- Category
- World
Russia’s Rostec Claims Cheaper Jet Drones Can Deliver Cruise Missile-Level Performance
Prefer U24 Media on Google
- Authors
![Photo of Roman Kohanets]( "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
On September 30, Russian state defense conglomerate Rostec presented the S-71M, S-71K and Dan-T as lower-cost jet-powered substitutes for cruise missiles, claiming all three are already being used against Ukraine, Defence Blog reported on October 1.
We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field.
Rostec made the claims in comments to the Russian Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, according to the outlet, describing the weapons as a new category between attack drones and missiles.
Defence Blog noted that the company provided no prices, production numbers or performance figures. It added that the figures and Rostec's claims about accuracy and combat results could not be independently verified.
Rostec argued that a classic cruise missile is already a fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle, though not every such drone qualifies as one. Its statement, as quoted by Defence Blog, claimed that “in the new S-71M, S-71K and Dan-T, this line is being erased.”
The report described Rostec's assertion that the drones combine the accuracy, maneuverability and range of cruise missiles at a significantly lower price. Rostec also expects the gap between the two kinds of weapons to keep narrowing as drone production matures.
The company anticipates that the drones will become standard weapons for Russian frontline aviation in the near future, alongside glide-bomb kits that Russian jets have dropped on Ukrainian front lines in large numbers since 2023, the outlet wrote.
-206fe4a4a8ec2b475c4abe18fe578683.png)
Rostec told the state news agency TASS that the S-71M and S-71K are designed for launch from fifth-generation fighters, including the Su-57, Defence Blog stated. Both are sized to fit inside the Su-57's internal weapons bay, allowing the jet to carry them without compromising its radar-evading shape.
Russia's arms exporter Rosoboronexport displayed them next to a Su-57E at the El Alamein International Airshow in Egypt in September, the report noted.
Ukrainian military intelligence has examined debris from both, Militarnyi reported, as cited by Defence Blog. According to those findings, the S-71K, known as Kovyor, carries a 250-kg (550-pound) OFAB-250-270 high-explosive bomb as its warhead and lacks terminal guidance.
The S-71M, called Monokhrom, reportedly contains an NVIDIA Jetson Orin computing module, a small US-made computer built to run artificial intelligence software on board. The outlet cautioned that some published reports have swapped the two designations, so details tied to each name should be treated with caution.
Rostec also told TASS that the smaller Dan-T has been confirmed in hundreds of launches against Ukrainian targets, a claim that Defence Blog did not independently verify. The company stated that the weapon can be fired from aircraft and helicopters, including foreign-made ones. Based on the outlet's reading, this suggests Rostec is targeting the Dan-T at export buyers.
-d6d131aae3c063f048a1518f94335e6e.jpg)
Defence Blog described conflicting accounts of the weapon's origin. Some analysts present it as the export name for the S8000 Banderol, a small jet-powered cruise missile built by Russian drone maker Kronshtadt. Ukrainian experts, by contrast, have described it as a strike version of the Dan-M jet target drone that Russia used for air defense training.
Ukrainian estimates put the Dan-T's range at roughly 500 km (310 miles) with a 135-kg (298-pound) warhead, The New Voice of Ukraine reported, per the Defence Blog account. The outlet cited Ukrainian intelligence officials, who noted that Moscow wants the weapon built entirely from Russian components.
That goal follows Ukrainian findings about the Banderol, which first appeared over Ukraine in spring 2025, the report explained. It is launched mainly from Su-30/34 combat aircraft, Orion drones and Mi-28 attack helicopters, often from occupied Crimea toward the Odesa region.
Ukraine's military intelligence found a Chinese-made jet engine, a Japanese battery and mostly US-made electronics inside the weapon, Euronews reported, as relayed by Defence Blog.
The outlet emphasized that cheap jet-powered weapons that fly like missiles force Ukraine to spend scarce and expensive air defense interceptors on targets that cost Russia far less to build. That logic mirrors Russia's mass use of Shahed-type drones.
Defence Blog added that Rostec placed the new drones in a wider family of guided weapons. That family includes the Iskander ballistic missile system, Tornado-S rocket launchers with guided rockets, Krasnopol guided artillery shells and the Kalashnikov Group's KUB loitering munitions.
The pitch comes as jet-powered munitions already make up a growing share of Russian salvos.
During the large-scale attack on August 21–22, Russia launched 217 attack drones, including Shahed-type UAVs, Gerbera drones, and decoys, of which more than 50 were jet-powered.
Ukrainian defenses destroyed or suppressed 191 aerial targets that night, among them six Banderol munitions. Several Banderol weapons strayed into Belarus, with at least one reportedly flying around 75 miles into Belarusian territory before running out of fuel and crashing in a field.
Discuss this article:
-c439b7bd9030ecf9d5a4287dc361ba31.jpg "Photo of Katherina Popilnichenko")
-72b63a4e0c8c475ad81fe3eed3f63729.jpeg "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")
