Aircraft
Covid, Sanctions Take Toll on Russia’s Defense Electronics Firms
Russia’s defense industry has been crippled by supply-chain disruptions and Western sanctions.
The Su-35 comes equipped with the NIIP N035 Irbis-E passive electronically scanning array (PESA) radar. This design represents a generational leap beyond the N001-series of designs installed in the older Su-27 models. (Photo: Reuben Johnson)
The Su-35 comes equipped with the NIIP N035 Irbis-E passive electronically scanning array (PESA) radar. This design represents a generational leap beyond the N001-series of designs installed in the older Su-27 models. (Photo: Reuben Johnson)

Disruptions in the supply chain for advanced electronic components continue to cause increasingly longer lead times for delivery of almost every category of manufactured products, including those of the defense industry. For example, the first example of the Lockheed Martin F-16V Block 70/72-series ordered by Slovakia will arrive at least a year late due to the lack of availability of items from numerous suppliers. Most of the defense firms around the world find themselves in similar circumstances.