of the hands of rogue states and terrorist groups. But as Washington vies for technological supremacy with Beijing while also seeking to contain Russia and Iran, it has increasingly used these trade restrictions to advance broader U.S. strategic objectives. For instance, the Biden administration has placed wide-ranging prohibitions on the export of advanced chips to China.

“At no point in history have export controls been more central to our collective security than right now,” Matthew Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the U.S. Commerce Department, said in a speech last September. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has described export controls as “a new strategic asset in the U.S. and allied toolkit.”

Russia’s ability to defy these restrictions doesn’t just have implications for the war in Ukraine. It also raises significant questions about the challenge ahead vis-à-vis China.

“The technological question becomes a key part of this story and whether or not we can restrict it from our adversaries,” said James Byrne, the director of open-source intelligence and analysis at the Royal United Services Institute, a British think tank.

In the Russian city of Izhevsk, home to the factory that manufactures Kalashnikov rifles, shopping malls are being converted into drone factories amid a surge in defense spending that has helped the country’s economy weather its Western estrangement. Arms manufacturers have been urged to work around the clock to feed the Russian war machine, while defense is set to account for one-third of the state budget this year.

“We have developed a concept to convert shopping centers—which, before the start of the SMO [special military operation], sold mainly the products of Western brands—to factories for assembly lines of types of domestic drones,” Alexander Zakharov, the chief designer of the Zala Aero drone company, said at a closed event in August 2022, according to the Russian business newspaper Vedomosti. “Special military operation” is what the Russian government calls its war on Ukraine. Zala Aero is a subsidiary of the Kalashnikov Concern that, along with Zakharov, was sanctioned by the United States last November.

Defense companies have bought at least three shopping malls in Izhevsk to be repurposed for the manufacture of drones, according to local media, including Lancet attack drones, which the British defense ministry described as one of the most effective new weapons that Russia introduced to the battlefield last year. Lancets, which cost about $35,000 to produce, wreaked havoc during Ukraine’s offensive last year and have been captured on video striking valuable Ukrainian tanks and parked MiG fighter jets.

Like a lot of Russia’s weapons systems, Lancets are filled with Western components. An analysis of images of the drones published in December by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security found that they contained several parts from U.S., Swiss, and Czech manufacturers, including image processing and analytical components that play a pivotal role in enabling the drones to reach their targets on the battlefield.

“The recurring appearance of these Western products in Russian drone systems shows a keen dependence on them for key capabilities in the drone systems,” the report notes. Lancets are not the only drones found to contain Western components. Almost all of the electronic components in the Iranian Shahed-136 drones, which Russia is now manufacturing with Iranian help to use in Ukraine, are of Western origin, a separate analysis published in November concluded.

Early in the war, the Royal United Services Institute analyzed 27 Russian military systems, including cruise missiles, electronic warfare complexes, and communications systems, and found that they contained at least 450 foreign-made components, revealing Russia’s dependence on imports.

One of the principal ways that Russia has evaded Western export controls has been through transshipment via third countries such as Turkey, the UAE, and neighboring states once part of the Soviet Union. Bloomberg reported last November that amid mounting Western pressure, the UAE had agreed to restrict the export of sensitive goods to Russia and that Turkey was considering a similar move. Kazakh officials announced a ban on the export of certain battlefield goods to Russia in October.

Suspected transshipment is often revealed by striking changes in trade patterns before and after the invasion. The Maldives, an island chain in the Indian Ocean that has no domestic semiconductor industry, shipped almost $54 million worth of U.S.-made semiconductors to Russia in the year after the invasion of Ukraine, Nikkei Asia reported last July.

Semiconductor supply chains often span several countries, with chips designed in one country and manufactured in another before being sold to a series of downstream distributors around the world. That makes it difficult for companies to know the ultimate end user of their products. This may seem odd—until you realize that this is the case for many everyday products that are sold around the world. “When Coca-Cola sells Coca-Cola, it doesn’t know where every bottle goes, and they don’t have systems to track where every bottle goes,” said Kevin Wolf, a former assistant secretary for export administration at the U.S. Commerce Department.

While a coalition of 39 countries, including the world’s major manufacturers of advanced electronics, imposed export restrictions on Russia, much of the rest of the world continues to trade freely with Moscow. Components manufactured in coalition countries will often begin their journey to Moscow’s weapons factories through a series of entirely legal transactions before ending up with a final distributor that takes them across the border into Russia. “It starts off as licit trade and ends up as illicit trade,” said a second senior U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The further items move down the supply chain, the less insight governments and companies have into their ultimate destination, although sudden changes in behavior of importers can offer a red flag. In his speech last September, Axelrod, the assistant secretary, used the example of a beauty salon that suddenly starts to import electronic components.

