Now it's not just "Shaheds." Discover how Russia has ramped up production of strike drones and how Ukrainian engineers are responding.
In reality, the discussion has long extended beyond the notorious Iranian drones Shahed-136. The term "Shahed" has become a generic name for all Russian kamikaze drones, which now terrorize Ukrainian cities almost every night and aim to deplete air defense systems ahead of mass missile strikes.
The Russians have significantly ramped up the production of long-range drones. Moreover, they are constantly testing new tactics and technologies to achieve their objectives.
"Shaheds create complex flight paths, avoid congested areas, try to target unprotected territories, and play with altitudes and trajectories. They take into account intelligence data about our air defense and circumvent potential locations of mobile units," – wrote military personnel and blogger Sergey Beskrestnov "Flash".
Increasingly, "shaheds" fly around nuclear power plants. The threat of winter strikes on energy infrastructure forces Ukraine to seek ways to protect itself without using scarce anti-aircraft missiles.
Why there are so many "shaheds"
From January to September 2023, Russia launched 1,875 long-range kamikaze drones at Ukraine, and during the same period in 2024 – 4,819.
The main "star" of these Russian attacks is the Iranian-designed Shahed-136. Initially, the occupiers imported these drones from Iran using Il-76 cargo planes. By November 2022, after the first devastating strikes on Ukrainian energy, the occupiers began negotiations with the Iranians to purchase technology for Dolphin 632 motor boats – this was their code name for "shaheds".
5Thanks to acquired documents, it became known that the contract with Iran included the purchase of production equipment, technology, and 6,000 ready-made sets for assembling drones over 2.5 years. The deal's value is $1.75 billion.
For the construction of the factory, a special economic zone "Alabuga" in Tatarstan was chosen – located 1,100 km from the front line. Throughout this time, Ukrainian strike drones have reached there only once.
Western sanctions do not significantly hinder the Russians from executing their "shahed" plans. The President's representative for sanctions issues, Vladislav Vasyuk, told EP that in 2023, 44 components produced by Western companies were found in "shaheds". Notably, "Alabuga" has opened about a dozen vacancies for translators of Turkish and Chinese, which may indicate the establishment of component imports through intermediaries from these countries.
A shortage of skilled workers could slow down drone production, as the Russian defense industry faces a deficit of 160,000 people, two-thirds of whom are workers. However, "Alabuga" compensates for the labor shortage by mass recruiting students and migrants.
The majority of workers are brought in from impoverished countries in Africa and Central Asia. They are likely listed in the staffing chart as "Tajiks" and "Mulattos". "Alabuga" has launched a large international advertising campaign in African languages. As reported by Associated Press, labor migrants are not always aware that they are going to Russia to assemble weapons.
6 Having established production in Russia, local engineers began experimenting with technology to adapt it for war in Ukraine. According to one of the closed reports that came into the hands of EP, the "shaheds" produced in Russia have a different fuselage skin, allowing for reduced production costs and time. A separate warhead has also been installed, capable of penetrating reinforced structures.
Additionally, localized drones in Russia have started to be equipped with locally produced CRPA antennas. This specialized equipment filters out extraneous signals and prevents the drone's satellite navigation from being jammed by electronic warfare (EW) means. Russian CRPA antennas "Kometa" can "filter out" interference from multiple sources simultaneously, complicating the jamming of "shaheds" by EW means.
The acting head of the Air Force Command's communications department, Yuriy Ignat, believes that using "shaheds" with jet engines currently makes little practical sense. In this case, the drone cannot carry a large amount of explosives, increasing weight, reducing the warhead, and limiting the range of impact.
Not just "shaheds"
According to calculations by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), Russia has already significantly exceeded its initial production plan, reaching a capacity of over 400 "shaheds" per month. However, the research relies on data from Air Force reports, which may be somewhat misleading.
The thing is, the Russians are launching not only Shahed-136 drones at Ukraine but also upgraded versions of this UAV and other kamikaze drones of their own production. They may be less expensive and technologically advanced, but by autumn, they were marked as Shahed-131/136 in the Air Force reports.
"Location lost" – a term that means that a target tracked by the air force's electronic warfare units – whether strike or reconnaissance enemy UAVs – disappears from radar. This, in turn, means that they either ran out of fuel or fell victim to the EW means of the defense forces," – explained UP Ignat.
The Air Force does not specify these new types of drones, but emphasizes that specialists identify them on the ground. Among such drones, inexpensive UAVs "Gerbera" are often mentioned, which are produced by the Russians in three variants: electronic reconnaissance drone, kamikaze, and decoy.
As the publication Defence Express noted, although "Gerbera" is referred to in Russia as the "younger sister" of "shaheds," it is a different type of drone. Externally, the drone resembles Shahed, but has a foam fuselage and is assembled from cheap materials. Because of this, it can "cease to exist" on its own, meaning it can fall without detonating. According to Ignat, Russia uses many such drones to overload Ukrainian air defense and for reconnaissance purposes.
What Ukraine will do
Since September 2022, over 7,000 "shahed" type drones have been launched at Ukraine. During this time, military personnel and engineers have been inventing various countermeasures. The key task is to learn how to destroy kamikaze UAVs while using a minimal amount of scarce air defense missiles.
In the summer, Ukrainian interceptor drones appeared in the sky, shooting down hundreds of Russian reconnaissance strike UAVs in nearly all key directions. The anti-aircraft FPV drone differs from a standard one by its higher speed and a more powerful battery for long-distance flights.
According to sources in EP, several development teams are working on adapting this solution against "shaheds". For this, Ukrainian FPV drones need to become even faster and equipped with night cameras.
The co-founder of the company "Wild Hornets," who wished to remain anonymous, told EP that in October he plans to test his anti-aircraft FPV in combat against "shaheds". In his opinion, engineers have not yet fully utilized the capabilities of the FPV platform. The company managed to accelerate its drone to a speed of 325 km/h, which is almost double the cruising speed of a "shahed" – 180 km