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How Did Russia Go From Testing Jet Drones to Producing 3,000 a Month?
How did Russia move from experimenting with jet-powered attack drones to reportedly producing around 3,000 Geran-4 and Geran-5 systems every month?
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Russia has recently intensified its use of Geran-4 and Geran-5 systems against Kyiv, at times employing around 100 jet-powered long-range weapons while conducting launches throughout the day.
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According to Defense Express on September 2, Russia’s transition from early experimental jet-powered drones to large-scale production took roughly two and a half years.
Although these systems continue to be widely described as drones, Defense Express noted that their characteristics increasingly place them closer to cruise missiles than conventional unmanned aerial vehicles.
From Shahed-238 to Russia’s first jet drones
The development timeline stretches back to December 2023, when Iran publicly presented the jet-powered Shahed-238. Less than a month later, in January 2024, Ukrainian forces downed one of the first jet-powered attack drones used by Russia.
Russia has begun increasingly deploying the Iranian-made Shahed-238 Loitering Munition, designated "Geran-3" in Russian service, with the drone used today in strikes against Ukrainian targets. Launches were detected from the Kursk region.
— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) April 14, 2025
The Shahed-238 is an upgraded variant of… pic.twitter.com/LW9PFrnB0p
Russia continued experimenting with similar systems throughout 2024, including its own designs, but their use remained limited.
By February 2025, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence reported that Russia was establishing production of the Geran-3 jet-powered drone. Several months later, in June, Russian forces carried out a documented attack on Kyiv involving a group of jet-powered drones.
The Geran-3, however, did not become a major component of Russia’s strike campaign. According to Defense Express, its cruising speed of around 280–330 kilometers per hour—174–205 miles per hour—allowed faster Ukrainian interceptor drones to engage it. Russia subsequently discontinued production of the model, the outlet reported.
Geran-4 and Geran-5 enter serial production
Development had already shifted toward newer systems. A Ukrainian report that became public in early 2026 indicated that Russia had conducted test launches of the Geran-4 between October and December 2025 and was preparing combat trials of the Geran-5.
🇷🇺 Increased Russian Jet Drone Strikes on Ukraine
— Beate Landefeld (@BeateLandefeld) August 30, 2026
Ukrainian sources report that Russia launched 2,500 jet-powered "Geran" drones in August. Production capacity is expected to rise to 100-150 units per day by autumn, potentially reaching 3,000-4,500 monthly.
Threats to Western… pic.twitter.com/362UnRbPbC
Both systems appeared publicly in January 2026. One Geran-4 configuration was documented carrying an R-60 air-to-air missile, while the Geran-5 showed similarities to Iran’s Karrar unmanned aircraft.
Defense Express identified small Chinese-made turbojet engines as a key component of the newer systems, reporting that they are imported into Russia as civilian products.
By May 2026, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence reported that the Geran-4 and Geran-5 had entered serial production, with available capacity estimated at up to 500 units per month.
Only several months later, that figure had increased substantially. In August, Ukrainian intelligence reported that Russia was producing approximately 3,000 Geran-4 and Geran-5 systems per month, according to data cited by Defense Express.
From prototypes to thousands per month
Defense Express assessed that the full transition from the first experimental jet-powered systems to large-scale production took approximately two and a half years.
When measured from the establishment of production itself, the process took roughly a year and a half.
Russia is also reportedly seeking to make jet-powered systems account for as much as 50% of its long-range drone arsenal. A previously reported Russian production plan for 2026 called for 60,000 long-range drones alongside another 50,000 decoy targets.
The expansion of production has coincided with concentrated Russian attacks involving large numbers of weapons.
For the 6th day in a row, Kyiv and the wider region have been living under nonstop russian attack. Drones fly hourly. The threat is constant; terror is relentless.
— UNITED24 (@U24_gov_ua) September 1, 2026
People do their best to shake the stress off.
Let’s do our best to shake the drones off:https://t.co/4Os08VprA0 pic.twitter.com/R3i8VIUBED
According to Ukrainian Air Force statistics cited by Defense Express, Ukrainian defenses intercepted an average of approximately 84% of drones of all types over the previous five days, during a period when jet-powered systems frequently accounted for more than half of the drones used in Russian attacks.
Underscoring the scale of this aerial campaign, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously reported that Russia launched nearly 1,500 drones—including 800 jet-powered UAVs—in just four days at the end of August.
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-88a11cba552583b1405c18046ad52761.jpg "Thick black smoke rises from the Proton-PM rocket engine plant near Perm, Russia, following a fire at the facility. (Source: Exilenova+)")
