Russia Tested Its New Weapons on Ukraine—Now It’s Trying to Sell Them Abroad

Russia is increasingly transforming weapons, production methods and battlefield tactics developed during its war against Ukraine into products for the international arms market, according to an analysis by Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Can Kasapoğlu published on September 9.

The shift includes relatively inexpensive mass-produced munitions, cruise-missile and drone hybrids, and weapons designed for the kind of saturation attacks Russia has repeatedly used against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

“Russia is converting its industrial and operational experience gained in Ukraine—including mass-produced affordable munitions, cruise-missile-drone hybrids, and saturation attacks using mixed strike packages—into an increasingly competitive defense-export portfolio,” Kasapoğlu wrote.

Some of those weapons were put directly in front of prospective foreign customers at the El Alamein International Airshow 2026 in Egypt, held September 8-10.

“Russia sent its combat-tested drones and missiles to Egypt to promote them for export,” Kasapoğlu noted.

One of the clearest examples is the Dan-T, an export weapon closely related to Russia’s S8000 Banderol cruise-missile/drone hybrid already used against Ukraine.

The turbojet-powered Dan-T weighs roughly 272 kilograms and has an advertised range of about 450 kilometers. It can be launched from fixed-wing UAVs or crewed rotary-wing aircraft, particularly variants of Russia’s Mi-28 helicopter.

Its manufacturer, Kronstadt JSC, also produces the Orion reconnaissance-and-strike drone.

Russia began secretly testing the Banderol system in 2024, according to Kasapoğlu. Its first documented combat use against Ukraine came in spring 2025, when Ukrainian intelligence reconstructed the weapon after examining recovered debris.

The Banderol resembles a scaled-down cruise missile, with folding wings and design features intended to reduce its radar signature.

Its internal architecture also illustrates Russia’s continuing dependence on an international component supply chain.

According to the Hudson analysis, Banderol combines a Chinese Swiwin turbojet engine with an inertial navigation system, Russian Kometa-8 satellite-navigation antenna technology, and electronic components originating from the United States, Europe, and Japan.

The weapon can reportedly reach approximately 595 kilometers per hour, travel around 500 kilometers, and carry a roughly 113-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation warhead.

Its cost is another major selling point. Kasapoğlu estimates a Banderol at roughly $50,000-$150,000, dramatically below the approximately $2 million cost of a Kh-101 cruise missile or roughly $1.5 million for an Iskander-K.

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That price difference reflects one of the central lessons Moscow has drawn from the war: large numbers of cheaper long-range weapons can impose enormous pressure on an opponent’s air defenses without requiring every strike weapon to match the capabilities of a sophisticated conventional cruise missile.

“Ukrainian forces are trying to find interception solutions to counter Banderol, including products from the Wild Hornets drone technology group, which specializes in hunting Shaheds,” Kasapoğlu wrote.

Russia is now attempting to turn that battlefield evolution into an export advantage. Its defense industry also brought the Lancet-E to Egypt, the export version of the Lancet loitering munition widely used by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Export configurations are offered with warheads weighing approximately 2.7 and 4.5 kilograms.

The standard Lancet has an operational range of roughly 40 kilometers and, like several other modern Russian weapons, incorporates a substantial number of Western-made electronic components. Together, the Dan-T and Lancet-E illustrate a broader transformation in Russia’s arms-export strategy.

Moscow is no longer simply offering foreign buyers traditional aircraft, air defense systems and armored vehicles. It is increasingly marketing weapons whose designs, production methods, and operational concepts have been refined through years of combat against Ukraine.

Previously, Ukrainian forces began using a newly developed air defense system to intercept Russian S8000 “Banderol” missiles, according to the Brave1 defense technology cluster.

The innovation consortium reported on its official website that the cost of intercepting a target with this unnamed defense mechanism is significantly lower than the price of the incoming munition itself.

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