Garpiya-A1

Russia's second Shahed-type production line — built not at Alabuga but by the Almaz-Antey subsidiary Kupol in Izhevsk, with documented Chinese engineering help. It carries a heavier warhead than a Geran-2, and it is the first of Russia's long-range attack drones to be marketed for export and fielded outside Ukraine.

Overview

The Garpiya-A1 ("Harpy-A1") is a long-range one-way attack drone produced by the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant "Kupol" (IEMZ Kupol), a subsidiary of the Russian air-defence conglomerate Almaz-Antey. It is a Shahed-136 derivative in configuration and role, but it is a genuinely separate industrial programme from the Geran-2 line at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan — different plant, different corporate parent, different supply chain, and a different position in Russian export policy.

Three things make it worth tracking apart from the Geran family. Its warhead is substantially heavier: up to 150 kg in the Russian operational version against roughly 50 kg for a standard Geran-2. It has been the leading edge of Russian anti-jam development, fielding a 16-element Kometa-M16 controlled-reception-pattern antenna from early 2026, an upgrade over the 12-element Kometa-M12 seen on the Geran-3. And it is the one Russian long-range strike drone that has left the Ukraine theatre — deployed to Mali in May 2026 and formally marketed for export by Rosoboronexport in August 2026.

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