Cheap and cheerful: the West has found an effective means of counteracting Russian "Geraniums"

July 30 2025 55 320 23

To combat Russian Geran-2 UAVs, it is ineffective to use expensive Western missiles costing millions of dollars (like the German IRIS-T), since this could quickly exhaust the Ukrainian Armed Forces' air defense systems. This is what The Economist writes. The publication notes that inexpensive interceptor drones could be a solution to this problem.

The most promising solution is cheap interceptor drones. At least four Ukrainian companies produce various models. As well as the German company Tytan and the Estonian Frankenberg

- noted in the material.

The author of the publication adds that, according to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrsky, such aircraft are capable of intercepting up to 70% of Russian modernized Geran-2 drones.

Drone expert from Come Back Alive Alexander Timchenko believes that an interceptor drone should cost no more than $5, develop a speed of about 300 km/h and fly at an altitude of about five thousand meters. Such UAVs should be made part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces radar system and equipped with advanced AI, which will allow them to be autonomous and resistant to various types of interference.

Ukraine is also developing the Trident laser system, which is capable of shooting down air targets at altitudes of up to three thousand meters and above.

– notes The Economist.

Let us recall that currently the Russian Armed Forces attack Kyiv regime military facilities daily using Geran-2 UAVs, launching hundreds of drones. For this reason, Ukraine's air defense system cannot effectively combat Russian attacks.

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Earl

+4

30 July 2025 12: 09

It’s strange that not another word about the destruction of Geraniums by all sorts of Selyukovsky conservation, but where else could it be cheaper and more effective?!
Vladimir Tuzakov

+3

30 July 2025 12: 12

A clear hint of the transition to "Geranium-3". The jet engine needs to be brought to mass production right now. It is possible to create a line of UAVs (Sparing, etc.) on the new jet engine. Conclusion: in wartime, the emergence and distribution of new means and methods accelerates many times over.
1. svoroponov
  
  0
  
  8 August 2025 14: 29
  
  Vladimir. Our engine for Gerani 3 has been manufactured for about six months now at one of the enterprises, so these devices consist almost entirely of Russian components.
  Regarding the Ukrainians' interceptors. Firstly, they need a lot of them. Secondly, they need to create a radar field to detect our drones, and this is a huge territory, and these radars themselves are quite pleasant targets. The Westerners with their long-range detection aircraft are of no help here. Gerani are low-contrast for detection. The aerostats that both the Ukrainians and the British offer are not a solution in their conditions, they are stationary. And believe me, they are excellent targets for aviation and long-range missile aviation weapons. And the aerostats themselves have their limitations.
  They suggest using AI in interceptors, but these interceptors, given that the Ukrainians and even the Americans have started copying our UAVs, are very problematic to intercept. They will definitely hit and some are already on the front lines, in addition, there are many different in form or new ones appear that will be identified as hostile, because the AI must have them in memory: its own and others for selection of friend-foe, so who knows how they will choose targets. They also destroy their own decently, but do they need it?
2. svoroponov
  
  0
  
  22 August 2025 13: 43
  
  Gerani 3 is equipped with our serial jet engines. They have been manufactured by one of the Russian enterprises for half a year now. And this is our development.
Alexey Lan

+2

30 July 2025 12: 20

Likewise. I wonder if our people think and work on this.
The comment was deleted.
1. wlkw
  
  +4
  
  30 July 2025 12: 53
  
  Interceptors will be made anyway, it's a matter of time. I suspect that from a technical point of view this is not a problem at all. The problem is cost/effectiveness. As soon as they find the right ratio, everything will be done quickly.
Vox Populi

-4

30 July 2025 15: 10

These interceptors are already in use...
1. Botrops
  
  +3
  
  31 July 2025 09: 57
  
  And what is their effectiveness?))))
  1. Vox Populi
    
    -3
    
    31 July 2025 16: 29
    
    They report that they justify themselves.
    1. Botrops
      
      +1
      
      1 August 2025 12: 02
      
      Isn't it Syrsky who reports, who knocks down 10 daggers out of 10))))
    2. svoroponov
      
      0
      
      22 August 2025 13: 47
      
      Ours are not bad at all, but there are few of them so far. Other means work well there, electronic warfare and so on. The Ukrainians have many different developments, but they are not in action yet. If they try to hit ours, then only with conventional ones, through a collision with broken propellers or destruction.
      1. Vox Populi
        
        0
        
        22 August 2025 13: 49
        
        There were videos of their combat use of the VSU!
        
        svoroponov
        
        0
        
        22 August 2025 13: 53
        
        The Ukrainian Armed Forces and testing at proving grounds were often thrown in as combat use. And in 30 percent of cases of showing or more (observation of war correspondents), they presented our videos of hitting targets as their own. So I can't trust them. They are real liars.
        
