russia has modernized its attack UAVs: new characteristics and how it threatens the Ukrainian Armed Forces
18 February 20:18
Since the beginning of 2025, Russia has made significant changes to the design of its strike unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in particular, the Shahed-136, also known as the Geranium-2. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Komersant ukrainskyi reports.
One of the key innovations was the installation of a new warhead weighing up to 90 kg, which significantly increases the destructive power of these drones.
In addition, the internal components were redistributed: the flight controller, power distribution unit, and battery were moved from the nose to the tail, and additional ballast was added to the structure to improve balance and flight stability.
It is noteworthy that a sticker with the words “Agricultural equipment parts” in Chinese and English and a number indicating production in 2024 was found on the interference-proof 8-channel CRP satellite navigation antenna. This may indicate attempts to conceal the true origin of the components and circumvent international sanctions. In particular, the previously used US-made XILINX Kintex-7 programmable logic integrated circuit was replaced by an analog from Beijing Microelectronics Technology in China.
In addition, Russia has begun to equip the previously imitation Gerbera UAVs with warheads, such as the OFBCH-2.5 manufactured by the Basalt enterprise and KZ-6 engineered ammunition. To activate the warhead, a detonator connected to the flight controller via a RUICHI SSR-10DD solid-state relay is used.
Production of an analog of the Shahed-238 jet called the Geranium-3, equipped with a small-sized Tolou-10/13 turbojet twin-circuit engine, which provides a flight speed of up to 550-600 km/h and a range of up to 2500 km, has also been launched.
These upgrades demonstrate Russia’s desire to improve the effectiveness of its strike UAVs by increasing their range, accuracy and destructive power, as well as attempts to circumvent international sanctions by using components from alternative sources.
