Geran-3

Russia's first jet-powered Shahed — a turbojet bolted onto a Geran-2 airframe to outrun the cheap interceptor drones killing propeller Shaheds. It worked well enough to prove the concept and badly enough to be cancelled: Ukrainian intelligence says Moscow halted production in August 2026 in favour of the purpose-built Geran-4 and Geran-5.

Updated 1 September 2026: Ukrainian Defence Intelligence confirmed on 11 August 2026 that Russia has halted Geran-3 production, recasting the type as a transitional design between the piston Geran-2 and the purpose-built Geran-4. This entry adds the cancellation, the full 45-part foreign-component breakdown, the operator-guided electro-optical module, the Tsymbulova launch site, and revised successor specifications.

Overview

The Geran-3 (Герань-3) is a turbojet-driven one-way attack drone that introduced a step-change in speed to Russia's family of Shahed-derived loitering munitions. Where the propeller-driven Geran-2 (Shahed-136) cruised at barely 180 km/h, the Geran-3 flew at 300–370 km/h, compressing air-defense reaction times and forcing defenders to expend costly missiles rather than machine guns. The type was a cost-reduced Russian localization of the Iranian Shahed-238, built at the JSC Alabuga special economic zone and first encountered in Ukraine in mid-2025.

It never reached serial production. On 11 August 2026 Ukraine's Defense Intelligence (DIU) told Militarnyi that Russia had halted Geran-3 manufacture altogether, describing the family as having "effectively served as a transitional stage toward the Geran-4." That makes the Geran-3 the clearest documented case of an interim weapon in the drone war: a re-engined airframe that validated the jet concept, exposed its limits, and was retired inside fourteen months of combat debut while residual airframes continued to fly.

🔒 The full Geran-3 file is for BattlePolicy Pro members. Below the line: development history, design and capabilities, variants, the combat record, advantages and limitations, comparable systems, outlook, the full specifications table, our sourcing, and the analyst assessment — procurement, suppliers and the BattlePolicy verdict. Unlock the full file with BattlePolicy Pro →