Ukraine seemed prepared for jet-powered drones, but has yet to find a solution. When will its anti-Geran weapon enter service?
The command post of the Ukrainian Posipaky ("Minions") battalion of the 39th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment is a hive of activity. The soldiers are monitoring a large screen showing a map that is constantly updated with markers tracking drones crossing the front line. Their job is to coordinate interceptor-drone crews as they bring down Russian UAVs on the Zaporizhzhia front.
Suddenly, a new blip appears among the dozens already on the screen. It immediately catches the eye, racing along the front line at high speed. It is one of Russia's new jet-powered drones, which began appearing in large numbers in late summer.
Ramses, the battalion commander, orders his team to leave the blip alone. The drone is travelling at 500 km/h – too fast for conventional interceptor drones to bring down.
Within a few months, Russian drones crossing the front line had become a routine occurrence. The flow of UAVs continues unabated, day in, day out. But the tactics are different now: rather than launching large groups of Shaheds, Russia sends jet-powered drones one by one, at intervals of 20-30 minutes. Most get across the front line.
Long-range drones make their way into this sector from a Russian drone base in occupied Donetsk. They fly hundreds of kilometres along the front line towards the Dnipro Reservoir, where the terrain makes interception more difficult.
"They fly undetected across the occupied territories, climbing higher and gaining speed," Ramses said. "Only at the last moment do they appear on our screens, at an altitude of 5,000 to 8,000 m – well beyond the reach of MANPADS and other air defence systems."
Most of the drones are jet-powered Geran-4 loitering munitions derived from Iran's Shahed-136. But Russia is also using the newer Geran-5, which has a radically different design, more akin to a cruise missile.
These drones are piloted by an operator rather than left to fly unguided, making them even more lethal. Since losing access to Starlink, Russian forces have adopted mesh networks that use chains of drones to relay radio signals through the air. Each drone relays the signal to the preceding one, creating a link back to the operator and enabling real-time control.
"In August, Russia used around 2,400 jet-powered Gerans and 2,400 conventional ones in strikes across Ukraine," Ramses said. "Roughly a quarter to a third of those drones passed through our area of responsibility. The proportions are still roughly the same."
The Ukrainian Air Force reports that air defences managed to shoot down only 1,460 Russian jet-powered drones in August. Ukraine's ability to shoot down more jet-powered drones is hampered by a shortage of anti-aircraft missiles and a lack of high-speed interceptor drones.
Ukrainska Pravda explores why jet-powered Gerans are giving Ukraine's air defences such a hard time – and what it could take to stop them.
Russia is putting its faith in jet-powered Gerans
The arrival of jet-powered Gerans has created new opportunities for Russia to launch long-range strikes on Ukraine's rear areas. But scaling up production of the new drones is proving difficult because Russia relies on China for their jet engines.
The high failure rate of Chinese engines poses another challenge. Ukrainska Pravda has obtained a wreckage analysis by a specialist institution, which found that many drones were lost when their engines failed after several hours in the air. Repairing the engines in Russia has helped, but the problem has only been partially resolved.
As of early September, engines supplied by Chinese company Telefly began to be assembled from kits at Russia's drone production centre in Alabuga.
Russia has also begun producing the simplest structural components, suggesting plans to increase output and manufacture more components domestically.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine's Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, told Ukrainska Pravda that the new drones still contain Western electronics, including a US-made flight controller. China supplies other critical components, such as the engine, thermal imaging camera and secure communications systems.
"The Chinese side officially receives all the necessary information about the use of these components in Russian weapons," Vlasiuk said. "Yet the only response we get is that a jam-resistant satellite navigation antenna does not fall within the military goods category and is therefore not subject to the relevant export restrictions.
My latest proposal to our Chinese partners was to reclassify certain components as military goods. But I expect that they will reject it."
Trying to develop interceptor drones
Jet-powered drones are proving extremely difficult to intercept, making them one of Ukraine's most pressing air defence challenges alongside ballistic missiles. In response to this new threat, the first prototypes of high-speed interceptor drones are now reaching military units for testing.
Andrii Hrytseniuk, head of the state-run Brave1 defence technology cluster, told Ukrainska Pravda that work on a solution had begun a year before the jet-powered Geran loitering munitions started appearing en masse.
