US-produced chips found in Russian missile that killed children during attack on drama theatre in Chernihiv

The Iskander-K cruise missile, which hit the city centre of Chernihiv on 19 August 2023 and killed seven people, including a six-year-old girl, contained US-made microcircuits in its navigation system.

Source: Bloomberg

Details: Oleksandr Vysikan, a researcher at the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise, discovered the module of the navigation system SN-99 of the Iskander missile on the site of its crash in the square outside the theatre in Chernihiv. It included components manufactured by four Western businesses. The missile’s "brain" is the SN-99 navigation system, which connects it to satellites and sends it to its target.

Markings on the missile’s engine and several components indicated that it was constructed no earlier than March 2023, more than a year after the United States and its allies enacted export restrictions to weaken Russia's defence sector.

These limitations prohibited sending Western chips to Russia if they could be used for military purposes, regardless of whether they were manufactured in China.

"This missile was new," Vysikan explains. "It had components that allowed it to connect with the satellite, which meant only one thing: it was more deadly."

One of the parts that survived the explosion was a green metal board coated in chips. The lettering imprinted on the two semiconductors revealed that they were manufactured by Silicon Laboratories Inc, which is situated in Austin (USA).

The numbers on the chips indicated that they were manufactured between the third week of January and the first week of March 2022.

Because semiconductors take several months to move through the global supply chain, the agency concludes that Russia most likely purchased them after Western export bans were implemented.

Other navigation components discovered in the Chernihiv debris were produced by American chipmaker Analogue Devices, German Infineon Technologies, and American company Integrated Silicon Solution Inc with Chinese funding.

Background:

• At around 11:30 on 19 August, the Russian forces hit the centre of Chernihiv with a ballistic missile.
• Russian forces reportedly launched a missile attack on the Chernihiv Music and Drama Theatre when a gathering of drone manufacturers and aerial reconnaissance training schools was being held there as part of the Liuti Ptashky (Angry Birds) demo day, although only the event’s participants knew the exact location.
• The Kremlin-aligned news agency RIA Novosti alleged that "the gathering of the military specialists from the Ukrainian Armed Forces related to combat UAVs" was the target of the Russian attack on Chernihiv, and posted a video of the strike.
• Seven people were murdered, one of whom was a child, and 180 others were injured, including at least 12 children. In addition, 46 persons were hospitalised with various injuries, including six children.
• Children and adults were just out walking in front of the theatre.

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