2,800 drones in one month: Why Russia is flooding Ukraine with jet-powered UAVs
Jet-powered drone (photo: open sources)
Russia has significantly increased its use of jet-powered drones in attacks on Ukraine. Moscow is deploying them in large numbers in an attempt to exhaust and overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses, according to The Washington Post.
In August, Russian forces used more than 2,800 jet-powered drones. These included the new Geran-4 and Geran-5 models, which are based on the Iranian Shahed.
The new drones can reach speeds of around 400 km/h, nearly twice as fast as previous versions. As a result, Ukrainian forces have less time to intercept them.
Russia increases drone production
According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, jet-powered drones already account for more than half of the drones Russia uses to exhaust Ukraine's air defenses.
In just four days, Russia launched around 1,500 drones of various types. Approximately 800 of them were jet-powered.
Ukrainian presidential adviser on defense technologies Serhii Beskrestnov estimates Russia's production capacity at around 3,000 new drones per month.
According to him, Moscow plans to produce between 36,000 and 40,000 drones a year. Around 60% of production could consist of jet-powered models.
The rest will consist of older Shahed-136 and Geran-2 drones.
Why the new drones are dangerous
Due to their higher speed, the Geran-4 and Geran-5 are more difficult to intercept with air defense systems. In some cases, Ukrainian forces have to deploy combat aircraft.
The growing number of such drones is placing additional strain on Ukraine's air defenses. Russia uses drones and ballistic missiles simultaneously, complicating the work of air defense systems.
At the same time, Ukraine is increasing production of its own long-range drones and improving its capabilities to counter Russian drones.
As is known, US-Ukraine negotiations on a license to produce missiles for Patriot systems are ongoing, but launching domestic production will take time.
One of the main problems remains a shortage of anti-aircraft missiles. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on the US to provide Ukraine with additional missiles for Patriot systems.
