Russia unveils Geran-5 drone missile already compared to Ukrainian Flamingo
Photo: Russia unveils the Geran-5 drone missile for the first time (video screenshot)
Russia showed its new Geran-5 cruise missile-drone for the first time during the May 9 parade, a weapon it has already used for strikes against Ukraine, according to Defense Express.
According to analysts, footage of the missile was likely filmed at a launch site located in Russia’s Oryol region.
Online reports have already compared the Geran-5 to Ukraine’s FP-5 Flamingo and Germany’s V-1 flying bomb.
But compared to the Flamingo, Russia’s Geran-5 is smaller, has a significantly smaller warhead (90 kg versus the FP-5’s 1-ton warhead), and has a three times shorter range — 1,000 km.
The new Russian development is, in fact, a copy of a copy. Analysts note that Russian specialists were inspired by Iran’s Karrar design, copying the wing placement solution. Although they gave the wings a somewhat different shape.
The Iranian Karrar, in turn, can largely be called a copy of the American MQM-107 Streaker target drone.
Photo: Screenshots from the Moscow parade video (Defense Express)
Photo: Screenshots from the Moscow parade video (Defense Express)
Photo: Screenshots from the Moscow parade video (Defense Express)
Photo: Screenshots from the Moscow parade video (Defense Express)
The Russians equipped their cruise missile with an air-to-air missile, specifically the R-73.
Thanks to its jet engine, which allows the missile to reach speeds of around 600 km/h, the Geran-5 poses a threat, including in terms of overloading air defense systems if it enters more or less mass production, analysts emphasize.
The Geran-5 was built using components maximally unified with other models in the same family. It includes both Chinese-made parts, including the engine, and components manufactured in Western countries, particularly the United States and Germany.
For navigation, the cruise missile is fitted with a Kometa antenna. Ukraine’s Defense Forces recently struck the VNIIR-Progress plant that manufactures this component.
Ukraine reacts
Ukrainian presidential adviser and former strategic industries minister Oleksandr Kamyshin said that the new Russian jet-powered missile-drone Geran-5, shown during the Moscow parade, is an attempt to copy Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile.
But the Russian development significantly lags behind the Ukrainian one in terms of performance.
According to him, the external similarity between the Russian Geran-5 and the Ukrainian FP-5 Flamingo is explained by Russia’s attempt to copy the Ukrainian design.
Kamyshin stressed that the Russian drone has roughly ten times less range and a warhead ten times smaller than the Ukrainian Flamingo.
In the presidential adviser’s assessment, the Geran-5 falls somewhere between Ukraine’s Peklo and Palianytsia missile-drones in terms of capabilities.
“At the 5th year of the big war russia has nothing to show at the parade but a miserable copy of just one of our Ukrainian rocket-drones,” Kamyshin said.
Ukraine’s military intelligence reveals Geran-5 specifications
Earlier, Ukraine’s military intelligence revealed the specifications of the new Russian unmanned aerial vehicle — the jet-powered Geran-5 strike drone capable of flying at speeds of up to 600 km/h.
According to intelligence data, the drone resembles the Iranian Karrar, while most of its modules are identical to modules used in other Alabuga-made Geran drones. The enemy is also exploring the possibility of launching the drone from a Su-25 attack aircraft.
