Geran-4

Russia's jet-powered evolution of the Shahed-136/Geran-2, built on a purpose-designed airframe for a single purpose: to fly faster than the cheap interceptor drones Ukraine had been using to shoot propeller Shaheds down. The first teardown suggested the speed cost it most of its range. A year of upgrades and one recorded 960 km flight say otherwise.

Updated 1 September 2026 with Ukrainian Defence Intelligence figures published in August 2026 that supersede the May 2026 teardown: range revised from ~450 km to 850 km declared, with a 960 km flight recorded on 28 August; take-off weight up from 350 to 450 kg; cruise speed 350–500 km/h on a 160 kgf turbojet. Also added: the electro-optical Seeker variant, MESH operator control, ~3,000/month production, and Ukraine's Alexa Spatium interceptor.

Overview

The Geran-4 (Герань-4) is the jet-powered workhorse of Russia's Shahed/Geran family of long-range "one-way attack" (OWA) drones, first disclosed by Ukraine's Defence Intelligence (HUR) on 25 May 2026 through a component teardown published on its War&Sanctions portal. Unlike the Geran-3 — a jet engine bolted onto a re-used propeller-Shahed body — the Geran-4 is built on a purpose-designed, reinforced airframe intended from the outset for high-speed flight. Its reason for existing is narrow and revealing: by early 2026 Ukraine was downing the bulk of subsonic Shaheds with $1,000-class interceptor drones, and the Geran-4 is Russia's attempt to simply outrun them.

By August 2026 it had stopped being an experiment. DIU told Militarnyi that Russia builds roughly 3,000 Geran-4 and Geran-5 airframes a month — more than the 2,800 piston Geran-2s — and that Geran-3 production had been halted to free capacity. A note on the figures below: the Geran-4's published specifications have moved substantially and in one direction. The May 2026 HUR teardown gave a range of ~450 km; DIU's August figures give 850 km; Ukrainian OSINT recorded a 960 km flight on 28 August. Where the numbers conflict, both the older and newer values appear here with their source and date.

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