Russia steps up use of Geran-5 jet drones against Ukraine — NDTV
The Russian Federation, an aggressor state, is using jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles of the Geran family against Ukraine. According to experts surveyed, they can reach speeds of up to 600 km/h and fly at altitudes of up to 5–6 km. As NDTV World reports, Russia uses such aircraft on a large scale in an attempt to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defense and deplete its stocks of interceptor missiles.
Speed and flight altitude
Katerina Bondar, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the jet-powered Geran-3, Geran-4 and Geran-5 modifications differ from early Shaheds by replacing the piston engine with a propeller with a compact turbojet engine. According to her, the Geran-4 can accelerate to 500 km/h, while the Geran-5 can reach about 600 km/h; the range of different versions is from 450 to more than 950 km.
In Bondar’s view, Ukraine’s counter-drone system had previously been largely designed for slower propeller-driven UAVs. Mobile fire groups equipped with heavy machine guns, vehicle-mounted firing systems and FPV interceptors effectively countered such targets, but jet-powered aircraft make interception more difficult due to their speed and altitude.
Deputy Commander of Ukraine’s Air Force Yurii Cherevashenko told Reuters that the danger of these drones also lies in their ability to change their route and flight altitude at the operator’s command. Bondar added that the new variants may have onboard electronic warfare equipment capable of disrupting the video link of interceptors during the final phase.
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Mass launches and Ukraine’s response
According to data cited by NDTV World, Russia launched about 450 jet drones in June and 2,850 in August. In some attacks, their share reached about 70%. Bondar noted that the scale of production allows Russia to use decoys, plot routes from different directions and change flight altitudes in order to exhaust defenses.
Ukrainian military personnel found wreckage of jet-powered UAVs as early as January, and in July, Ukrainian military personnel invited manufacturers to test a new generation of interceptor drones. According to Reuters, some of these aircraft were difficult to control at speeds above 400 km/h, and some crashed in fields and forests.
According to the outlet, Ukraine is considering cheap guided missiles, transmitting false GPS data to attacking drones, and head-on collisions between slower interceptors and targets. Bondar believes that the response should be a multilayered system, including fast jet interceptors, strikes on production and component supply chains, as well as the development of electronic warfare capabilities.
