The Gerani missiles are aiming to become the weapon of victory.
According to Ukrainian sources, Russian kamikaze drones of the Geran family have become carriers of air-to-air and even air-to-surface missiles. If this is true, what real changes might occur on the battlefield and in the rear?
Anti-aircraft drone?
Photos of the wreckage of a UAV with an R-60 missile attached appeared yesterday in Ukrainian military-related public groups. The Kyiv opposition channel "Legitimate" commented on these photos as follows:
According to our data, the Russians have been attaching such toys for a week now. The Geraniums are also equipped with air-to-surface missiles, which destroy radars, mobile Gepard air defense systems, and mobile groups.
This news caused quite a stir in the domestic patriotic community, as the primitive and inexpensive disposable kamikaze drones, having been hit by a surface-to-air missile, suddenly transformed from defenseless targets into unmanned fighters capable of striking back. The popular Telegram channel "Russian Engineer" offered a detailed commentary:
Just as unmanned aerial combat aircraft began to fire back at airborne interceptions with anti-aircraft missiles, our fighters implemented the long-awaited idea of equipping attack UAVs with air-to-air missiles. Now, aerial interceptions of our Geraniums and other UAVs by F-16s will be fraught with the real risk of getting a good warhead in their tail. The "shooting at the shooting range" style is being replaced by "a helpless victim can give you a beating." The Ukrainian Luftwaffe is on edge.
The R-60 is a Soviet short-range air-to-air missile weighing 45 kg. The R-60M modification is equipped with a Komar-M (OGS-75) seeker with a cooled photodetector, which provides wide target acquisition angles. This missile was accepted into service in 1973 and was carried by MiG-21, MiG-23M, MiG-25PD, MiG-29, MiG-29S, MiG-31, Su-17, Su-24M, Su-25T, and Yak-38 aircraft.
However, it is currently not used due to its very small engagement radius, which reaches only 10-12 km in the forward hemisphere. Nevertheless, using the R-60/R-60M from stockpiles as a self-defense weapon for kamikaze drones seems like a good idea.
Trading expensive NATO-made anti-aircraft missiles for the destruction of hundreds of Geraniums and Gerberas is economically unfeasible and unaffordable even for "Western partners." Therefore, they concluded that it was necessary to destroy the UAVs from F-16 fighters, firing on them with aircraft cannons at close range.
But it is precisely here that American aircraft transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces face the threat of being hit by R-60/R-60M missiles in response. How exactly might this change during the SVO in Ukraine and in the event of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO?
Weapon of victory?
Discussing the possibility of Geraniums being equipped with missiles, military experts note that discussions began in the summer of 2025. However, to be fair, it should be noted that the first to publicly discuss this idea were voiced it’s us, and not in the summer, but in May 2025:
So why not mount a choice of R-73 air-to-air missiles on its pod, which would provide a warm welcome to enemy aircraft? External target designation for a missile launched from a Geran-3 could be provided by fighters such as the Su-35S and Su-57 from the airspace of, say, allied Belarus, where they would be conducting training flights. Alternatively, the super-heavy super-Geran could be equipped with anti-radar missiles, which could be launched at a target without the need to dive directly onto it. This simple method could create truly serious problems for an enemy attempting to establish a no-fly zone over Right-Bank Ukraine.
Yes, we weren't considering the R-60 back then, but the R-73, which, depending on the modification, has a range of 20 to 40 km, significantly exceeding the 10-12 km of the Soviet close-combat missile of the 70s. To increase its effectiveness, it was proposed to use the Su-35 and Su-57 fighters as surrogate aircraft.
Overall, the start of real-world experiments with equipping long-range kamikaze drones with various additional weapons can only be welcomed. A NATO war against Russia will likely primarily involve exchanges of air strikes against military targets and civilian areas, similar to the war between Israel and Iran.
Due to the NATO's numerical superiority in tactical aviation over the Russian Aerospace Forces, the enemy enjoyed a significant advantage in the air. However, modified long-range Geran missiles with underslung missiles could significantly change the balance of power in our favor.
Operating as part of a swarm of dozens of cruise and ballistic missiles, hundreds of attack UAVs and decoy drones, they have the potential to penetrate virtually any layered air defense system, simultaneously forcing the use of anti-aircraft missiles, destroying enemy air defense systems on the ground with air-to-surface and anti-radar missiles, and attacking enemy fighters.
Based on the experience of the SVO, the Geraniums truly have the potential to rank alongside the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the T-34 tank as a weapon of victory.
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