Ukraine’s military drone guru says the next phase of Russia’s Shahed war will be all about new extreme speeds

• One of Ukraine’s leading drone analysts warns about what the future of drone warfare could look like.

• Russia will likely focus on greatly increasing the speed of Shahed drones, he said.

• He called on Ukrainian manufacturers to look at defending against drones that can reach speeds of up to 370 miles per hour.

Ukraine has a sufficient number of interceptor drone manufacturers and now needs to prepare for the next phase of defense against Russia’s Witnesses, a leading drone analyst said on Tuesday.

Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov, an influential Ukrainian drone expert, said in a Telegram post that the new technology war will all depend on speed.

“There is no need to be the ‘hundred and first’ drone manufacturer against the existing Witnesses,” he wrote. “We must work for the future”

Recently appointed Beskrestnov advisor to the ministry of defense of UkraineHe said the race would unfold as Ukraine gradually increases the effectiveness of its interceptor drones.

interceptor drones They are small unmanned aerial systems designed by the Ukrainians to fly into Gerans, Russia’s mass-produced versions of the Kremlin’s Iranian Shahed drone.

Interceptors have become a mainstay of Ukraine’s air defense network and offer a more cost-effective way to counter hundreds of strong Geran waves. Popular types of interceptor drones can cost around $2,500 to $6,000 each.

Beskrestnov predicted that Russia would soon adapt in three ways: installing evasion systems on its Gerans, building reliable flight corridors for stray munitions, and manually guiding them at extremely low altitudes to evade air defenses.

“We will deal with it, and all the enemy’s bets will be on speed,” Beskrestnov wrote.

The most widely used Geran in Russia is Geran-2. Based on Shahed-136 and can reach speeds of approximately 185 mph. But Moscow is. Jet-powered versions of the drone, called Geran-3 and capable of flying at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour, are increasingly used.

Beskrestnov says it’s likely that Russia will try to push the Geran-3s to 250 mph. Newer Geran-5The drone, which is similar to Iran’s Karrar drone, is also feared to reach speeds of 370 miles per hour.

“At some point, all our interceptor drones may become useless,” the analyst warned.

Ukraine’s interceptor drones are generally propeller systems with first-person view. local engineers They gradually improved their designs To fly reliably at around 220 mph, but they will likely be limited in how far they can push these planes, which are often built with inexpensive off-the-shelf parts.

“If you are a manufacturer, I ask you to start developing intercept systems to intercept UAVs at these speeds, while we still have time,” Beskrestnov said. he said.

His call reflects Ukraine’s initial research into interceptor drones in early 2024, when the technology will be used mainly to destroy Russian reconnaissance drones.

When drone engineers realized Ukraine needed a response to Russia’s increased production of Geran, they spent months preparing their designs in anticipation of the growing threat.

By 2025, current forms began to appear in Ukrainian drone markets, until Kiev eventually set a production target of at least 1,000 per day. Whether this will change significantly as 2026 progresses remains to be seen.

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