The Austrian-made Rotax light aircraft engine recently found in a Russian-operated, Iranian-made Mohajar-6 drone recovered by Ukrainian forces is a model that has been at the center of a puzzling and prolonged theft campaign around the globe, but especially in Europe.
Sophisticated criminals who know how to circumvent airport security measures and find engines that often have low operating hours and surgically remove them have been the hallmark of the widespread thefts.
So many have been stolen just in the U.K. alone that Operation Opal – a national intelligence team focused on organized crime – was called in to investigate the matter, according to the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA), which along with the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) is collating information about the thefts in the U.K.
These facts certainly point to the possibility that Tehran has been getting at least some of its drone engines by having operatives systemically literally rip them out of aircraft in foreign countries.
“Over the years, many Rotax engines have been stolen from light aircraft in the UK,” Jerry Parr, LAA’s head of airworthiness told The War Zone Tuesday in an email. “To the best of my knowledge, there has never been any proof as to where the engines end up or for what purpose.”
Investigators in Norway are also looking into what is being considered sophisticated thefts of Rotax 912 engines.
According to the company website, more than 130 Rotax 912 engines and six Rotax 914 engines have been stolen worldwide between 2000 and 2021. The first was stolen in Germany and the most recent in Florida.
Source: The Drive