Thread by @HoansSolo

‘China accounts for 90% of Russia’s microelectronics imports and 70% of its machine tools. These inputs have enabled Russia to churn out cruise missiles and drones. China’s support has had surprising effects elsewhere on the battlefield: a jump in Chinese excavator imports in 2022 helped Russia build formidable defence..’
from @TheEconomisteconomist.com/international/…

‘Just as important, and less well known, is the booming exchange of technology. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have created abundant opportunities to swap technical know-how.…[Iran] gains real-time insight into the effectiveness of its weapons against Western defences, while Russia learns from Iranian advisers how to conduct air attacks that mix drones and missiles. Russia is sharing information about its jamming of drone-control and gps signals with Iran…It is also sending the Islamic Republic captured Western kit, which will probably be stripped for technical examination.’

‘China’s strategists have been studying the performance of himars, landmines and drones—capabilities it expects to encounter in a war over Taiwan—in the Ukraine war…’

‘Russia is willing to help China build missile-warning and defence systems...It reckons there is now significant co-operation in space, too. This is not confined to China. Russia is helping Iran’s space programme, which is widely considered a front for developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (icbms). North Korea has also been promised unspecified technological assistance by Mr Putin…his could include helping North Korea develop re-entry vehicles for its ICBMs.’