Sanctions? The Mystery of a Canadian Company's Aircraft Engines in Iranian Drones
Politic?
This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.
Rotar engine found in Iranian Mohajer-6 drone found in Ukraine via Twitter
"We are deeply concerned and are taking this situation very seriously.""We have already started an investigation into this matter to attempt to determine the source of the engines.""[BRP's internal controls strictly limit use of its products for defence purposes. And it has not supplied any engines to Iran since 2019] and none will be sold moving forward."Biliana Necheva spokeswoman, Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP)
But
its very special motors do get around by whatever means. Either
initially sold for civil use or products changing hands through an
intermediate buyer. Although the company does bring up the possibility
of theft. Its engines, however much the company claims it is acutely
aware and prevents their product use for military purposes, it became
known that Turkey's Rotax-powered Bayraktar TB-2 drones were used to
target Armenian forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Now,
for the second time in a two-year period, its aircraft engines have
been seen used in Iranian military drones, one of which at least had
been flown by the Russian military in its 'special military operation'
in Ukraine. The company is also investigating a number of reports of
thefts of the engine. There is as well the matter of its Austrian
subsidiary Rotax permitting a Tehran-based engine maintenance and
overhaul company to bill itself as Iran's official representative for
Rotas aviation engines.
Its
product, stressed BRP, is designed for light civilian aircraft and not
military vehicles. The company is, after all, the well-known producer of
Sea-Doos and Ski-Doos along with other vehicles of a strictly
recreational purpose. Clearly, the motors are sufficiently versatile as
to lend themselves to a number of uses, and from the available evidence
so concerning now to BRP, for military purposes.
A
British defence analyst recently identified through a photograph, a
unique marine drone 's Sea-Doo jet skis, when the autonomous vessel
washed ashore in Crimea and was recovered by Russia. Another Canadian
company had its target-finding cameras installed in the Turkish
Bayraktar aircraft. It's more or less a whack-a-mole game in that those
Turkish drones are now being used by Ukraine.
Russia
had been supplied by Iran with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are
being used in Moscow's invasion of Ukraine; sold they claim, prior to
the beginning of the war. It is the Shahed-136 kamikaze drone being used
in the Russian bombardment of Ukraine's electrical and water systems,
leaving millions of Ukraines across the country with limited access to
both power and potable water.
The
Mohajer-5 model used for surveillance and missile firing was seen to be
equipped with the Rotax engine; shot down by Ukrainian forces -- with
the company logo prominently on display in photographs of a Rotax 912
engine. In another Mohajer-5 brought down by Kurdish forces in Iraq last
month, the same part was identified.
The
aircraft engines distinguished by their light weight and fuel
efficiency are used primarily for civilian craft but there is a history
of defence applications as well as when the U.S. Predator -- the pioneer
of modern drone warfare -- was driven by a Rotax 914 engine. An odd
string of thefts of over 150 of the BRP-Rotax engines date back to 1995;
most pilfered from airfields in the U.K. and Europe.
And that business in Tehran, Mahtabal, whose website identifies the firm as an "aviation engine repair and overhaul organization" identifying itself as "the official representative of Rotax air engines in Iran"? Photographs of a series of Rotax engines are featured on the site's home page despite that it does not actually sell them.
Labels: Aircraft Engines, Bombardier, Canada, Iranian Drones, Russian Invasion of Ukraine
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