RuAviation

Russian design bureau Stratim is developing a budget analogue of the Geranium kamikaze jet drone. The project was named Yastreb (Hawk) it is planned to be completed in the first half of 2024.

Currently, Geranium with a piston engine, along with cruise and ballistic missiles, is one of the high-precision munitions used to hit the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine, places of accumulation of mercenaries and AFU units.

In January 2024, the use of a reactive version of the kamikaze drone, the Geran-3, became known. However, its high cost limits the possibility of mass application. Hawk should become a more affordable analog of Geranium.

The new munition is a UAV made according to the “flying wing” scheme, targeting is carried out by coordinates. According to the developers, the peculiarity of the drone is that it will be characterized by low cost, as it is made entirely of civilian components.

The range of defeat is 350 kilometers. The drone will be equipped with a high-explosive warhead weighing 16 kg. The Hawk’s flight speed with an internal combustion engine will be 300 km/h, with a jet engine – 700 km/h. The high speed makes it possible to use the jet drone as a pseudo-winged missile as a decoy to divert enemy air defenses.

The design bureau said it plans to install a turbojet engine of its own design on the Hawk; the design of the turbine that will replace the foreign one used in the Geranium is already ready. The replacement will reduce dependence on imported components and make the drone even cheaper to produce.

“We are completing the flight test cycle of the prototype, next we will slightly redesign the large copy and start its flight tests. We plan to move to the finished product stage in the first half of this year. The device will be resistant to the effects of the enemy’s electronic warfare equipment, and will also be able to make an approach to the target with the help of a machine vision system,” said in the design bureau Stratim.

Stratim develops multi-rotor and airplane-type UAVs that do not require firmware and operate on non-commercial frequencies, and use a repeater to increase the range of control and video channels.

“We understand the customer’s needs as we work closely with units of the Russian Armed Forces. Hundreds of UAVs of various types have been produced in the interests of the Defense Ministry, which have shown confident performance at the front,” a representative of the design bureau commented to the Russian Aviation website.