It is actually far scarier that they are able to bypass any sanctions and buy everything they need to make weapons. And it seems US government can’t do much about it.
As long as these are commonly available components, made in the millions, it's absolutely impossible to stop Russia and Iran from sourcing the thousands they need.
Indeed, the microcontroller pictured in the article seems to be a fairly unremarkable DSP from TI: https://www.ti.com/product/TMS320F28335. I can buy them from over a dozen online stores in the uk for around £20 a piece.
Those components are mostly dual-use and not that exciting.
And they probably don't get as many of them as they like, and they have to design around their lack of access. All of that already imposes costs on them, which is felt in the drones being more expensive and less capable than otherwise possible.
> the microchips and other small devices ending up in so many of the Iranian and Russian drones are not only inexpensive and widely available, they are also easily hidden.
I think the fact they can bypass sanctions to get these sorts of parts is expected- after all, they are the ones securing their borders. The OP is right, it would be more worrisome from a military perspective if they further had the capabilities to produce all this themselves.
