Shahed-131

The small Shahed. Roughly two-thirds the weight of a Shahed-136 with about a third of the warhead and a rotary engine in place of the four-stroke, it entered Russian service as the Geran-1 in autumn 2022 — and four years later is still listed as a separately planned production line.

Overview

The Shahed-131 is the smaller member of the Iranian Shahed one-way attack drone family, developed by Shahed Aviation Industries and produced through Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA). It shares the delta-wing, pusher-propeller planform of the better-known Shahed-136, but at roughly 135 kg take-off weight against about 200 kg, with a warhead of 10–20 kg against 40–50 kg, and a range commonly assessed at 900 km against the -136's 1,000–2,500 km.

Russia adopted it as the Geran-1 and began firing it at Ukraine in autumn 2022, alongside the Geran-2. Production was localised at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan along with the rest of the family. Its role has always been secondary — a cheaper, shorter-legged airframe used against softer targets and as part of the mass that saturates air defence — but it has never been retired. Ukraine's Defence Intelligence listed Geran-1 as one of nine separately planned drone lines in Russia's 11,000-unit August 2026 production plan, alongside Geran-2 through Geran-5, Garpiya and three Gerbera variants.

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