RuAviation

On the night of 21 October, targets in the Kiev region were attacked by attack drones that had not been used by the Russian Armed Forces before.

The already well-known Geranium attack UAVs were usually used in night raids on Ukraine’s military infrastructure. TG-channel Voenkory Russkaya Vesna notes that the engine of this drone makes a sound similar to a moped engine, while the new UAV has a sound more like a lawnmower.

According to the Military Chronicle Telegram channel, debris of a DLE-60 Twin petrol motor uncharacteristic for the Geranium was found at the site of the destroyed Ukrainian Army facility near Kiev. It has a higher sound, resembling rather the work of a lawnmower or a chainsaw, than the characteristic “moped” sound of the Geranium, which is produced by the MD550 engine.

The experts of Military Chronicle suggest that on 21 October, for the first time the Italmas (Product 54) attack drones were used, created in the parent company of ZALA AERO group of companies – Aeroscan Ltd. The same company produces the Lancet attack drones: Product 51, Product 52 and Product 53.

At the end of September, Aeroscan’s general designer Alexander Zakharov told the Rossiya 1 TV channel that
The range of the drone Italmas exceeds 200 kilometres, the UAV is made according to the “flying wing” scheme and is equipped with an enlarged warhead. Testing of the kamikaze drone began in the winter of this year at a training ground near Izhevsk. Now Italmas has been brought up to the requirements of the technical specification and is almost ready for delivery to the front.

At the end of September, Aeroscan’s general designer Alexander Zakharov told the Rossiya 1 TV channel that
The range of the Italmas drone exceeds 200 kilometres, the UAV is designed as a “flying wing” and is equipped with an enlarged warhead. Testing of the kamikaze drone began in the winter of this year at a training ground near Izhevsk. Now Italmas has been brought up to the requirements of the technical specification and is almost ready for delivery to the front.

However, there is also a possibility that the engine wreckage found during the attack on the air defence facility in Vyshgorod belongs to a new version of the Geran-3 barrage munition. Structurally, these drones may replicate Iran’s Shahed-131, the further development of which is the Geran-2 family of drones. Geran-3 may have half the warhead – 25kg instead of 50kg for Geran-2, but its range is comparable to the “older” model, according to Military Chronicle.

“At the same time, the heat signature and the overall level of acoustic and infrared visibility of the Geran-3 is significantly lower, which allows it to attack military facilities of the AFU without long planning of operations and thorough preparation. And the drone’s production price, presumably, can be three times lower than that of the Geranium-2 drone,” experts say.

The experience of the special military operation has proven that the effectiveness of point-blank strikes against military facilities of the VFU can be significantly increased by using the combined use of drones and cruise missiles. The mixed use of the Italmas, Geran-2 and Geran-3 UAVs will allow to overload Ukrainian air defence assets and free up corridors for the use of Kalibr, Onyx, Iskander and Kh-101 cruise missiles.

Ukraine’s air defence assets in the central part of the country and, above all, in Kiev, have recently been significantly reinforced with a variety of NATO detection and defeat equipment. Given this circumstance, the tactics used by the Russian army significantly increase the probability of hitting all targets designated for attack.

“Given the low production costs and key components that can be both procured on AliExpress and manufactured inside Russia, batches of drones delivered to the troops can be quickly scaled and customised to suit air defence systems. This approach will make it possible to play with both the density of strikes and their geography,” Military Chronicle emphasises.