"Mopeds" become a thing of the past: Russia makes "Shaheds" jet-powered. What threat does this pose to Ukraine?
Since autumn 2022, "Shahed-136" kamikaze attack drones (known as "Geran-2" in the Russian version) have been the primary and most numerous means for the Russian army to conduct air strikes on the Ukrainian rear. Now, their era is coming to an end. Instead, jet-powered counterparts are entering the arena, which are significantly harder for Ukrainian air defense to shoot down. Thanks to this weapon, Russia has already been able to block Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, writes BBC News Ukraine.
Shahed-136 drones (pictured) with gasoline engines are becoming a thing of the past. They are being replaced by jet-powered drones with artificial intelligence elements, which are significantly more dangerous. Photo: Scott Peterson / Getty Images
During the shelling of Kyiv on the night of August 4-5, the proportion of jet UAVs in the total salvo for the first time exceeded half, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. That night, the Russians launched 115 attack drones, almost 85% of which were successfully shot down or suppressed.
The next day, Russia launched 101 "Shaheds," and again, more than half of them were jet-powered. The shoot-down rate fell even lower—to 65%.
In fact, Russia is developing new types of "Shaheds" to halt the trend observed during 2025-26, when Ukraine managed to raise the enemy's attack UAV shoot-down rate to an extremely high 90-95%.
This was achieved, in part, due to the rapid development of Ukraine's industry for anti-aircraft interceptor drones.
Cargo ships targeted by Geran-4 jet drones in the port of Mykolaiv. Since July of this year, Russia has systematically attacked vessels near the Ukrainian coast and effectively blocked Black Sea exports. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense
They easily intercepted conventional "Shaheds" ("Geran-2") in the air, which were equipped with low-power gasoline engines allowing them to reach speeds of only up to 150-200 km/h.
Not too high an altitude (up to 2 km), relatively low speed, and the lack of online control capability due to insufficient access to Starlink led to the gradual end of the "Shahed" era.
Now, these "mopeds," named for their characteristic engine buzzing sound, are becoming a thing of the past. But Russia has already found a replacement for them.
New Jet Threat
Simply put, a jet drone is one that has a small turbojet engine instead of a conventional internal combustion engine. This allows the drone to fly 2-2.5 times faster, meaning it has a higher chance of overcoming air defense systems, which sometimes may not have enough time to deploy the necessary means for interception.
In fact, these are ersatz cruise missiles, but significantly cheaper, smaller in size, and less powerful.
In the course of this war, Ukraine was the first to use such jet UAVs, albeit under the name "missile-drones." Here one can mention the publicly presented "Peklo," "Bars," and "Ruta."
However, Russia was the first to see the potential for their mass application. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is already mass-producing about 500 such jet drones per month and plans to increase their share to 50% of the total number of "Shaheds."
According to Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Russia's defense order for 2026 includes almost 100,000 "Shahed"-type drones, analogues, and imitator drones.
And while during 2025 – early 2026, the use of jet "Shaheds" was not massive or regular, starting from the second half of the current year, their number began to grow, and launches became almost daily.
During the shelling on August 5 and 6, Russia launched more than 50 jet "Shaheds," as indicated in the Air Force report. During the attack on July 24, there were about 30 such drones.
The deputy commander of the anti-Shahed battalion Darknode, callsign "Artes," told BBC News Ukraine that servicemen are observing an increase in the proportion of Russian jet UAVs.
"The share of jet attack drones relative to the total number of launches is growing: according to our observations, it can range from 25% to 50% of all daily launches," he noted.
They hit various targets. On land, they often strike locomotives; at sea, they target grain tankers. They also attack substations, warehouses, hangars. Production facilities, infrastructure objects, power and energy generation facilities, and air bases have also fallen under the attack of jet "Shaheds."
Types of Jet "Shaheds"
For strikes on Ukraine, the Russian army uses a whole line of jet drones belonging to the "Shahed" ("Geran") family.
"Geran-3" is most similar in glider shape to the classic "Shahed-136" ("Geran-2"). It is based on an Iranian development, presented in 2023 under the name "Shahed-238."
This is a drone in the shape of a "delta wing" without a tail section, 3.5 m long and 3 m wide, with an integrated turbojet engine. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia uses Chinese Telefly JT80 engines, which are sold on the open market and can cost up to 24-30 thousand dollars per unit.
This engine allows "Geran-3" to reach speeds of up to 300-350 km/h.
An even more powerful modification of this drone is the "Geran-4."
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia began combat use of this UAV only in May of this year.
The first jet-powered version, named "Geran-3," has a small turbojet engine and reaches speeds of up to 350 km/h. Photo: Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
"Geran-4" has the same delta wing shape and dimensions as a regular Shahed, but with a reinforced fuselage structure and improved aerodynamics. This is due to the use of a much more powerful jet engine (according to GUR data, these are Chinese Telefly LX-WP-160 or TF-TJ2000A).
They can accelerate the drone to almost 500 km/h.
The reinforced fuselage specifically ensures the structural integrity for flights at such speeds and with high overloads during maneuvers.
The latest modification of jet drones from the "Shahed" family, namely "Geran-5," differs fundamentally from its "relatives." It is likely built on the basis of the Iranian Karrar drone and visually resembles a conventional cruise missile.
"Geran-5" can be launched from an aircraft and reaches speeds of up to 600 km/h.
