Dallas: Russians May Have Used Austrian Diodes in Missile Guidance Systems

Russian military-industrial companies could have used Austrian laser diodes in air-to-air missile guidance systems.

The private analytical and intelligence company Dallas reported on this.

The manufacturer in question is Roithner Lasertechnik GmbH. After receiving this information, the Ukrinform news agency reached out to the company for a comment.

On its website, Dallas published a document allegedly obtained “from a reliable source close to the Russian company TRV-Engineering,” which “confirms the possible use of Austrian products from Roithner Lasertechnik GmbH in the production of weapons.”

In the disclosed official letter, dated July 15, 2025, the director of ‘TRV-Engineering,’ Mikhail Kolesnikov, informs the director of the ‘Azov Optical-Mechanical Plant,’ Vasiliy Aktsyonov, that “according to the manufacturer of the RLT1060-100G diodes produced by Roithner Lasertechnik GmbH, in the quantity of 28 units under invoice No. 2838 dated 15.02.2023, the initial testing of the semiconductor wafer has been completed.”

It was also noted that, if the declared parameters are confirmed, the assembly and packaging of the diodes will be initiated without delay, with the expected completion date for the product being July 28, 2025.
Both Russian companies are closely linked to the corporation Tactical Missiles Armament and are part of its structure. This is the main missile manufacturer in Russia.

Dallas analysts suggested that the laser diodes mentioned in this material were likely “needed for the improvement of the guidance heads of Russian air-to-air missiles.”

Manufacturer’s Comment

In a comment to Ukrinform, the CEO of Roithner Lasertechnik GmbH, Andreas Roithner, denied any contacts with Russian companies. He stated that the company had been misled by a buyer from Hong Kong regarding the end use of the ordered laser diodes.

In February 2023, the Hong Kong company United Electronics Group Company Limited ordered 50 RLT1060-100G laser diodes, but in April 2023, only 22 units were delivered, which were in stock at the German general distributor. Due to technical issues with the diode manufacturer, the remaining 28 units could not be delivered at that time.

Roithner Lasertechnik assures that they only learned of the possible transfer of the laser diodes from the first batch to Russian weapons manufacturers after the Dallas publication. They also stated that they had been unaware of the imposition of U.S. sanctions on the Hong Kong company United Electronics Group Company Limited, which occurred after the contract was signed, in December 2023.

Roithner Lasertechnik confirmed that after the publication of that information, they had terminated the contract with the company and ceased any further deliveries of the remaining 28 contracted diodes.