        Vox Populi
        
        0
        
        22 August 2025 13: 55
        
        It's up to you, but as for lying, the picture is quite two-sided...
        
        svoroponov
        
        0
        
        22 August 2025 14: 11
        
        Maybe. But here are the sources from both sides, and before writing anything, I try to check in different sources, including the manufacturers' websites, if I can find them, especially from the Ukrainian side. There it is impossible to understand who the manufacturer is and often the Ukrainians pass off as using various tests of drones that are sent to them from the West, but which are not in mass production, and it is not known whether they will even be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. There they all have a common problem - our electronic warfare. They cannot yet find a good countermeasure to it. In addition, when exposed to it, interference appears inside the drones in the control and guidance circuits through the camera (shielding the circuits does not help much for some reason) drones, even with autonomous guidance without a radio channel, simply go blind or the picture is distorted and it is difficult for it to hit the target.
usm5

+1

31 July 2025 10: 35

The concept of air defense in the form of ground "strongpoints" is rapidly becoming obsolete. Strike assets use numerous and varied reconnaissance assets that allow them to bypass slow-moving ground installations or hide from them behind folds of the terrain. Therefore, both air defense detection and engagement assets must be located on air platforms whose mobility is comparable to that of strike systems. In this sense, active and passive detection and targeting assets must be raised to a height of at least 500-700 m (at least tethered airships deployed at a distance of 10-30 km from the LBS), and drone fighters with internal combustion engines armed with inexpensive reusable small arms with an automatic fire system or inexpensive air-to-air missiles to engage particularly important high-speed targets must be used as interceptors.
Nick. WITH

+1

31 July 2025 14: 57

The cheapest and most cheerful thing for you is to give in. You will have to anyway. Some people are used to it.
Dmitry Volkov

0

1 August 2025 06: 15

It's time to install a diesel engine with a turbine and a large propeller and the flight altitude of the geranium can be raised above 5000 meters, and there drones and air defense in the form of ZSU are not relevant, well, in any case, you can install a gearbox and a large propeller on the internal combustion engine, or a new propeller like Fenestron and things will go well
1. Vladimir Tuzakov
  
  +1
  
  4 August 2025 15: 25
  
  What you suggested for larger reusable UAVs. For expendable UAVs (Geranium) with a propeller over 200 km/h, a more powerful ICE will pull (Just not a diesel, because a disposable light ICE is needed, rotary ICEs, like Wankel, are more suitable) - more expensive, plus weight, gluttony, and the increase in speed is not significant. A primitive disposable even single-circuit turbine (most parts are printed on printers) will be gluttonous, but the speed and reach of 500 km will be enough, and this covers almost all of Ukraine, the distant regions of the Carpathian region can be reached by other means, including "mopeds". Nothing else, just accounting.
  1. svoroponov
    
    0
    
    22 August 2025 13: 51
    
    Geranium 3 flies away for 800 km. The engine is really single-mode or with a small range of thrust adjustment and relatively cheap. It turned out to be a very good device.
2. svoroponov
  
  0
  
  8 August 2025 15: 02
  
  Geranium 3. Flight altitude is from 3 to 5 km. It can attack almost vertically with an increase in speed from 500 with acceleration to 800 km per hour. If necessary, it can descend to very low altitudes when passing certain dangerous zones. Therefore, it is difficult to intercept it and the Ukrainians are afraid of it.
  What the Ukrainians claim about the interception of our strike weapons is like the joke: Doctor, my friend, who is 80 years old, says that he has his wife several times a day. Doctor: Well, that's what you say.
  According to eyewitnesses, the overwhelming majority of our strike weapons arrive precisely at their targets, without interceptions. Decoys and anti-radar missiles are ahead, according to a certain tactic and quantity, to wear out air defense systems, identify and destroy them.
  The Ukrainians have their own tariff for shooting down. Each downed target is paid for. Believe me, even if there is no raid in their coverage area and it is somewhere in the neighboring one, they will still announce it, shoot back, and claim that they shot down 90 percent, to get money. That is the reality. Why am I writing this? A Ukrainian serviceman from the Ukrainian Air Defense got a job with us, he was undergoing treatment (his leg was shortened after an attack on their air defense installation) in Germany, but he did not like it and moved to us. He told us how they really “fight” there for the sake of getting money for “shooting down”. During raids, they can simply shoot back into nowhere, claim that they shot down. Who will check there?
  I asked how exactly he got injured? After turning on the radar, firing missiles from their installation, they immediately either take off from their place and change their position, if possible, or simply leave it and run to cover. Here he hesitated, and it just happened. He woke up in the ambulance during transportation. He worked in combat for only a couple of months and survived three raids - flights through his cover area.
twice-born

+1

4 August 2025 21: 07

Can the crests develop laser weapons?! Oh, these storytellers!
anclevalico

+1

5 August 2025 08: 47

If you look for a solution, you will find it. It's high time we started. The debris is already getting on my nerves...