Sanctions Evaded: Russia Acquires Austrian Barrel Forging Equipment

A Spanish company has circumvented international sanctions to deliver a 110-ton forging machine to Russia, which can potentially be used in the production of artillery barrels.

The Insider reported on this.

According to the investigation, the Spanish firm Forward Technical Trade SL supplied a used CNC forging machine – manufactured by the Austrian company GFE (Gesellschaft für Fertigungstechnik und Entwicklung Schmalkalden e.V.) – to the Russian company AZK Group.

This information came to light through court documents, as AZK Group was engaged in a legal dispute with customs authorities over whether the imported machine was a radial forging machine (as classified by customs) or a rotary forging machine (as claimed by the importer).

According to the documents, the Spanish supplier sold the 110-ton machine – manufactured in 1983 – to the Russian side for $1.3 million.

The company, which has a sole shareholder, carried out the shipment on behalf of the Hong Kong-based Scorpion’s Holding Group Limited, with the equipment departing from the Spanish city of Albacete. In Russia, the delivery was processed by the Nizhny Novgorod customs office.

A Forging Machine for the Defense Industry

The production of large-caliber artillery barrels requires complex, heavy-duty machines capable of forging long barrels. These machines must provide extremely high precision to create rifling grooves, which directly affect the ballistic performance and firing accuracy of the finished weapon.

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), in its report, notes that Austrian-made GFM machines for radial forging of artillery barrels are suitable for such purposes and have been used – first by the Soviet Union and later by Russia – since the 1970s.

For example, since 1975, a rotary forging machine model SXP 5 has been in operation at a plant in Perm. In total, 26 rotary forging machines were imported during that period.

Russia is unable to manufacture radial forging machines domestically. Back in 2011, Nikolai Bukhvalov, the general director of the Perm-based enterprise Motovilikha Plants, stated that they might be able to build their own radial forging machine by 2017, at a cost of RUB 1.5 billion. However, since then, no progress in this direction has been reported.

The value of such machines is hard to overstate, as the massive consumption of artillery shells – which in just a few years has depleted all Soviet-era stockpiles – leads to rapid barrel wear. As a result, barrels require constant replacement, and their shortage leads to reduced accuracy and, ultimately, the failure of the weapon system in combat.

The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine previously reported that China had been supplying machinery and specialty chemicals to more than 20 Russian defense industry enterprises. In order to evade sanctions, various tactics have been employed, including mislabeling, deceptive naming, and the use of intermediary shell companies, through which everything necessary for microelectronics production is being delivered from China to Russia.