Russia's jet-powered Geran drones outpace Ukraine defences — SkimNews
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- Russia has deployed Geran-4 and Geran-5 jet-powered drones reaching 500 and 600 km/h respectively, roughly twice as fast as the piston-engine Geran-3 at 370 km/h, and soaring to about 6,000 metres
- Both new drones carry cameras, radio links, extra missiles, and anti-jamming equipment, and can climb beyond the reach of machine guns or shoulder-fired weapons
- Each unit costs more than US$100,000 — versus about US$20,000 for the original Iranian-designed Shahed — and Russia's two factories produce as many as 3,000 Geran-4 and Geran-5 units per month
- Ukraine's propeller-driven Wild Hornet interceptors, which destroyed 97% of older Gerans by honing in on piston-engine noise, cannot catch the jet-powered successors
- Russian engineers built intricate sanctions-evading supply chains that source thousands of components from the United States, Germany, and other Western countries, according to analysts
- Ukraine is racing countermeasures: the low-cost JetKiller interceptor drone that collides with Gerans during slow-down phases, AI-guided automated machine-gun turrets, and a small interceptor rocket called Nika
- Russia is already modifying the Geran-5 with the jet engine moved inside the fuselage to reduce drag and increase speed and range
Why it matters: Ukraine's cheap-interceptor model — Wild Hornets at a few thousand dollars each knocking down 97% of Iranian-style Gerans — has collapsed against jet-powered successors flown above small-arms reach. With Russia producing up to 3,000 advanced Gerans a month and Ukraine's main remaining counter being scarce US$4-million Patriot missiles, the cost-exchange ratio in Moscow's favour is widening sharply.
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