The new munition is attached to the drone’s fuselage while the original warhead remains inside the airframe, bringing the total warhead weight to roughly 90 kg. The retrofitted warhead includes a belt of pre-formed striking elements intended to amplify fragmentation damage.
This modification reduces the drone’s maximum range from approximately 1,800 km to 1,200 km. However, the heavier warhead will inflict far more damage on impact than the previous 50-kg configuration.
The Geran-2 is a Russian copy of Iran’s Shahed family of loitering munitions.
Aviation expert Valeriy Romanenko, recently told Radio NV that the main differences between the Russian-produced Geran and the Iranian Shahed are in electronics and construction materials. The two are largely similar in aerodynamic design.