I totally agree with the first sentence above but the highlighted sentence is totally unrealistic.
The Russians are currently producing around 5800 Gerans of all models per month or about 190 per day. That is over 69,000 per year.
Nobody with an IQ greater than their shoe size would believe that Russia is buying parts that were produced over 1,700 days or 4 years 7 months and 27 days ago.
Anyone that believes/says that Russia is using products manufactured that long ago is swallowing and/or repeating Russian propaganda.
Several of the documented examples (documented, vs "reported") often show parts with production dates prior to hostilities. However, the best documented and circulated cases are also sometimes the oldest cases, so that makes sense and does not necessarily say what is being used today. I have seen images on social media that show drones used in 2026 containing US branded parts from late 2025, but, also showing parts made 5 years ago in the same drones. If you go buy bulk parts today of common components there is no telling what the production date of the received parts may be, as some of these things are made / stored in 10's of millions unit lots. It is generally FIFO, but not always.
A specific example, a Geran-4 documented in October of 2026 contained parts with marked production dates as new as the last week of 2025 (Chinese made,
https://war-sanctions.gur.gov.ua/en/page-geran-4-2/7547 ), and as old as 2022 ( US made,
https://war-sanctions.gur.gov.ua/en/page-geran-4-2/7499 ). So there is no misunderstanding, there were also US made parts from 2024 and 2025 in this case, I am just showing the span of dates observed in a single drone..
But even HUR (Ukrainian MoD Intel Directorate, I don't think they are drinking the Russian Cool-Aid) has been indicating that fewer and fewer US parts are in these drones (not none, but fewer), as Russia shifts over to more Chinese made parts to get around sanctions. This appears to be especially true with the more complex (and more tightly controlled) components, for example the CRPA (Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna) board and the STM32 microcontrollers (both originally US branded and both replaced with Chinese made clones in _some_ recent examples). So it appears that whatever sources Russia had for US parts may be either drying up or are becoming no longer competitive.
My bet is the latter, no longer competitive, and also easier to get around regulations. China is making AD9361 (apparently used in some of the CRPAs mentioned above) clones by the million, and I can buy one of their clones for literally one quarter, or less, the cost of buying the US branded one from Analog Devices. If you want to see this in context, go look at the cost of an actual Analog Devices branded ADALM-Pluto (~$400-500) and then go look at a Chinese knock-off clone of the same thing (~$100-200).
And of course, the use of US branded parts in these drones will probably never end. Remember, these are not drone specific parts, but generic parts that might be used for many different things. It is hard to keep track of where LM258 Op-Amps, ADS122U ADCs, or 1μH inductors are being sold in the world. As long as a person or entity can order lots of 100k+ with nothing more than a PO or credit card, and delivery can be taken at a non-sanctioned location first, this will continue to happen.
T!