This missile-drone has a length of 6 m and a width of 5.5 m. The warhead is up to 90 kg.
This version is currently the rarest to be used for strikes on Ukraine. Russians prefer to use jet "Geran-3" and "Geran-4," which have a warhead of about 50 kg.
"Geran-4" is similar in shape but has a reinforced body, better aerodynamics, and higher speed — up to 500 km/h. Photo: Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
The greatest damage is caused by these drones in the "seeker" modification (from the English "seeker").
Such "Gerans" have automatic target recognition and acquisition. Russian sources show their active use in recent weeks for strikes on ships in the Black Sea near the Ukrainian coast.
According to Serhii Beskrestnov (callsign "Flash"), an advisor to the President, such "Gerans" are equipped with several cameras operating in different modes, as well as a mesh modem, through which the pilot controls the drone online via radio communication.
"If the 'Seeker' pilot, for example, locks onto a locomotive from a distance of a kilometer, then a low-power electronic warfare system on the locomotive will not protect it. Machine vision algorithms will guide the 'Seeker' to the target without operator involvement," explains "Flash."
"Geran-5" is effectively a cruise missile that can be launched by a military aircraft. It can accelerate up to 600 km/h. Photo: Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
This works as follows: thanks to its high speed, the jet "Geran" overcomes the lines of Ukrainian air defense, and as it approaches a moving target – a ship, locomotive, or car – the UAV system identifies and locks onto the target, the operator confirms it, and then the drone automatically attacks the target.
Since late June, the Russian Ministry of Defense has published about 40 videos of the use of jet "Gerans" with the "seeker" system for strikes on Ukrainian targets. In addition to ships, aircraft, unmanned boats, stores, warehouses, locomotives, gas stations, trucks, and power substations have been targeted.
Are There Any Drawbacks?
Fast, low-observable, high-precision. The deputy commander of the Darknode battalion, callsign "Artes," calls jet drones "guided cruise missiles."
But even this weapon has several drawbacks. And that's in addition to the price, which is 2-3 times higher than conventional kamikaze UAVs.
"First — distance: the higher the speed of the jet engine of a 'Shahed,' the more fuel it needs. And the more fuel it needs, the smaller the payload the drone will carry or the shorter distance it will fly," explains the serviceman.
According to information on jet "Geran" strikes, their operational range is up to 500 km, which is why they most often attack frontline and border territories of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk regions. In the case of a mesh-system controlled UAV, this distance can increase, but then the drone needs a repeater every 100 km for operation.
The second drawback is maneuverability: at high speeds, a jet drone physically cannot perform sharp maneuvers.
If it needs to circle in a sector of interest, it has to slow down — and this precisely creates a convenient window for interception.
According to "Artes," the Darknode battalion has shot down over 3000 "Shahed"-type UAVs, dozens of which were jet-powered. Most of them were destroyed by classic interceptor drones, which was the result of "correctly chosen tactics and the opportune moment for engagement."
How to Counter
So, how can jet drones be countered? Ukraine uses anti-aircraft missile systems like Vampire, fighter aircraft, mobile fire groups with MANPADS, as well as interceptor drones for this purpose.
For the latter, however, this is quite a difficult task. The fact is that interceptor drones were designed to counter "conventional" Shaheds, and their maximum flight speed is up to 250-300 km/h.
But jet UAVs can reach speeds of up to 500 and even 600 km/h. Moreover, they fly much higher — up to 9 km — and many of them are controlled online by an operator.
The company "Wild Hornets," which produces the Sting interceptor, says it has already shot down jet drones.
"Currently, we can intercept about 90% of conventional 'Shaheds,' and about 10% of jet-powered ones, if we consider interceptions specifically by interceptor drones," a representative of the manufacturer, who asked not to be named, told the BBC.
Successful use of the Zirka interceptor from the NOCTIS company against jet UAVs is also known.
Its peculiarity is that this drone has computer vision that analyzes the video stream in real-time, automatically detects the "Shahed," suggests the target to the operator for confirmation, and then switches to automatic tracking and guidance mode.
All this significantly increases the accuracy of hitting a high-speed aerial target and allows operation within a short "time window," i.e., in a situation where the jet drone flies past the air defense positions for only a few minutes.
To catch up with such "Gerans," Ukrainian interceptors must also be jet-powered.
Such developments are already being tested, says Darknode battalion deputy commander "Artes."
"Right now, a number of Ukrainian teams have already developed and are testing high-speed and autonomous interceptor drones, including those with jet engines. I wouldn't want to disclose details at all, but I can assure you that soon we will see the first results and move to systematic interception of jet Shaheds," he is confident.
The "Wild Hornets" company also expects that "an effective solution against jet 'Shaheds' will be found approximately by October."
The main difficulty is not in making the anti-aircraft interceptor drone faster, say the manufacturers.
"The main parameters for 'Shahed' interceptors are speed, flight altitude, and time spent in the air. It is important to find an optimal balance of these characteristics," notes the company representative.
According to him, the flight time of a jet "Shahed" interceptor should be up to 20 minutes, but the speed must increase by at least a third, and the effective operating altitude by several kilometers.
However, a higher drone speed usually reduces its time in the air. Therefore, simply making a conventional interceptor faster will not work.
"Wild Hornets" state that jet UAV interceptors need to be created "almost from scratch," and there are "certain difficulties" here.
Ukrainian developers are already working on a solution.