Ukraine war: German parts make their way into Russian drones

DW News · Mar 2, 2026 · Collected from RSS

Full Article

Components from German manufacturers have been found in Russian drones attacking Ukrainian cities. German media reported on this in January, citing the latest Geran-5 attack drone in particular. The television broadcaster ntv and later other German media reported that transistors made by the German company Infineon Technologies were found in a Geran-5, along with other foreign-made components. The information had been published on a web portal called War and Sanctions, which is run by Ukraine's military intelligence service HUR. It includes a detailed list of all foreign components found to date in Russian military equipment. According to the War and Sanctions website, the majority of foreign components in Russian military equipment come from the US and China. Some 137 components are listed in the "Made in Germany" category, more than half of which were discovered in drones. The rest were found in rockets, radar equipment, military vehicles and helicopters.European components still found in Russian weaponsTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video German transistors particularly valued Transistors are the most frequently used German components, comprising around 50 items. Others include pumps, inductors, generators, capacitators, transformers and batteries. The "most popular" German manufacturer is the Bavarian company Infineon Technologies. Some 58 of the 137 components, mostly transistors, were built into drones. Other components were produced by the German companies TDK Electronics, Würth Elektronik, Bosch and Pierburg, a subsidiary of the Rheinmetall Group. At DW's request, the HUR provided dozens of examples of Infineon transistors found in Russian Geran drones, a variation on Iranian-made Shahed drones. The transistors are tiny microchips whose model and batch numbers can only be seen under a microscope. According to the HUR, the control system of every Geran drone, from the Geran-2 model onward, uses between eight and 12 German-made transistors. In August 2025, the deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence Vadym Skibitskyi told the Ukrainian national public broadcaster Suspilne that Russia aimed to produce 40,000 Geran-2 drones per year, which would require almost half a million transistors. Hundreds of thousands of German components A HUR representative told DW that Russia has been trying to reduce its dependence on Western components for drone production. "In 2023, the proportion of American components in some types of Shahed-136 drones was as high as 80%, but now up to 60% come from China," he explained. But the HUR representative also said Russian manufacturers were in no hurry to replace German quality with what are considered inferior Chinese alternatives: "Infineon transistors are used in many domestic appliances and utensils, and clearly they have no problem obtaining the quantities they need." It certainly isn't difficult to order these transistors online. On eBay, for example, they are readily available at a price of around $29.90 (€25.30) for five. One online merchant offers up to 45 units. Though they don't supply directly to Russia, Belarus or Kazakhstan, the parts can still be obtained through Georgia or China. The HUR assumes that in the majority of cases, Moscow is ordering German-manufactured transistors directly from Germany through dummy companies, concealing the real supply chain. In this way, components are either smuggled into Russia, or supplied via third countries.Ukraine battles with airstrikes and terrorist attacksTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video How do the parts get to Russia? Viktor Winkler, a German expert on sanctions policies, told DW that the delivery of military-relevant components to Russia from Germany along indirect routes — through third countries such as Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China or Central Asian states — has decreased since 2022. Increasingly, he said, these shipments were being made directly, via criminal dummy companies in Germany that buy the goods from manufacturers and supply them to Russia illegally. "So, my assumption is that no third country and no circumvention is involved in this instance," said Winkler. "Rather, there may be a highly criminal direct relationship, with criminals supplying Russia with components from other companies. Other, similar cases have been characterized by business relationships with Russia that were planned long in advance." Overall, he assesses the delivery of military components from Germany to Russia as "legally serious, but ultimately isolated incidents," especially compared to other "massive" areas of sanctions evasion, including for example the sale of luxury goods or consumer items. Manufacturers: Resale to Russia difficult to control DW contacted the German manufacturers on the list, all of whom insisted that they do not supply to Russia, and abide by the sanctions. The Bavarian semiconductor manufacturer Infineon said it had stopped all deliveries to Russia in 2022. However, it also said that it was difficult to control how a product was sold on over its lifetime, as Infineon produces around 30 billion chips a year. "When we receive concrete, reliable indications that a company with which we do business is trading with Russia, we stop supplying them and demand an explanation from the company concerned. This also applies to our cooperation with public authorities," Infineon said. In response to the reports that the Geran-2 drone uses Pierburg pumps, the Düsseldorf-based armaments group Rheinmetall stated: "The German customs authorities informed Rheinmetall in January 2024 that civilian electrical fuel pumps with a production date of July 2020, manufactured for the automotive spare parts market, had found their way to Russia. This was not a Rheinmetall delivery, and we know nothing about their export to Russia, or who exported them." The company stressed that it was cooperating fully with the investigating authorities. Würth Elektronik also told DW that it had severed its business ties to Russia in 2022. "All deliveries abroad are subject to strict export controls," the company wrote in a statement. "Our components are not constructed for military purposes, nor are they authorized to be used for military purposes. We explicitly inform our customers of this." Würth Elektronik assured DW that it forbids clients based outside the EU from forwarding any goods supplied to them for use in Russia. However, the company could not exclude the possibility that Russia may be drawing on existing stock delivered before sanctions were imposed.Bosch: Counterfeits in circulation The technology group Bosch told DW that it no longer has any operational business relations with Russia. "All our units and employees worldwide have been instructed not to do business with Russia or Belarus," the company said. It added that the fuel pump for the Geran-3 drone mentioned on the HUR website is "not a Bosch product" and suggested that it could be one of many counterfeit products often in circulation. As for the push-button switch in the Shahed-136 drone, the company confirmed that it was a Bosch product. It could be "a commodity product from Bosch that is sold in large quantities for a variety of applications, such as emergency stop switches," the company said. Bosch acknowledged that there are parallel imports, but that these are "made without the manufacturer's knowledge and from countries that have not imposed sanctions on Russia." "We have no reliable information about the extent of possible parallel imports, nor is it possible to obtain this information on the Russian market," the company said. The company insisted it had established comprehensive internal procedures to comply with sanctions and combat their circumvention. Nevertheless, Bosch admitted: "The end use of our supplies is often unknown due to complex, multi-stage supply chains." For its part, TDK Electronics told DW in a statement that it had stopped deliveries to Russia after the war began and closed its sales office in Moscow in 2023. The company emphasized that it complies with all EU sanctions, and contracts with customers contain a clause prohibiting the military use of TDK products. "Nevertheless, small orders from development laboratories or even private individuals are possible when it comes to component distributors and cannot be fully traced in terms of their final use. Here, too, we are working to prevent the circumvention of applicable laws," the company admitted. Purely civilian products such as washing machines, refrigerators and even cars could be imported. These could then be dismantled and their parts installed in military equipment. This article was originally written in Russian.