An Irish company has said it is unable to stop its equipment being used in Russian glide bombs and drones.
A Ukrainian anti-corruption non-governmental organisation, NAKO, has identified antennas supplied by Taoglas in the wreckage of Russian bombs.
NAKO said the patch antenna arrays cost just $7 (€6.16) each and are an important component in allowing Russian bombs to evade Ukrainian jamming systems.
They are part of the Kometa (comet) module being used to evade Ukrainian air defences.
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They are fitted to ordinary free-falling, unguided aerial bombs, also known as dumb bombs, transforming them into a planning, guided high-precision munition.
The bombs are known as UMPKS (universal planning and correction module). They can be launched from deep inside Russian territory outside the range of Ukrainian air defences and are part of the Russian war machine.
NAKO has concluded that Russia needs so many antennas for their UMPKs that it is cheaper and easier for them to import them from abroad.
NAKO said it has taken the information from the war and sanctions portal managed by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. Taoglas parts have also been found in Shahed-136 drones, reconnaissance drones and other types of drones.
Intact Taoglas antennas are being recovered from Russian missiles and sold on the internet by Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. At least two additional modules with Taoglas components have been sold online this year, indicating that the modules are still being used in Russian munitions, NAKO believes.
Between 2022 and 2024 Taoglas products worth $752,928.49 (€663,000) were imported into Russia mostly from suppliers in China, Hong Kong, India and Turkey.
Taoglas was founded in 2004 in Enniscorthy by Dermot O’Shea and Ronan Quinlan. A majority share in the company, which makes antennas, connectors and audio speakers, was sold to private investment firm, Graham Partners, in 2023.
Taoglas said it has sold millions of its antenna worldwide and has imposed a ban on directly trading with Russia since the start of the invasion in 2022.
However, it cannot stop third parties from breaching international sanctions and selling the antenna to the Russian military.
“As a global company, Taoglas distributes products to customers and partners worldwide. Unfortunately, we know some of these components may have ended up in unauthorised or nefarious applications beyond our control,” the company told The Irish Times in a statement.
“Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Taoglas immediately implemented sanctions on all its Russian customers in February 2022. We do not condone the use of our products in unauthorised activities.
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“Taoglas ensures the utmost due diligence with customers and distributors, including but not limited to taking measures to cease business with Russian companies immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and implementing internal due diligence processes to manage our internal compliances.
“However, any exchange of hands after a sale is made between Taoglas and a purchaser cannot be fully controlled.”
Mr O’Shea, who remains the chief executive of Taoglas added that the components which featured in the NAKO report were sold to a Chinese customer in 2017.
“Since then we have implemented transaction screening software, and new processes and systems to ensure it does not happen again,” he added.
“We never sold to Iran (these are Iranian drones) and sanctioned Russia as soon as they invaded Ukraine. The board in the picture was designed and implemented in China and sold to Iran by a Chinese company.
“We have co-operated with the Irish and US governments on this and hence implemented additional screening processes and partner with them now on trying to maximise compliance.”
The export, sale, supply or transfer of dual-use items to Russia has been banned under EU sanctions since 2014. The restrictions apply even if the items are intended for civilian end users or applications in Russia.
