Russia is increasingly using drones with jet engines in attacks against Ukraine, forcing its air defenders to grapple with the challenge of high-speed threats that are more difficult to intercept.
Col. Yurii Ihnat, the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, revealed in remarks shared with Business Insider on Thursday that “jet-powered drones account for as much as two-thirds of all drones used” in some Russian attacks.
Ihnat’s assessment appears to be the highest publicly disclosed estimate yet of the share of jet-powered drones in Russian bombardments.
Earlier estimates provided in recent months put that figure at up to 20%, already a sharp increase from last year, when jet-powered drones were reported only rarely.
In early June, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s former commander in chief, said that Russia planned to increase the proportion of jet-powered drones to 50%. “This presents us with new challenges that require a timely response,” he warned at the time.
Russia has routinely used a strike drone called the Geran-2 to attack Ukraine. This propeller-driven aircraft, modeled after the Iranian Shahed-136, is packed with explosives and can fly at roughly 115 mph.
Russia has developed a few faster variants of the Geran attack drone that are powered by mini turbojet engines. The Geran-3 can cruise at speeds of over 200 mph, while the Geran-4 can reach 310 mph. The newest model, the Geran-5, can fly at speeds up to around 375 mph. It lacks the delta-wing shape and more closely resembles a cruise missile’s profile.
The jet-powered drones carry explosive payloads for hundreds of miles before striking a target in Ukraine.
Yehor Cherniev, the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s national security, defense, and intelligence committee, told Business Insider that Ukraine has managed to intercept more than 90% of Russian cruise missiles and Geran-2 drones.
He said that Russia has decided to rely more on its jet-powered drones and ballistic missiles, far more challenging threats.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that a Russian jet-powered drone struck a passenger train in the southern Odesa region, killing at least two people in the latest attack.
Russia has been expanding the infrastructure at its air bases to support the launch of jet-powered drones, which take off on long rails and accelerate to flight speed before the engine takes over.
Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency said in May that Russia was ramping up the employment of jet-powered drones in response to the effectiveness of Ukrainian interceptor drones, while also improving their design to make them more maneuverable.
The interceptor drones, which are cheap and destroy their targets by colliding with them or exploding nearby, were initially made to counter the slower Geran-2s.
However, Ukrainian defense companies are developing a new class of faster interceptor drones to keep pace with the high-speed jet-powered Gerans, which are harder for Kyiv to shoot down.
Ukrainian firm Skyfall told Business Insider that its new interceptor, the P1-Sun JetKiller, had already downed more than a dozen jet-powered threats by late July. The company said it planned to begin mass production this month, with other developers pursuing similar timelines.
Beyond the interceptors, Ukrainian forces also have mobile air defense units, electronic warfare systems, fighter jets, and missiles to engage Russian drones.
The uptick in Russian jet-powered drones comes as Ukraine struggles with worsening ballistic missile attacks and depleted stockpiles of Western-made interceptors.
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