"Back in the summer of 2025, once interceptor drones had managed to close the sky to conventional Shaheds, we started looking at where to focus our efforts next," he said. "That's when we began funding teams working on solutions to take down jet-powered drones. We're talking not just about high-speed interceptors, but also anti-aircraft missiles and turrets."
Twenty-two teams have been working on high-speed drones to counter jet-powered Gerans. Twelve have received state funding from Brave1. The projects include drones equipped with miniature turbojet engines and electric-powered models with propellers.
Another promising avenue is drones powered by electric ducted fans, which resemble turbojets in design but run on battery power.
Hrytseniuk said seven interceptor drones have been deployed in combat, where they have successfully brought down jet-powered drones.
One interceptor already in service is an unidentified turbojet-powered drone spotted in use by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU). Video footage shows it pursuing and striking a Russian Geran-5, which travels at an average speed of 500-600 km/h.
According to Hrytseniuk, the government has ordered well over 1,000 of the new interceptors. However, production is still being ramped up.
"We will definitely catch up with Russia's drone production, but it won't happen overnight," he noted. "Look at what happened with conventional Shaheds: it took us six months to scale up interceptor production. We're doing everything we can to speed things up this time, but we're not talking days or weeks."
One obstacle to scaling up production of the new interceptors is securing a supply of miniature turbojet engines. But Brave1 is confident that the issue can be resolved.
"These engines weren't available in Ukraine before," Hrytseniuk said. "No private company was making them. In 2025, we launched a programme, set up a funding scheme, made this a separate area of work and started working with manufacturers. Now, 11 Ukrainian companies are producing turbojet engines, and six of them have started mass production. It took more than a year and a half to get here."
As of early October, the new developments had not yet noticeably strengthened Ukraine's air defences. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Air Force is still doing the lion's share of the work to counter jet-powered drones, accounting for half of all successful interceptions. With missiles in short supply, pilots are using risky tactics, approaching the drones at close range to destroy them with their aircraft's cannons.
The next most effective system is the previously unknown Bars drone, which intercepted a third of the Gerans shot down in a month. It is not yet clear, however, whether this is a new interceptor or a long-range drone called Bars that has been adapted to shoot down other drones.
Drones alone are not enough
Officials and military personnel who spoke with Ukrainska Pravda warn against pinning hopes on a silver bullet that will solve all the problems. They say only a combination of different weapons, used effectively, can counter the threat posed by jet-powered Shaheds.
Another priority in tackling jet-powered drones is the development of anti-aircraft missiles that are cheaper than long-range drones and can be produced in large quantities.
Ukraine has several projects at different stages of development. Ukrainska Pravda previously reported that Luch, a Ukrainian armaments design office, had presented two missiles at the MSPO-2026 exhibition: one for the Osa air defence system and a smaller one based on the Barrier anti-tank missile system. Another company unveiled a prototype of the Shershen multi-calibre system. President Zelenskyy also mentioned the Nika small missile, which is undergoing testing.
Ukraine is also investing in missile projects led by relatively young companies. The work began within Brave1 in 2024, and developing the first prototypes took two years. Of the ten Ukrainian teams involved, two are already preparing to put their designs into operational use.
"They are cheap and easy to manufacture. One of the requirements was that each missile should cost no more than US$20,000," Hrytseniuk said.
The scale of this ambition becomes clear when compared with the market prices of existing missiles: a single Stinger can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and an AIM-9X missile fired from an F-16 costs around US$500,000.
The idea is that using two or three of these relatively cheap missiles to bring down a Russian long-range drone would still be cost-effective. Various estimates put the cost of a conventional Geran at up to US$70,000, with the jet-powered version potentially costing tens of thousands more.
Ukraine faces a tough battle to protect its strategic infrastructure in the coming months, which Russia is seeking to destroy while it has the chance. And without sufficient weapons supplies, Ukraine's military will have to rely on homegrown technology.
Only a comprehensive approach that combines the latest interceptor drones, autonomous turrets, anti-aircraft guns, aircraft, and air defence missile systems can provide effective protection.
With missiles in short supply, Ukraine has turned to domestically made automated turrets fitted with heavy machine guns. Defence Minister Yevhen Khmara said the military already has hundreds of them in service.
It will take time to work out the best mix of systems to counter the threat.
Translated by Artem Yakymyshyn
Edited by Susan McDonald