Matthew Bint & Fabian Hinz
Russia’s use of one-way attack uninhabited aerial vehicles (OWA-UAVs) in Ukraine intensified during the latter months of 2024 and has shown little sign of slowing in 2025.
Ukrainian Air Force figures show that since June 2024, there has been a month-on-month increase in OWA-UAV attacks, with 2,300 launched in November 2024 and 2,696 in January 2025. This growth has been enabled by Russia’s ability to increase local production of a version of the Iranian Shahed 136 OWA-UAV.
In 2022, Iran began supplying Shahed 131 and Shahed 136 OWA-UAVs for Russian use in the war in Ukraine. Shortly thereafter, Iran initiated a large-scale technology transfer programme to facilitate the production of these systems in Russia. Domestically manufactured variants of the Shahed 136, designated Geran-2, remain the cornerstone of Russia’s deep-strike OWA-UAV campaign.
Shahed production facilities
Russia’s commitment to the use of long-range OWA-UAVs is not only reflected by the increasing number of systems but also by the expansion of its production capacity. Ukrainian sources have previously stated that Russia produced more than 6,000 OWA-UAVs in 2024 and aims to increase these numbers through 2025. This claim is supported by satellite imagery showing the development of infrastructure for Shahed production.
No comments:
Post a Comment