HESA Shahed 136
The HESA Shahed 136, also known by its Russian designation Geran-2, is an Iranian-designed loitering munition, 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.
On 3 December 2025, the U.S. military announced it had developed the LUCAS drone, a clone of the Shahed 136, and deployed a squadron in the Middle East.
Overview
Description
The aircraft has a cropped delta-wing shape, with a central fuselage blending into the wings and stabilizing rudders at the tips. The nose section contains a warhead estimated to weigh. The engine sits in the rear of the fuselage and drives a two-bladed pusher propeller. The munition is long with a wingspan of, flies at over, and weighs about. Range has been estimated to be anywhere from between to as much as. 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.A British report presented to the United Nations Security Council states that a version of the Shahed 136 was used in 2023 against moving vessels in the Gulf of Oman, which required a sensor to lock onto the moving target, and/or an operator in the loop with a real time sensor feed. An Iridium satellite phone SIM card was found in the debris, indicating possible control beyond line of sight.
The drone's appearance seems to resemble that of the developed by Dornier Flugzeugwerke in Germany in the 1980s, but whether there was actual copying is an open question.
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 and is assisted in initial flight by rocket launch assistance. The rocket is jettisoned immediately after launch, whereupon the drone's conventional Iranian-made Mado MD-550 four-cylinder piston engine takes over.
Comms and guidance system
The Shahed 136 navigates via 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.Electronics
Despite no markings, experts believe the munition uses a computer processor manufactured by the American company Altera, RF modules by Analog Devices and LDO chips by Microchip Technology.Inspection of captured drones used by Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian war revealed that some Shahed-136 electronics were manufactured from foreign made components, such as a Texas Instruments TMS320 processor, a Polish made fuel pump on behalf of UK-based company TI Fluid Systems and a voltage converter from China. The UK based Conflict Armament Research found that 82% of electronic components were manufactured by U.S. based companies.
In 2023 the Jewish Chronicle reported that British universities had participated in drone development with Iran.
Geran-2
Geran-2 is the name of the weapon in Russian service and later versions manufactured in Russia. Russia has significantly hardened and upgraded the Geran-2 from the Iranian design over many iterations, and has become independent of Iran in its development and manufacturing.By October 2022, a Times of Israel correspondent noted that the Iranian navigation system made from civilian components had been replaced with a Russian manufactured flight control unit and microprocessors, using the Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system rather than US civilian grade GPS, seemingly improving its loitering munition capability. Geran-2 has labeling and paint color matching Russian rather than Iranian munitions, some painted black for night operations. No cameras or short-range sensors were noted in 2022.
By November 2022, Russia and Iran had agreed to the Russian manufacture of the munition, with Iran exporting key components. The Russian manufacturing facility is in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone, Tatarstan, with a target of building 6,000 Geran-2s by summer 2025.
In July 2023, UK based Conflict Armament Research studied the remains of two Geran-2s used in Ukraine, concluding they were a new variant manufactured in Russia. They found "major differences in the airframe construction and in the internal units" compared to earlier examples studied, including a fuselage now made of fiberglass over woven carbon fiber rather than lightweight honeycomb. A third of the components showed manufacturing dates from 2020 to 2023, and three Russian components showed dates from January to March 2023. Twelve components showed dates after the start of the invasion in February 2022. Some internal modules were the same as in other Russian weapon systems, including the Kometa satellite navigation module.
In December 2023, the Ukrainian National Agency on Corruption Prevention stated that the Russian-produced Geran-2 included 55 parts made in the United States, 15 from China, 13 from Switzerland, and 6 from Japan.
The Russian-manufactured Geran-2 is believed to have a "state-of-art antenna interference suppression" system that suppresses jamming of the satellite navigation position signal, designed by Iran using seven transceivers for input and an FPGA and three microcontrollers to analyse and suppress any electronic warfare emissions.
As of late September 2023, Russian forces have reportedly started packing warheads with tungsten ball shrapnel, similar to the M30A1 and M30A2 series of GMLRS warheads. According to Ukrainian officials the Russian modifications included "new warheads, engines, batteries, servomotors and bodies".
