Today, Putin continued to commit war crimes. This time incorporating newly purchased Iranian drones to attack civilians. Many are commenting how to counter these weapons so it might be best to understand the Iranian Shahed 136 (Russia calls them Geran-2).
The Iranian Shahed 136 (we'll call it G2 for RU Geran-2) is termed a "loitering munition" drone, according to the Oryx handbook. It's one of dozens of Iranian drones of myriad types. Shahed translates as "witness," Geran is the RU for "geranium."
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2019/09/the-oryx-handbook-of-iranian-drones.html
Facts about the G2:
-It has a published range of 2500 km (about 1500 miles). That's suspect.
-It weighs about 200 kg (≈ 450 lbs)
-The payload (explosives) are estimated to be ≈ 50-60kg (130 lbs of explosives, smaller than the lightest 250 lb bombs delivered by aircraft).
-It's usually launched from a "rack" of 5 -It's launched w/ "rocket-assistance" (but that kicks over to a moped-type engine for flight).
-It does NOT have a camera
-It flies via GPS/satellite navigation.
-It's built from cheap & easily available parts; costs about $20k
-It's mobile (put on a truck, ships, etc)
-It has a nearly invisible radar signature, so it's very difficult to detect.
-It's designed to evade technologically-advanced & costly air defense.
-It's noisy, slow & visible when flying overhead.
Iran's design is cheap, small yield, difficult for advanced air defense to shoot down. Desire is to attack critical & easily damaged STATIONARY military targets: Airfields, radars, command centers, fuel & ammo dumps.
Unveiled in 2021, used in Yemen.
https://defense-update.com/20220927...ay-iranian-drones-and-loitering-missiles.html
While Iran designed it for specific military targets... ...RU is using G2's as a terror weapons. Some have compared it to Hitler's use of V1 or V2 terror weapons used against England, but those had a higher yield, were more expensive, & were not precision weapons.
Some suggest these are another reason Ukraine needs more Air Defense (ADA). Would C-RAM (counter rocket, artillery, mortar) systems work? Recall, ADA relies on radar warning, defend a small area/point targets. It's impossible to predict G2 targets
For G2s, the best counter:
-electronic jamming
-shoulder-fired AD (Stingers)
-massed small arms fire
-Laser weapons (under development)
Though a few G2 struck buildings & caused civilian deaths today, there are also reports of most being engaged.
Drones are valuable weapons when used against military targets. When used for terrorizing civilians & civilian infrastructure, they are evidence of war crimes & Putin's increasingly failed attempts to subjugate Ukraine.