Shahed-136 / Geran-2 family
The mass one-way attack drone of the strategic strike campaign.
Record
Battlefield role
Mass, attritional strikes on infrastructure and cities to saturate air defence.
Strengths
Cheap, long range, launched in swarms to overwhelm interceptors; domestic Russian production has scaled continuously.
Limitations
Slow, loud, low precision, and individually easy to shoot down — effect comes from numbers, not survivability.
Visual identification
Delta-wing planform, rear pusher propeller, ~3.5 m wingspan; a distinctive moped-like engine sound.
Documented conflict use
The defining weapon of the strategic campaign against Ukraine's grid and cities since October 2022; nightly salvo sizes and intercept rates are publicly tracked by both sides.
Related key events
Strategic campaign against Ukraine's grid begins
Massed missile and Shahed-drone salvos against power infrastructure open a recurring seasonal campaign to break civilian endurance through winter darkness and cold.