But the Grand Canyon of loopholes is China, which has stood by Moscow since the invasion. In the first days of the war, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that Washington could shut down Chinese companies that ignored semiconductor export controls placed on Russia. Last October, 42 Chinese companies were added to export control lists—severely undercutting their ability to do business with U.S. companies—for supplying Russian defense manufacturers with U.S. chips.

But as the Biden administration carefully calibrates its China policy in a bid to keep a lid on escalating tensions, it has held off from taking Beijing to task. “I think the biggest issue is that we—the West—have been unwilling to put pressure on China that would get China to start enforcing some of these rules itself,” said Miller, the author of Chip Wars.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said: “Due to the restrictions imposed by the United States and key allies and partners, Russia has been left with no choice but to spend more, lower its ambitions for high-tech weaponry, build alliances with other international pariah states, and develop nefarious trade networks to covertly obtain the technologies it needs.

“We are deeply concerned regarding [Chinese] support for Russia’s defense industrial base. BIS has acted to add over 100 [China]-based entities to the Entity List for supporting Russia’s military industrial base and related activities.”

Export controls have typically focused on keeping specific U.S.-made goods out of the hands of adversaries, while economic and financial sanctions have served broader foreign-policy objectives of isolating rogue states and cauterizing the financing of terrorist groups and drug cartels. The use of sanctions as a national security tool grew in wake of the 9/11 attacks; in the intervening decades, companies, government agencies, and financial institutions have built up a wealth of experience in sanctions compliance. By contrast, the use of export controls for strategic ends is relatively novel, and compliance expertise is still in its infancy.

“It used to be that people like me could keep export controls and sanctions in one person’s head. The level of complexity for each area of law is so intense. I don’t know anyone who is truly an export control and sanctions expert,” Wolf said.

Export controls, experts say, are at best speed bumps designed to make it harder for Russia’s defense industrial base to procure Western components. They create “extra friction and pressure on the Russian economy,” said Daniel Fried, who as the State Department coordinator for sanctions policy helped craft U.S. sanctions on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russia is now paying 80 percent more to import semiconductors than it did before the war, according to forthcoming research by Miller, and the components it is able to acquire are often of dubious quality.

But although it may be more cumbersome and expensive, it’s a cost that Moscow has been willing to bear in its war on Ukraine.

Western components—and lots of them—will continue to be found in the weapons Russia uses on Ukraine’s battlefields for the duration of the war. “This problem is as old as export controls are,” said Jasper Helder, an expert on export controls and sanctions with the law firm Akin Gump. But there are ways to further plug the gaps.

Steeper penalties could incentivize U.S. companies to take a more proactive role in ensuring their products don’t wind up in the hands of the Russian military, said Elina Ribakova, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “At the moment, they’re not truly motivated,” she said.

Companies that run afoul of sanctions and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a U.S. federal law that prohibits the payment of bribes, have been fined billions of dollars. Settlements of export control violations are often an order of magnitude smaller, according to recently published research.

In a speech last month, Axelrod said the United States would begin issuing steeper penalties for export control violations. “Build one case against one of the companies extremely well, put out a multibillion-dollar fine negotiation, and watch everybody else fall in line,” Ribakova said.

And then there’s the question of resources. BIS has an annual budget of just $200 million. “That’s like the cost of a few fighter jets. Come on,” said Raimondo, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum last December.

The agency’s core budget for export control has, adjusted for inflation, remained flat since 2010, while its workload has surged. Between 2014 and 2022, the volume of U.S. exports subject to licensing scrutiny increased by 126 percent, according to an agency spokesperson. A 2022 study of export control enforcement by the Center for Strategic and International Studies recommended a budget increase of $45 million annually, describing it as “one of the best opportunities available anywhere in U.S. national security.”

When it comes to enforcement, the bureau has about 150 officers across the country who work with law enforcement and conduct outreach to companies. The Commerce Department has also established a task force with the Justice Department to keep advanced technologies out of the hands of Russia, China, and Iran. “The U.S. has the most robust export enforcement on the planet,” Wolf said.

But compared with other law enforcement and national security agencies, the bureau’s budgets have not kept pace with its expanding mission. The Department of Homeland Security has more investigators in the city of Tampa, Florida, than BIS does across the entire country, Axelrod noted in his January speech.

On the other side, you have Russia, which is extremely motivated to acquire the critical technologies it needs to continue to prosecute its war. The Kremlin has tasked its intelligence agencies with finding ways around sanctions and export controls, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Brian Nelson said in a speech last year. “We are not talking about a profit-seeking firm looking for efficiencies,” the second senior U.S. intelligence official said. “There will be supply if there is sufficient demand.”