-
One of Ukraine’s top drone analysts has warned of what the future of drone warfare might look like.
-
He said Russia may focus on significantly increasing the speed of the Shahd drone.
-
He urged Ukrainian manufacturers to look into defenses against drones that can reach speeds of up to 370 miles per hour.
Ukraine has enough manufacturers of interceptor drones that it now needs to prepare for the next phase of its defense against Russia’s Shahd, a prominent drone analyst said on Tuesday.
Influential Ukrainian drone expert Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov said in a Telegram post that the battle for new technologies will depend on speed.
“There is no need to be the ‘one hundred and first’ drone manufacturer to fight the current Shahid family,” he wrote. “We need to work for the future.”
Beskrestnov, who was recently appointed as an adviser to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said the race will emerge as Ukraine gradually improves its effectiveness in intercepting drones.
The Interceptor Drone is a small unmanned aerial system designed primarily by Ukrainians to fly into the Kremlin’s Gerans, a Russian mass-produced version of Iran’s Shahd drone.
These interceptors have become a core pillar of Ukraine’s air defense network, providing a more cost-effective way to counter hundreds of powerful Jelan attack waves. Popular types of interceptor drones cost about $2,500 to $6,000 each.
Beskresnov predicts that Russia will soon adapt in three ways: installing evasion systems on its Jelans, establishing reliable flight corridors for loitering munitions, and manually flying them at extremely low altitudes to evade air defense systems.
“We will deal with this problem, and all the enemy’s bets will be on speed,” Beskresnov wrote.
The most commonly used Geran in Russia is the Geran-2, which is based on the Shahed-136 and has a speed of approximately 115 mph. However, Moscow is. Jet-powered versions of the drones, known as Geran-3s, are increasingly deployed and can fly at speeds up to 200 mph.
Now, Beskrestnov says Russia may try to increase the Geran-3’s speed to 250 mph. The newer Geran-5 is similar to Iran’s Karrar drone and is also expected to reach speeds of 370 mph.
“At some point, all our interceptor drones may become useless,” the analyst warned.
Ukrainian interceptor drones are typically propeller-driven systems with a first-person view. Local engineers have gradually improved their designs to the point where they can fly reliably at speeds around 220 mph, but the distance they can push these planes may be limited because they are often built with cheap, off-the-shelf parts.
“If you are a manufacturer, I ask you to start developing interception systems for attack drones at such speeds now, while we still have time,” Beskrestnov wrote.
His call echoed Ukraine’s initial research into interceptor drones in early 2024, when the technology was primarily used to destroy Russian surveillance drones.
Drone engineers realized that Ukraine needed to respond to Russia’s increased Geran production, and they spent months preparing designs to counter the growing threat.
By 2025, their current form began to appear on the Ukrainian drone market, until Kyiv finally set a production target of at least 1,000 per day. Whether that changes dramatically as 2026 approaches remains to be seen.
Read the original article on Business Insider
