Drones of Iranian origin used by Russia in its strikes against Ukraine are said to be powered by Rotax engines, an Austrian subsidiary of Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP). Despite their increasingly frequent military use, these civilian engines escape all controls or economic sanctions, say experts.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Used since the 1960s for the propulsion of snowmobiles, Rotax engines exist in a version intended for recreational aircraft. Although BRP assures that these engines are “designed and certified for civilian use only”, Rotax has been powering the American Predator MQ-1 attack drones, icons of the Iraq war, for years.
In mid-September, Ukrainian forces released video of a suspected Iranian Mohajer-6 drone captured after being shot down in the Black Sea. Photos released by the Ukrainian Military Center, an NGO that studies Russian weapons, later showed it was equipped with a Rotax engine, information confirmed by a report carried by CNN this week.
IMAGES FROM MIL.IN.UA
Photos of a Mohajer-6 drone, released by the Ukrainian Military Center, an NGO that analyzes the defense industry.
BRP told The Press being aware of and “concerned” about “the alleged use of Rotax engines, or counterfeit engines, in some specific situations involving Iranian Mohajer-6 drones in conflict areas”. The company specifies that it is carrying out an investigation with a “partner on Ukrainian soil” to determine the exact source of these engines.
In 2020, BRP had already announced the suspension of its sales of Rotax engines to various countries after they were discovered in Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones, used in strikes in northern Syria. Today, these same Turkish drones are used by Ukraine for the defense of its territory.
BRP, which says it takes the situation reported in Ukraine “very seriously”, claims to have since applied “repeatedly” a reinforced policy which “significantly restricts” any sale for military purposes without explicit authorization from its management. “The sale of any BRP product to operators with any military activity in Iran and Russia is strictly prohibited,” says the company.
Ottawa arrested
In Ottawa, the Trudeau government said it was “very concerned” to learn that a Rotax engine had been found in an Iranian-built Russian drone, and welcomed the initiation of an investigation by BRP. “Like all Canadians, we expect light to be shed on [la façon dont] these engines ended up in the hands of these bloodthirsty regimes,” said Adrien Blanchard, spokesperson for Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
According to doctoral student Sophie Marineau, who takes a close interest in economic sanctions against Russia, the BRP subsidiary “is not in the wrong” under international law. The category of piston engines to which the Rotax belong is not targeted by Canadian sanctions against Iran.
Rotax engines are not considered military goods and BRP is more or less responsible for Iran having transformed and adapted its product for resale or in a theater of war.
Sophie Marineau, doctoral student who takes a close interest in economic sanctions against Russia
“It’s more of an ethical and moral question than a legal question,” adds the researcher, currently attached to the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium.
The former Bloc Québécois MP and professor of international law at the University of Montreal Daniel Turp finds it hard to understand, however, that these engines do not appear explicitly on the list of products prohibited from export to Iran. ” The Special Economic Measures Act allows Canada to prohibit the sale of products when it undermines international peace and security”, specifies the jurist.
“I would put the minister [des Affaires étrangères, Mélany Joly] to the challenge of adopting a regulation amendment to prohibit this, and to send a very clear message to Bombardier Recreational Products that it can no longer sell engines when it knows, or should know, that it will be used in exported products in Russia and likely to be used in Ukraine,” adds Mr. Turp, who was a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade from 1997 to 1999.
Kesley Gallagher, researcher at Project Ploughshares, a Waterloo-based peace research center, points out that several civilian components diverted for military purposes, including Rotax engines, could also be added to the list of “dual-use” controlled goods. This legal designation, which covers goods used as substitutes for flying missiles, for example, would require manufacturers to obtain an “end-user declaration” (end user statement) that would allow Ottawa to better track their actual destination.
“For this to happen, there needs to be greater political will,” said Mr. Gallagher. Unfortunately, politicians are more interested in controlling booming things, like bombs and missiles, than commercial products. »