.jpg)
Autor fotografie: Ministry of Defence of Ukraine / Public domain|Popisek: Drone Geran 2 (Illustrative photo)
Russia has been using Iran's Shahed 136 under the designation Geran-2 for its attacks in Ukraine for almost two years. While the Iranian and Russian UAVs do not differ much in shape, the major changes are in the internal components.
Around the autumn of last year, the Russian military began a new drone warfare strategy. Rather than primarily attacking military equipment on the battlefield or strategic positions directly with drones like the Ukrainian FPV drone operatives it has been sending dozens and in some cases hundreds of suicide drones over the Ukrainian skies at night, with the aim of destroying everything indiscriminately, be it military or civilian objects. The mass drone attacks are therefore, according to the Ukrainian military, aimed at creating panic among the country's population and destabilising the infrastructure in cities, especially Kiev, where most of them are oriented. It is the Geran-2 drones, which are based on Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs, that the Russian military is using for these mass night attacks.
Russian Geran-2 improved version of Iranian Shahed-136
Russia first started using Iranian Shahed-136 drones in its attacks in Ukraine in 2022. This is a unique opportunity for the Iranians to test military technology in the form of drones in combat conditions and then use this experience for marketing. In addition to the Shahed 136, another Iranian UAV, the reconnaissance Mohajer 6, has also been seen on the Ukrainian battlefield. The Shahed 136 UAV was developed by the Persian company Shahed Aviation and was first used militarily by the Iranians in 2019 in an attack on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. The droneShahed 136 has a length of 3.5 m and a wingspan of 2.5 m, weighs 200 kg and can carry up to 40 kg of ammunition, according to the US Army's ODIN database . The maximum speed of the Shahed is 185 km/h and the drone's range is expected to be between 1,000-2,500 km.
.jpg "Hossein Shahbodaghi / Wikimedia commons / CC-BY")
The Russian type of Shahed 136 drone, referred to as Geran-2, differs in several design elements, but mainly in the UAV's internal equipment. While the Shahed 136 is composed of a single body and an explosive warhead, according to the Defense Express website the Geran-2 drone is assembled from multiple parts. Available photos of Russian Gerans from Ukraine show that at least the wings consist of two connected parts that are assembled into one united structure. However, the internal composition of the drones should be different. While the wing cavity of the Shahed is filled with a structure that resembles honeycombs, the Geran-2 probably has polystyrene inside the wings.
The main advantage of the Geran-2 over the older Shahed 136, according to Ukrainian military website Militarnyi, is the KOMETA antenna, which allows the drone to receive navigation signals from the Russian GLONASS global navigation satellite system and avoid Ukrainian jammer arms. The development of GLONASS began during the Soviet era in the second half of the 1970s, and worldwide coverage was completed in 2011. GLONASS operates on the principle of 24 satellites orbiting the Earth's surface at an altitude of approximately 19 000 kilometres. The Shahed 136 drone is also likely to be the basis for NORINCO's Chinese ASN-301 UAV, which was on display at the Eurosatory 2024 defense technology fair in Paris.
Russia will soon launch its own production of Geran-2 drones
Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Geran components have been manufactured in Iran and then sent to Russia. This situation should change in the future. According to the Iranian cyber news website, which declassified the email account of the company that sells drones from Iran to Russia, Sahara Thunder, mass production of Gerans is expected to begin as early as next year and this would not require the import of parts from the Shiite superpower. In March 2024, a video was posted by the social media accounts Telegram and X presenting a factory designed to mass produce Geran-2 drones.
However, it is not clear from the footage or available information whether the machines in the video are already composed of exclusively Russian components or still Iranian parts. In the video attached above, the publication of which was certainly intended to be intimidating for Ukrainian forces, dozens of Geran-2 drones can be seen, most of which have black paint. It is these dark models that Forbes says are supposed to help the machines' stealth qualities, but the dark paint job is also likely to have a simpler explanation. Since the Geran-2 suicide attacks take place primarily at night, the black drones will be much less visible than the white versions of this Russian UAV.
Ukrainian SIM cards found in Russian Geran-2 UAVs
In early December 2023, the Ukrainian web portal Ukrainska Pravda published information that Ukrainian SIM cards of the country's largest mobile operator, KyivStar, were found in downed Russian Geran-2 drones. According to experts, the SIM cards are meant to help Moscow track the drone's location and flight path. The Ukrainian and Russian sides did not comment on the information once the SIM cards were discovered. In the opinion of the Ukrainian company "Victory Drone", it should be only an experiment of the Russian army. There are several reasons why Russia might want to use the Ukrainian SIM card.
According to the web portal The Warzone, through the use of these SIM cards Russia may be able to locate drones even after they have been shot down. Another reason may be the more precise flight of the drone caused by the mobile network to which the drone can be connected using the SIM card. In fact, it is the SIM card connected to phone networks that helps the drone's accuracy due to strong wirelesss connections in the city, as the satellite signal is more easily interfered in the area of many buildings. In fact, the SIM card is connected to 4G or 5G networks whose waves are able to pass through buildings.
Further information and justification as to why the Ukrainian SIM cards were found inside the Russian Geran-2s was provided by the Ukrainian military in mid-March 2024. According to the Ukrainian military, SIM cards were found in mobile modems on the remains of the downed drones, which were connected to video cameras temporarily attached to the drone's body. Therefore, by using the SIM card, the video from the camera could be transmitted via the 4G network to the Russian operator without the signal being interfered with by jamming stations. However, attaching the camera to this suicide drone brings another advantage, namely the new possibility of Russian spying on Ukrainian territory.
As a suicide UAV, the Geran does not normally include any sensors or camera, which are commonly found on FPV or reconnaissance drones. Geran-2 is programmed to a predetermined set of coordinates before taking off and then flies to its target location. This is also reflected in its price, which is much lower compared to other Russian drones and, according to the U.S. military, is around $20,000 apiece (about 463,660 CZK). However, not only in price, but also in range which is up to 2 000 km and substantially surpasses many of the Russian reconnaissance UAVs. Therefore, if the Geran-2 drones are equipped in the future with a camera capable of transmitting video footage to operatives in Russia, this relatively inexpensive UAV would become a potentially huge security threat to Ukraine, as well as other countries.