Ram and russkie drones

I post this as a US citizen and a US Army Veteran of Ukrainian Heritage.

No comments from me. Just an FYI

From the interweb.

"A U.S. company is among several worldwide that have sold U.S.-made pickup trucks to Russia, despite U.S. sanction restrictions prohibiting the sale of such vehicles to the country. An investigation by the Kyiv Independent reveals several companies located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and one based in the U.S. state of Virginia, have helped enable Russia to import at least 130 since the beginning of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine."

 

[Alkali]

Russia has done this for a while and they're not the only ones who do it too, North Korea imports Mercedes through China.
Sucks seeing Ram trucks used for war though

 

[Texas Cowgirl]

I hope this report of Rams in Russia is not true.

 

[nlambert182]

That's 100% a Russian kamikaze drone so I don't doubt the truck is there. Some of the internal components of that drone are American made as well... sadly enough. They've been buying parts through various shells and importing them in.

 

[2019RamInSC]

I post this as a US citizen and a US Army Veteran of Ukrainian Heritage.

No comments from me. Just an FYI

From the interweb.

"A U.S. company is among several worldwide that have sold U.S.-made pickup trucks to Russia, despite U.S. sanction restrictions prohibiting the sale of such vehicles to the country. An investigation by the Kyiv Independent reveals several companies located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and one based in the U.S. state of Virginia, have helped enable Russia to import at least 130 since the beginning of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine."

View attachment 570592

Just to clarify. This news item did come from a respected Ukrainian Newspaper.
I have to assume it is legit.

 

[Brandon-w]

OH NO!! lol Don't you get it, Sanctions do absolutely nothing its been proven again and again, especially with this war. Sanctions hurt citizens more than anything, the governments don't suffer at all. I will say prepare for war, I do alot of work with explosives and our supply is harder to get and delayed as of recently due to the US military preparing for something....

 

[nlambert182]

Sanctions can only work if there aren't shell companies embedded in the same places who levy the sanctions.

Since I live in the drone world I can talk about those. Take DJI for example. DJI is on the pending ban list. A company in Texas spun up called Anzu Robotics. They literally painted DJI drones green and claimed that it was using American software. It took less than 2 days to figure out that none of that was true and while the GUI looked different, it still reported data back to the PRC. Now, DJI has multiple shell companies. Anzu, Cogito Tech, Skyrover, Talos Drones. ALL are rebranded/repainted DJIs. All trying to get around the pending sanctions.

Talos Drones is an American company and a DJI affiliate. Except now they have their own drone called the T60X. It is a rebranded DJI Agras. Their HQ is California. One of their 2 locations is March Air Reserve Base. Already embedded. Talos is owned by SkyHigh Technologies, based out of New Jersey. SkyHigh bought out McAfee Enterprise in 2021 and rebranded to Trellix and Skyhigh security. They manage cloud security.

Cogito Tech's HQ is in New York.
Anzu's HQ is Texas.
Skyrover's HQ isn't advertised, but it's rumored to be in Malaysia. They're owned by Knowact Robot, a company who does have a Malaysia HQ.



Same goes for T-Motor. T-Motor's parent company and all subsidiaries were put on the SDN list. We've used them for years. Cannot purchase a single T-Motor product so we started digging. About half the drone industry has T-Motor rebranding motors for them. Mad Components, CubeMars, Ligpower, and about 20 other companies are TMotor shell companies to try and get around the ban. Heck, there's even an American company down in Florida who offers their own motors but who are simply manufacturing in T-Motors plant and rebranding with their name (Lumenier). They have finally started trying to move their production stateside because they couldn't sell anything.

To go off on a bit of a tangent:

In our industry, it isn't our Gov that's hurting our supply chain. We are trying to be less dependent on foreign countries. American drone component companies are standing up literally in spades. But we all suffer the same fate right now. Supply chain. Can we build motors here? Absolutely. Where do the magnets come from? China. Can we build batteries here? Yes. Where do most of the lithium ion cells come from? China. And right now there is a delay on getting those components because Russia and the Ukraine are buying them all.

Since Russia has such a close relationship to China, they are buying up components that were already sold to other non-Russian companies and the PRC is helping them do it. The few American companies who have knowingly sold to Russia have been put on notice. We're at a point right now that if they didn't cease and desist immediately after getting told to, it's likely they'll get sanctioned or shut down. Quite frankly though... I think the Ukraine should be on the same list.

Did you know that right now the US Gov is going to start buying drones from the Ukraine because we all can't supply them fast enough? They're buying our parts (which is why we can't supply quickly enough), building drones, and then selling them back to us.

 

[Dusty]

I hope this report of Rams in Russia is not true.

It's a Ram but it does not mean it was sold through a US unit, and probably not since there's a US economic quarantine for Russia. Stellates Europe sells export Rams in the European market and probably sold the one pictured. This could've been a pass through from another country that has favorable ties to the Russian Federation. Because of the current economic situation when Russia needs vehicles they will pick them up wherever they can.

Regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33-gallon fuel tank, 18” wheels. Build Date: 3 June 2018. Now at 134959 miles.

 

[RWlRAM]

The world is a Global market today.
Everything made anywhere can end up anywhere.
HD using Japanese electronics for years.
If anyone looked at any footage of the Taliban you saw them driving dozens of Toyota pickup trucks.
How does it all get to these places?
Shell companies and backdoor contracts.
Doesn't look good but it's the almighty $$$$$$$$$ at work.
Sad but seriously doubt it can be stopped.

 

[nlambert182]

The Taliban use Toyota Hilux because those are the trucks that are already available in their country. I routinely leased the same trucks for troops and contractors. It was the only thing available. Little different in this case, I think.

 

[Jesten]

I live in Sweden and last year over 200 Ram’s was reported stolen. Many thought to have been smuggled to Russia through neighboring Eastern European countries. As a result the insurance costs for gen 5 went straight up…

 

[Forsakentalon]

LOL. It's internal sabotage. They won't go far if they're hemi etorque.