gallois wrote:
It seems that the Iranian drones which Russia is using in the Ukraine are mostly powered by Rotax 912 engines.
If you are talking about the Shahed-136, the most numerous Iranian suicide drones in Ukrainian war (a.k.a. Geran-2 in Russian use), their engines are certainly not Rotax 912 because they are two-stroke. Ukrainians are calling them ‘mopeds’ for their loud and recognisable two-stroke sound. Wikipedia says these drones are equipped with MD-550, a Chinese clone of Limbach L550, but this hasn’t been reliably confirmed, the drones supplied to Russia may differ from the base model.
gallois wrote:
It seems that the Iranian drones which Russia is using in the Ukraine are mostly powered by Rotax 912 engines
They could be ZongShen engines. Basically Rotax clones made in China. No (official) connections with Rotax AFAIK.
The thing is, you can build a suicide drone with any engine. It has to run only once 
So even a 1971 Kawasaki 750 would do this mission, at 100% power
Same with chips. Much is made of the USSR using American chips, but the 5 quid ARM32 32F417 I am programming right here, does 168 megaflops, is freely available, non ITAR, and has in any case been copied by various chinese outfits, some legally and some faked. The Ruskies can’t easily get higher end IR sensors and some other stuff (only limited quantities can be shipped via the Vienna Embasse diplomatic bag route) but you don’t need those to smash up power stations if you can launch enough in one go to overwhelm air defences.
Israel won’t sell Ukraine the Iron Dome system because it has significant “Russian representation” in-house.
LeSving wrote:
I think it’s also interesting some other stuff happening. Germany is obviously very dependent on oil and gas from Norway ATM. They now have 4 frigates assisting the Norwegian Navy and Air Force in patrolling oil installations and pipe lines in the North Sea
Germany is indeed heavily dependant on Norwegian gas right now. I think some 30 to 40% of our consumption is from there at the moment, which is not far off of the figure we got from Russia prewar (50%).
We also have longstanding bilateral military agreements with Norway, mostly around the development of naval technology. And of course we are both in NATO.
Both of these facts combined make it sensible to defend the Norwegian energy infrastructure from attacks. The Russians cannot be trusted.
The Rotax 912s that have been found on shot down drones are definitely not the Chinese ones.
They still carry all the Rotax stamps and markings. So Rotax admit they were made in their factory. They were being accused of breaking the embargo by selling Iran. So they investigated and found by their numbers that they had been sold to light aircraft organisations, mainly in Europe.
This corresponds with a great number of Rotax engines being stolen. Particularly in the UK.
This was a story in the UK media which ran last week.
So… how did these engines get out of the Annex 1 / UL scene and into Iran?
Where is Tom Clancy when we need him??
Let me think. I have a little plane with a Rotax. One day, at my strip, this nice chap walks up to me with a smile
and offers me £100k for my engine. Which has not been flown for the whole winter (waterlogged strip) and probably won’t even start easily. Hmmm the prop feels a bit stiff, so maybe rusty cylinders?
Being a completely honourable man who knows I-T-A-R backwards (ITAR is irrelevant anyway since this guy is obviously a native of Islington, so I am not exporting) I will obviously refuse the offer
But he pulls out a copy of the Holy Quran, puts his right hand on it, and swears that the drone will be used only for Iranian agricultural surveys.
Then I can get a brand new engine from Rotax.
It should be easy for the police to visit a few people…
Rotax cylinders don’t rust, because they’re Nikasil coated aluminum 
Also don’t forget the rotax engines (in certified planes) are replaced after 2000 hours. Then a new one is ordered from the factory.
The old one is sold to be used in the ‘UL/Annex 1’ scene.
As most of the LSA planes made the last 10-20 years have a rotax 912 in it, I can imagine there is a big supply of ‘old’ engines.
I don’t think anyone was controlling this market. I wouldn’t be surprised if these engines ended up in places we don’t want them to be.
So where would the old engines end up? Presumably either in the uncertified sphere, or in the Rotax factory? Either party would be approached by an “interesting” buyer.
Not all 912s are swapped out new for old, although that still works out cheaper than an overhaul on a Lycosaurus.
In the certified world they can be overhauled once IIRC at a cost of between €10,000 – €12000 .and they can still be sold into.the uncertified world at their 4000hrs. A ULM owner will get a cheap engine which will give him service for a good few years and he will take it maintain it himself especially if he has done the Rotax maintenance course.
