Dutch computer chips found in Iranian killer drones used in the war in Ukraine

Iranian weapon drones used in the war in Ukraine contained chips supplied from Dutch companies. The British research organization Conflict Armament Research (CAR), which is responsible for researching Western technology in Iranian drones, confirmed this to the Dutch newspaper AD.

Deputy Director of Operations at Conflict Armament Research Damien Spleeters said "Most of the western components we found were made between 2020 and 2021. There are also Dutch components among them."

In the summer of this year, the Dutch chip companies NXP and Nexperia received the message that their chips were found in Russian drones. Another British research organization, Rusi, subsequently found components of Dutch origin in 10 of the 27 Russian objects examined. These included pressure sensors from washing machines.

It now appears that chips from Dutch companies have also been found in Iranian weapon drones used by the Russians. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian admitted on Saturday that it had delivered a limited number of drones to Russia "months before the war in Ukraine began." However, Ukraine reportedly found more than 200 of them in a month.

In October of this year, Dutch authorities arrested a man for violating Russia sanctions in microchip deals. The investigators believed he was supplying the microchips to companies and other entities in Russia.