Russia's new Shahed drones intensify Ukraine conflict

Russia has commenced attacks on Ukrainian cities using these upgraded Shahed-136 drones, which carry almost twice the explosive payload compared to the basic versions. According to UNITED24 Media, these unmanned aerial vehicles, originally designed in Iran, are now mass-produced in Russia and continuously modified to evade Ukrainian air defences. Ukrainians have examined these machines and claim that they pose a significant challenge for the defenders.

The upgraded Shahed-136 drones are equipped with 200-pound warheads, a significant increase from earlier versions, which had 110-pound warheads. Increasing the explosive payload from 62 pounds to 137 pounds enhances their destructive capability and effectiveness. However, to accommodate the heavier payload, Russian engineers had to reduce the flight range of these drones from 839 miles to about 404 miles.

Testing of the new Shahed-136 drones began in 2023, and over a six-month period, Russia launched around 30 drones at Ukrainian cities to assess their effectiveness (which, according to Ukrainian reports, is already quite high). If the version with the 200-pound warhead proves successful, Russia plans to increase orders to 1,000 units of this weapon.

The production of Shahed drones in Russia has accelerated significantly recently. From January to mid-June 2024, Moscow launched 2,277 drones, and between August and October 2024, this number increased to 4,300 units. In October alone, Russia used over 2,000 of these autonomous machines.

The aggressor plans to continue the intensive production of Shahed drones in 2025, which could mean further threats to Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian populations. Production includes various drone variants, including those with thermobaric and fragmentation-incendiary warheads.