cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/8802493
It is no secret that Russia’s Geran drones, which have long become a nightmare for civilians in Ukrainian cities, were developed from the Iranian-designed Shahed. What is less well known is that China also plays a role in producing weapons used for wartime terror: Chinese suppliers are sending Russia critical antennas for Geran drones under the guise of agricultural equipment to circumvent an export ban imposed by Beijing, a new investigation by The Insider and Nordsint has found.
Posing as Russian military contractors, The Insider and Nordsint contacted representatives of Harxon, a Chinese supplier. One of its employees not only openly acknowledged the company’s cooperation with Russia’s Alabuga plant, which produces Geran/Shahed drones, but also accepted an order for a large batch of anti-jamming antennas, routing it through a front company called NavX. These antennas produced by Harxon constitute the majority of satellite antennas found by Ukraine in the wreckage of Geran drones.
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There are no official mentions of NavX antennas in Russian trade data, nor are there any official instances of the company NavX trading with Russian counterparts. Previously, The Insider reported that between August and September 2024, an Alabuga-based company, Morgan LLC, imported more than $1 million worth of Harxon antennas. The trade data indicate that Chinese and Turkish shell companies as well as Harxon itself acted as exporters. Trade data shows that antennas shipped directly by Harxon had dimensions of 33.4mm x 33.4mm x 7.7mm, which are significantly smaller than CRPA models and close to the size of individual antenna patches. Other shipments from Harxon were specified as “not for military use.”
Nonetheless, trade data is not a perfect indication of supply, as shipments of sensitive goods are often obfuscated from Russian customs databases or concealed as other components. Additionally, Harxon does sell to legitimate civilian markets in Russia. However, when comparing the indicated value and weight of shipments from Harxon to Alabuga to the value and known weight of invoiced antennas, the figures are more consistent with CRPAs than civilian antennas manufactured by the company.
Harxon continues to participate in the global market. The company took part in the XPONENTIAL Europe 2026 trade fair held in Dusseldorf, Germany in March 2026. The company’s website shows it has authorized distributors in 27 countries, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, and Japan. Harxon’s parent company BDStar has been under American sanctions since 2024, albeit for reasons unrelated to support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Instead, the firm was added to the list “for their support to the [Chinese] High Altitude Balloon that overflew the United States in February 2023.”
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At the time of writing no countries apart from the United States have sanctioned BDStar, and Harxon is not subject to the restrictive measures of any country, allowing it to continue doing business as usual. Sanctions on the company, of course, would impact the markets in which it can sell its products.
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