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Russia’s new jet drones are better at evading Ukrainian air defenses, but experts say Moscow’s drone program is ‘critically dependent’ on Chinese components

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Russia has made a “leap forward” in the mass production of long-range drones and cruise missiles that are far better at evading interception, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times report.

These weapons include jet-powered variants of the Geran drone and small Banderol cruise missiles. The original Gerans were copies of the slow Iranian Shahed drones, which Ukraine learned to shoot down effectively, according to the WSJ. Russian engineers, however, equipped the drones with turbojet engines, increasing their speed and survivability and making them harder for Ukrainian defenses to intercept.

The FT provides technical specifications for the drones. The first-generation Geran-1, powered by a piston internal combustion engine, could carry a warhead weighing up to 20 kilograms and reach a top speed of 185 kilometers per hour. The new jet-powered Geran-5 can fly at up to 600 kilometers per hour and carry a warhead weighing several dozen kilograms. The Geran-5 now resembles a missile more closely than it does the original Shahed.

According to the FT, Russia first used the Geran-5 in January 2026. In recent weeks, the newspaper says, the new Geran-4 and Geran-5 drones Russia has launched at Ukrainian cities have evaded air defenses far more effectively than their predecessors. Ukraine’s Air Force says Russia launched 2,800 jet-powered drones in August. Since August 27, the launches have been nearly continuous.

Ukrainian experts who examined the weapons’ wreckage believe components sourced from China in violation of international sanctions largely enabled the breakthrough in drone production. Analysts at DroneSec agree, saying Russia relies on Chinese parts, including jet engines, onboard computers, and other electronics. DroneSec CEO Mike Monnik says Russia is “critically dependent” on Chinese components for its drone program. Most of these Chinese-made parts are commercially available dual-use components.

Russia developed and deployed the new Geran variants in just a couple of years, upgrading earlier models, testing them in combat, and quickly beginning mass production, the WSJ reports. According to the FT’s sources, including some close to the Kremlin, Russia’s drone capabilities have grown so much that Tehran asked Moscow for the latest Gerans for its war against Israel and the United States.

Moscow has outpaced its adversaries, according to the WSJ. Ukraine developed one of the first jet-powered drones two years ago but lacks the resources and capacity to mass-produce them.

“In the West, we tend to underestimate Russia, but it can move very quickly from ideas and experiments to mass production. Western militaries should learn from Russia’s ability to complete that cycle,” said Kateryna Bondar, a senior fellow at the Wadhwani AI Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The FT says the new drones fly at speeds and altitudes that blur the line between drones and cruise missiles. “Soon we’ll probably see these drones having stealth capabilities, and that means it will become even more expensive to manufacture, procure and use them, but also more expensive to destroy them,” said military analyst Konrad Muzyka, head of the Polish consultancy Rochan Consulting.

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