China's covert role in upgrading Russian bomb tech
Russian UMPK kits that convert standard bombs into guided glide bombs use components imported to circumvent sanctions. Although the trial initially appeared to lead to Taiwan, further investigations revealed that Chinese companies were collaborating with the Russians.
An investigation conducted by the InformNapalm group led to documents relating to servo drives from the Taiwanese company TRC. Following media publication, experts on sanctions and the Taiwanese public became involved. Vadym Labas explained in an extensive Facebook post that further evidence has come to light, casting a completely new perspective on the whole issue.
Chinese companies cooperate with Russia
The Taiwanese company TRC turns out to be a victim in this situation. In reality, the manufacturer of servo drives supplied to the Russians was the Chinese factory KST Digital Technology Limited.
A special scheme for transferring equipment to Russia was developed, where the most crucial stages involved the sale of manufactured servo drives to the fictitious Chinese company Kaiffeng Zhendaqian Technology (KZT), which passed them to another fictitious company from China (UNIHUI INTERNATIONAL LIMITED), where illegal rebranding took place to "impersonate" Taiwanese TRC.
Chinese servo drives in Russian bombs and drones
Vadym Labas noted that such a scheme is also employed for other transactions that Russia wishes to conceal.
The Chinese factory KST Digital Technology Limited, covered in the latest investigation, also supplies components to Russia necessary for producing Shahed kamikaze drones – initially ordered from Iran, but now also produced in Russia for several months. In 2024, at least 10,000 Shahed drones could have been produced in Putin's country. The drones, measuring about 3.4 metres in length, can carry loads of up to 40 kilograms and reach speeds of approximately 185 km/h.
UMPK kits (Unified Set of Planning and Correction Modules) that can be utilised on FAB-500, FAB-1500, and FAB-3000 bombs hold even greater significance for the Russians. Thanks to them, it is possible to convert a regular bomb into a guided glide bomb with significantly enhanced capabilities. This solution resembles the American JDAM-ER conversion kits.
