Russians are sharing a video taken by a Geran-2 drone. The Geran-2 is, of course, a Russian-made version of the Iranian loitering munition Shahed-136. These drones can reach all corners of Ukraine, and are used to attack both civilian and military infrastructure.
Russians are still bringing improvements to their Geran-2 drones. Image credit: National Police of Ukraine via Wikimedia (CC BY 4.0)
Probably the biggest advantage of the Shahed-136 was the cost of these drones. It was estimated that one such drone costs about 20 thousand dollars. This means that they can be launched in huge swarms, as such attacks cost the aggressor less than a few missiles would. Also, it just doesn’t make sense for Ukraine to shoot down these drones with Patriot missiles, because they should be saved for more powerful targets.
When Russia began producing the Geran-2, its version of the Shahed-136, it was assumed that they would simply copy the Iranian drone. However, they set out to improve it. They slightly changed its body, and installed a heavier warhead.
The latter improvement means that the Geran-2 has a shorter range, but that doesn’t matter because it can still reach all corners of Ukraine. Since they manufacture the Geran-2 drones themselves, Russians can provide them with different warheads for different missions. There are drones filled with tungsten shot, and some Geran-2s have 52 kg thermobaric warheads.
Russians also installed additional protection against jamming on the Geran-2. However, it seems that the defenders of Ukraine have already found an antidote for this, because many Geran-2s get lost and return to Russia, fall short of their targets or even fly to Belarus.
These improvements greatly increased the price of the Geran-2. According to experts’ calculations, one such drone now costs about 80 thousand dollars. But Russians do not stop improving them. Now they are sharing videos filmed by a Geran-2, which means that these loitering munitions now have cameras.
Russians decided that since these drones were flying all over Ukraine, they could also do reconnaissance. Normally, Geran-2 and Shahed-136 loitering munitions do not have any cameras, because they don’t need them for target acquisition or anything. But now Geran-2 will transmit video feedback, which Russians will use for reconnaissance purposes.
Geran-2 drones will spy entire Ukraine, but the most important task of these cameras is the identification of air defence systems. It is safe to say that Russians want to capture the killers of their Geran-2s, as most of these drones are shot down. Identifying the locations of Ukrainian air defence systems and the methods of operation of mobile air defence groups will make it easier for Russia to avoid or destroy them.
And that’s two pieces of bad news. First of all, the Geran-2 is still under development and is very rapidly improving. Secondly, Russians will have even more intelligence and this will have a negative impact on the effectiveness and security of Ukraine’s air defence.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: MAKS 24 on X, Wikipedia
