The HESA Shahed 136 (Persian: شاهد ۱۳۶, lit. ‘Witness 136’), also known by its Russian designation Geran-2 (Russian: Герань-2, lit. ‘Geranium-2’), is an Iranian-designed one-way attack drone, also referred to as a kamikaze drone or suicide drone, in the form of an autonomous pusher-propelled drone. It is designed and manufactured by the Iranian state-owned corporation HESA in association with Shahed Aviation Industries.

The munition is designed to attack ground targets from a distance. The drone is typically fired in multiples from a launch rack. The first public footage of the drone was released in December 2021. Russia has made much use of the Shahed 136/Geran-2 in the Russo-Ukrainian war, especially in strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure, and mass-produces its own version.

Description

The aircraft has a cropped delta-wing shape, with a central fuselage blending into the wings, which have vertical stabilizing rudders at the tips. The nose section contains a warhead estimated to weigh 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb). An Iranian-made Mado MD-550 engine sits in the rear of the fuselage and drives a two-bladed pusher propeller. The MD-550 is reverse engineered from the Limbach L550E, a 550cc four-cylinder two-stroke petrol aircraft engine made in Germany. The munition is 3.5 metres (11 ft) long, with a wingspan of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft), flies at over 185 kilometres per hour (115 mph), and weighs about 200 kilograms (440 lb).[16] The drone’s appearance resembles that of the Drohne-Anti-Radar (DAR) developed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke in Germany in the 1980s, but whether there was actual copying is an open question.

Its range has been estimated to be anywhere from between 970–1,500 km (600–930 mi) to as much as 2,000–2,500 km (1,200–1,600 mi). The U.S. Army unclassified worldwide equipment guide states that the Shahed 136 design supports an aerial reconnaissance option, although no cameras were noted in the Geran-2 in Russian service.

Electronics

The Shahed 136 navigates by a commercial-grade inertial guidance system, corrected by civilian GPS and GLONASS. December 2023 remains from the drones were found with SIMs and 4G modems of the type used in mobile phones.

Deployment

Because of the portability of the launch frame and drone assembly, the entire unit can be mounted on the back of any military or commercial truck. The aircraft is launched on rails at a slight upward angle with initial rocket launch assistance. The rocket is jettisoned immediately after launch, whereupon the drone’s conventional piston engine takes over

Loitering munition

A loitering munition (LM) is a type of self-destructive unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) equipped with a warhead that is typically designed to remotely loiter by a human operator using electro-optical targeting sensors or camera suite and data-link until a target is designated, then crash into it and detonate. Anti-radiation (anti-radar) loitering munitions are a type of loitering munition that employ either an anti-radiation seeker by itself or in tandem with an electro-optical targeting system to locate enemy radar by loitering and destroy it after detection. Common terms like suicide drone, kamikaze drone, or exploding drone are used for both loitering munition and one-way attack drones. They enable attacks against hidden targets that emerge for short periods without placing high-value platforms near the target area. Unlike many other types of munitions, their attacks can be changed mid-mission or aborted. Loitering munitions are typically aerial platforms, but include some autonomous undersea vehicles with similar characteristics.

Loitering weapons emerged in the 1980s for the suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) role, and were deployed for SEAD by some military forces in the 1990s. In the 2000s, they were developed for additional roles, from long-range strikes and fire support to short-range tactical systems that fit in a backpack.

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