HUR reveals tech specs of Russia's new 3-meter Gerbera-2 strike-recon drone
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Gerbera-2 UAV features enlarged warhead and operational range (Photo: HUR)
Russia began deploying upgraded Gerbera-2 drones with a 1,200-kilometer range and a 25-kilogram payload against Ukraine, Military Intelligence (HUR) reported on Nov. 2.
According to military intelligence, Russian defense contractors have fundamentally modernized the Gerbera airframe, which was initially fielded as a low-cost radar-decoy simulator designed to saturate and exhaust Ukrainian air defense grids. Early iterations were fielded in reconnaissance and kamikaze strike variants, remaining structurally basic and inexpensive platforms. Over time, however, Russian engineers systematically outfitted Gerberas with Kometa electronic counter-countermeasure (anti-jamming) satellite navigation antennas, digital mesh modems, and optical payloads mounted on stabilized gyroscopic gimbals.
Recently, Russian forces introduced an enlarged scale variant featuring a three-meter wingspan and a fuselage length of 2.6 meters. A redesigned 63-liter fuel cell provides the expanded 1,200-kilometer operational range, HUR stated.
The internal fuel tank is divided into isolated compartments. The propulsion plant consists of a two-cylinder, two-stroke internal combustion engine — effectively half of the powerplant utilized by the Iranian-designed Shahed-136. For terminal strike effects, the Gerbera-2 is configured with an OFZBCh-10 high-explosive fragmentation/incendiary warhead weighing 10 kilograms, augmented by separate modular bladders loaded with an incendiary gel mixture, yielding a cumulative combat warhead weight of 25 kilograms.
The drone's onboard avionics architecture integrates an updated flight control computer, a 12-channel Kometa anti-jam satellite receiver, a Chinese-manufactured digital mesh modem, and a newly developed video processing module designated "Sosiska - [Sausage - ed.]" built around a Chinese Coke Pi single-board computer, HUR reported. The UAV also features a dual-lens IP camera system configured specifically to detect incoming Ukrainian interceptor drones.
According to HUR component teardowns, foreign microelectronics integrated inside the Gerbera-2 originate predominantly from manufacturers based in the United States and China.
Intelligence analysts noted that the platform's extended range enables Russian forces to deploy it far beyond Ukrainian sovereign airspace. Specifically, an armed Gerbera-2 airframe carrying an intact warhead was recovered in September along Poland's Baltic Sea coastline.
Ukrainian presidential adviser on defense technology development Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov first revealed Russian operational use of the enlarged Gerbera variant in August 2026, noting its dramatically increased physical dimensions.
In September, debris from suspected Gerbera airframes was also recovered across sovereign territory in Moldova and Lithuania.
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