Russian military antennas contain Taiwanese and Irish-made components, imported despite sanctions

RU

The Kometa is a patch antenna array for satellite navigation. All patch antennas shipped to Russia are processed under customs code 854231, which covers electronic circuits in general. All items under this code are under export bans from the United States, the UK, the European Union, and the Republic of China (Taiwan). However, as The Insider found, Kometas continue to be assembled from Irish- and Taiwanese-made antennas.

Taoglas

One Kometa can be assembled from four cheap antennas made by the Irish firm Taoglas. They enter Russia through Taiwanese or Chinese suppliers and are shipped to Russian firms that do not have websites, such as Hailang LLC in St. Petersburg.

Back in 2023, the manufacturer was independently buying the same patch antennas from Bangalore-based reseller Si2 Microsystems (India). According to customs records, the parts cost $7 apiece, which is half of their retail price.

Inpaq

Another modification of the Kometa is assembled from eight Taiwanese-made Inpaq antennas, recognizable by the company's logo.

In 2024, Inpaq products were mainly exported by Chinese shell companies.

In 2023, the imports of Inpaq antennas and other radio parts (induction coils, ferrite beads for suppressing high-frequency interference, and diodes for suppressing voltage spikes) into Russia were handled by OOO Atoma. The company's revenue for that year amounted to 2.3 billion rubles ($22.4 million based on the current exchange rate). Despite the modest turnover, Atoma is a serious player, obtaining 58 equipment certificates over the years. The company’s main publicly known government client is the Bashkortostan-based communication provider Bashinformsvyaz.

The crucial component

The main weakness of a satellite signal lies in its vulnerability to jamming. This risk can be mitigated either by an inertial navigation system (which is costly) or by using patch antenna arrays. With multiple antennas and low-noise amplification, these add-ons can significantly improve reception quality.

The Kometa military antenna receives a GPS signal, and through low-noise amplification and the simultaneous use of four or eight patch antennas, it significantly improves satellite signal reception in jamming conditions.

Kometas pose a serious challenge for the AFU, as Russian drones and missiles equipped with such arrays cannot be ‘blinded’ and thrown off course. In particular, Kometa-M is installed on the Unified Gliding and Correction Module (UMPK) kits for FAB glide bombs. Kometas are manufactured by the Russian company AO VNIIR-Progress. According to Ukrainian cyberactivist Tim Karpinsky, it takes as many as three interference sources separated in space to jam such an antenna.

Sergei Tovkach, CEO of Avianovatsii and UAV designer, told The Insider that Russia knows how to produce patch antennas, but it's cheaper to buy them abroad.

“The cheap element is only the antenna — the receiver, that is. Russia knows how to make these ceramic parts. In particular, our phased antenna arrays on fighter jets are also ceramic. But the Taiwanese ones are cheaper, and since the sanctions aren't working, it's easier to import them. These antennas are put on glide bombs, on Shahed [UAVs], and other remotely controlled aircraft. The Iskander and Tornado-S have Russian-made antennas. Ukrainian engineer Serhii 'Flash' occasionally dissects wrecked missiles and publishes photos on his Telegram channel, and you can see Russian-made ceramic parts there. As for the cheap, consumer-grade stuff that is put on drones, it is needed in such quantities that Russia does not want to expand its production, as buying is both easier and cheaper.

The signal from the antenna goes to the computing unit, where the magic happens. Countering electronic warfare tools is math, and the math in Kometas is original. In terms of hardware, the first Kometas were based on old American-made processors by Altera, which has since been acquired by Intel. It also uses a decade-old PLD. Analogs of this PLD are produced by Arzamas Radio Components Plant and Chinese company GoWin, created in 2014-2015. Old-generation Altera CPUs are used simply because they are easy to come by. But even if Russia's current supplies are cut off, PLDs of this grade are manufactured both in Russia and China. Adapting circuits for similar PLDs is not a problem, and the math is all Russian — without it, nothing will work. So you can't say the whole secret lies in the dirt-cheap Taiwanese part.”

Smart home communication modules

Through its former co-founder Alexei Peslyak, Atoma is linked to a much larger electronic market player: MT-Systems (which, among other things, is licensed to handle radioactive materials). The company sells Inpaq antennas imported by Atoma, and the connection between the firms is also evidenced by the fact that MT-Systems has regularly provided services to Bashinformsvyaz.

In 2023, MT-Systems imported tens of millions of dollars worth of components. The leader among the trademarks the company brought into Russia is the Chinese brand Simcom. Simcom claims to be making Internet of Things (IoT) modules that allow a smart home system, a car, or a city scooter to communicate with the outside world. In 2023, the Chinese company directly supplied $36 million dollars worth of products to Russia.

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Chernyshenko, estimates his country’s IoT market volume to be 34.4 billion rubles ($330 million).

Meanwhile, Simcom SIM800C modules, which MT-Systems imported by the tens of thousands, were found in Russian Orlan drones. The customs specification for this module reads: “For installation on the printed circuit board of devices for remote monitoring of stationary and moving objects.” Orlan drones, for one, use cellular communications for a range of tasks: detecting the enemy, intercepting calls, and tracking the location of a downing.

However, Tovkach believes that there is nothing suspicious in the supply of large quantities of Simcom communication modules to Russia.

“Russia produces a wide range of smart home equipment. There are a lot of startups. On the Skolkovo website, you can see who is involved in smart home technologies. Yandex, for one, produces a huge number of smart switches and smart sockets for its Alice smart speaker. Russia is investing in this market — it's a fact. Import substitution of imported switches with domestic ones is also underway. There is no anomaly here. IoT communication modules are most likely purchased by smart home manufacturers, but we haven't seen the end product yet because it has not been marketed. The development cycle of an electronic device is at least six months, and setting up its mass production takes another three months. The industry is prone to inertia; changes always take time to take effect.”