Jet-powered and very fast drones, the new Russian weapon that sows terror in Kyiv

MoscowWhen last Saturday 38 people died near Kyiv in one of the deadliest Russian attacks of the entire war, many inevitably thought of the unstoppable destructive power of ballistic missiles. But what crashed into the ammunition depot in the suburb of Mila was not a fearsome Iskander, but a new-generation drone. The Geran-4 and Geran-5, the latest Russian evolutions of the Iranian Shahed, have also become the latest headache for Ukrainian air defenses, which see with impotence how, in addition to missiles, they now also have difficulties stopping this new Kremlin weapon.

The main characteristic that distinguishes these new models from their predecessors is the engine. While the one in the older versions is a piston engine and spins a propeller, the Geran-5's runs on a turbojet. This allows it to almost triple the maximum top speed of previous designs to 600 kilometers per hour and reach an average speed of 480 kilometers per hour. Another differential element is the altitude at which it flies: if the original Shaheds try to navigate at a hundred meters above the surface, the Geran-5s usually climb up to 3,000 meters to gain more momentum. At the same time, however, they are capable of combining this with very low-altitude overflights in order to avoid being detected by radars.

At the end of the day, according to experts, it is practically a light missile. In fact, it has the cylindrical shape of a missile, rectangular wings, and a small fin. Its range is nearly a thousand kilometers and, in contrast to the previous generation, which was launched in the direction of pre-programmed coordinates, this new drone can be controlled online by an operator.

The main obstacle for Ukrainian defenses is the speed of these vehicles. A few months ago Kyiv was shooting down more than 95% of conventional drones, but with the appearance of the Geran-5s it only shoots down about 80% of the total. Sources from the Ukrainian government claim that they already have prototypes of devices to deal with them, but, on one hand, they have not yet been able to be tested or perfected and, on the other, they only have hundreds when they would need thousands. Another of the problems is that the radars useful for the Shaheds do not work for the latest generation Gerans. In order to pursue them, the Ukrainian army has put fighter jets on alert, including F-16s. Despite everything, they are confident they will find countermeasures within a month.

Fewer drones, more frequent

The use of jet-powered drones has also led to a new bombing strategy by the Russian army. Instead of sending large swarms of drones at once, it now releases three or four every half hour or so. This allows for extending the period of terror over the attacked cities without the need to strike only at night or to oversaturate anti-aircraft batteries to successfully hit targets. Experts also point out that the devices do not fly directly into the interior of Ukraine, but rather do so as close as possible to the Belarusian border in order to maintain coverage from the mobile phone stations of the Kremlin's allied country.

One of the unknowns is how many jet-powered drones Moscow has and how far it will be able to scale their production. Ukrainian intelligence estimates that it manufactures about 3,000 per month and that, therefore, it would have the capacity to launch a hundred a day. The dates found on the remains of the drones that Russia has used in recent days show that it is not stockpiling them, but rather spending them as soon as they leave the factory.

It is also clear that the Kremlin is betting on this technology if one takes into account that in June it only fired 300, in July there were already 1,500, in August, 2,800, and in four days it has launched 800. The goal, believe the Ukrainian experts, is for them to represent 60% of the total drone production. They also point out that the Geran-5s are more expensive to assemble than the older designs. This explains why Russia has reduced the number of devices in each bombing raid as it invests more resources in the newer models.

Russian military bloggers celebrate that Moscow has temporarily taken the lead in the technological race. “Missiles are more expensive and complex to manufacture, which makes their daily use unfeasible,” asserts the popular Russian military channel Rybar. “The Geran drones, however, offer an immediate operational advantage,” it adds. “In the long term, with a production potential and launch capabilities of up to 5,000 units per month, they can be used to aggravate air defense shortages and intensify attacks on Ukrainian territory.”