Geran: Russia’s 600 km/h drones outrun cheap air defence, and the race for faster interceptor drones begins

Russia’s jet-powered kamikaze drones have become the biggest problem for Ukrainian air defence. They fly at speeds of up to 600 km/h, three times faster than the propeller-driven Geran-2s from which they derive, and far above the speed of most Ukrainian interceptor drones.

Russia began using them in large numbers in July, when their number rose fivefold compared with the previous month. They now make up about 40% of the drones Russia launches, and the Air Force expects the share to reach as much as 80%.

In the overnight attack from Tuesday to Wednesday, Russia launched 167 missiles and drones, 77 of them jet-powered, and hit one of Kyiv’s main thermal power plants, leaving 600,000 people without electricity.

From the Geran-2 to the Geran-5

The first Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 arrived in Russia from Iran in August 2022 and were renamed Geran-1 and Geran-2. They were slow enough for Ukraine to set up a cheap defence with mobile fire groups and interceptor drones, which in February accounted for more than 70% of Shahed shootdowns over Kyiv.

But Russia stopped building the Geran-3 at the latest and increased production of the Geran-4, which flies at 350 to 500 km/h, and of the Geran-5, which is missile-shaped and carries a 90-kilogram warhead. Ukraine’s Air Force forecasts that speeds will rise to 800 to 900 km/h, as its deputy commander, Colonel Yurii Cherevashenko, told Parliament on October 6.

A new version of the Geran-4 is designed for infrastructure. According to Ukraine’s military intelligence service (HUR), it navigates with a US-made magnetometer and an optical system and carries a new 40-kilogram warhead made to cut bridges and high-voltage pylons. Such drones hit Kyiv’s South Bridge at least five times on October 1 and 2, and the North Bridge on October 3.

How Ukraine is responding

While interceptor drones stopped about 90% of the older propeller-driven drones, the rate against the jet drones is much lower. To stop them, Ukraine relies on F-16s, on automated machine-gun turrets and on expensive anti-aircraft missiles that are in short supply worldwide. On Tuesday evening the Ukrainian Air Force reported that it had shot down 77% of the jet-powered drones.

The first answer, the new jet interceptor drone Alexa Spatium, entered service only on August 21. Prototypes such as the Wild Hornets’ STING S and SkyFall’s P1-SUN Jetkiller have shot down a small number of Geran-5s. Fourteen companies are conducting test flights of jet-powered interceptors with the Air Force, and three have given encouraging results. Cherevashenko does not, however, expect deliveries on the scale the country needs before the end of November.