As of October 2023, Russia had significantly hardened and upgraded the Geran-2 in several iterations, though the authors of an occasional paper in 2024 estimated this had increased the production cost from $30,000 to about $80,000. One such upgrade is for a scout Geran-2 to conduct an electromagnetic spectrum survey, transmitting back to assist in safer route planning for follow-on munitions.
In May 2024, a version of the Geran-2 with a heavier 90 kg warhead was reported. This version has relocated internals and, as a result, a smaller fuel tank. By almost doubling the warhead weight, the amount fuel carried drops to, resulting in a reduced maximum range. A 52 kg thermobaric warhead option was also reported. This version may be painted black for night operations. By May 2025, the 90 kg warhead version had been widely deployed, particularly against Ukrainian electricity infrastructure.
In September 2024, Ukrainian sources reported that the remains of a shot down Geran 2 included a Starlink satellite communications system providing internet connectivity over Ukraine, presumably to support real time video or electromagnetic spectrum surveys. Previously communication experiments had been conducted with 4G modems on the Ukrainian mobile phone network.
In May 2025, The Kyiv Independent quoted Ukrainian mobile air defense sources stating that at night the drone had started avoiding strong light sources en-route, prompting air defense units to use some night-vision devices instead of searchlights.
In June 2025, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine was reported to have examined a new type of Geran-2, which they called the MS series, which had an infrared camera and a Nvidia Jetson based computer capable of video processing and autonomously finding targets. It also had a radio modem capable of transmitting video and telemetry. This new drone has been used to scout routes prior to other attacks, scanning for mobile air defence units.
As of late spring 2025 Russia has been producing around 170 Geran-2 drones per day, with indication that a total of around 26,000 Gerans were produced by Yelabuga drone factory. Defense Intelligence of Ukraine estimates 40,000 Geran-2 and 24,000 cheaper Gerbera decoy drones are planned to be manufactured in 2025.
By early 2026 the Ukrainian military had identified several experimental subcategories of the Geran-2: A Geran-2 carrying a 18-kg 9K333 Verba MANPAD surface to air missilelauncher on it`s back, designed to launch a single infrared homing surface-to-air missile in the direction the Geran-2 is traveling. The drone has a Chinese-made camera in it`s nose, allowing a remote operator to aquire a target, which is then attacked as soon as the MANPAD has locked onto it. The drone itself can afterwards continue it`s standard mission and strike a ground target. A compareable modification was found on downed Geran-3 jet powered drone at the same time, but with an older 45-kg infrared homing R-60 air-to-air missile on a lauchning rail mounted on it`s back. These modifications were apparently done to attack helicopters, after Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi had stated in September 2025, that helicopters were responsible for some 40 percent of drone kills.
Almost all observed Geran-2 drones in early 2026 were equipped with 2G-, 3G- and 4G- antennas. By January 2026 Russia had mastered the use of Starlink internet connections to remote control Geran-2 drones. An attack on a moving passenger train in late January 2026 near Charkiv with 3 drones hitting, was attributed to Starlink controlled Geran's.
U.S. LUCAS drone
On 3 December 2025, U.S. Central Command announced it had deployed a squadron of Shahed 136 clones operated by a new task force in the Middle East, named Task Force Scorpion Strike under Special Operations Command Central. The Low-cost Uncrewed Combat Attack System drones, largely based on reverse-engineering a captured Shahed 136, has an extensive range and can operate autonomously. The one-way-attack drone can be launched using different mechanisms including catapults, rocket-assisted takeoff, and mobile ground and vehicle systems.On 16 December 2025, test launched a LUCAS drone at sea for the first time, in the Persian Gulf.
The LUCAS drone was developed by Arizona-based SpektreWorks, in cooperation with the U.S. military. The number built was not disclosed, but CENTCOM stated they had "an amount that provides us with a significant level of capability", and that build cost was about $35,000. A U.S. official said that the existing larger and more expensive precision systems had "put our forces at a disadvantage" and that "now we’re flipping the script".
SpektreWorks also supply a target drone resembling the Shahed 136, named FLM 136, which was shown at a public Pentagon event on 16 July 2025 where the LUCAS development was also presented. The FLM 136 specification is mostly lower than the Shahed 136, with a range of, maximum speed of, endurance of 6 hours, payload of with a maximum weight of.