{"id":28482,"date":"2026-09-02T20:57:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=28482"},"modified":"2026-09-02T20:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:57:17","slug":"rf-zdeshevyla-reaktyvni-drony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/science-tech\/rf-zdeshevyla-reaktyvni-drony\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia has halved the price of its jet-powered drones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">Russia has halved the production cost of its jet-powered attack drones \u2014 to approximately $50\u201370 thousand per unit, reports The Economist, citing a source in the air defence sector. The publication attributes this to Russia\u2019s acquisition, in circumvention of sanctions, of equipment for 3D-printing turbine parts, which could enable it to scale up its attacks on Ukraine.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The production cost of the Russian Federation\u2019s jet-powered UAV is estimated at $50\u201370 thousand.<\/li>\n<li>Russia is using 3D printing to manufacture turbine parts.<\/li>\n<li>At the end of August, the Russian Federation launched around 800 such drones over a four-day period.<\/li>\n<li>\u00abThe \u00bbGeran-4\u2019 can reach speeds of up to 500 km\/h.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>3D printing has reduced production costs<\/h2>\n<p>According to <em><strong>The Economist<\/strong><\/em>, Russia has acquired equipment, similar to that used by Western industrial firms, for 3D printing jet engine turbine components.<\/p>\n<p>This production method makes it possible to manufacture complex components more cheaply. *The Economist* notes that the cost of a jet-powered strike drone may fall even further.<\/p>\n<h2>Jet-powered drones are already playing a prominent role in attacks<\/h2>\n<p>The reduction in costs is taking place against a backdrop of increasing use of jet models of the \u00ab<a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/rosiya-zupynyla-vyrobnytstvo-geran-3\/\">Geranium-3<\/a>\u00bb\u00ab and \u00bbGeran-4\u00ab, which are faster than the piston-powered \u00bbShaheds\u201d. During the most recent large-scale strikes, they accounted for a significant proportion of the Russian attack drones.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of August, the President <strong>Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/strong> stated that, in just four days, Russia had deployed around 800 jet-powered drones against Ukraine. A spokesperson for the Air Force <strong>Yuriy Ignat<\/strong> It was previously reported that in July, the use of jet-powered UAVs increased fivefold compared with June, although piston-engined models still accounted for the majority of attacks overall.<\/p>\n<p>According to Jane\u2019s, Ukrainian intelligence reports that Russian production is being refocused on the \u00abGeran-4\u00bb and \u00abGeran-5\u00bb. The combination of lower production costs and the switch to new models may increase the proportion of high-speed targets in combined air strikes.<\/p>\n<h2>The speed of the \u00abGeraniums\u00bb reduces the time needed for interception<\/h2>\n<p>The \u00abGeran-3\u00bb has a speed of 300\u2013370 km\/h and an operational range of up to 1,000 km. The drone can reach its maximum speed in areas where Ukrainian air defence, electronic warfare and interceptor drones are operating.<\/p>\n<p>The newer \u00abGeran-4\u00bb has a reinforced airframe and a more powerful turbojet engine. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate, it manoeuvres at speeds of 300\u2013400 km\/h, reaching up to 500 km\/h in certain modes, and can carry a warhead weighing 50\u201390 kg.<\/p>\n<p>Higher speeds leave less time to detect targets and make it more difficult for mobile fire teams and some of the low-cost interceptors, which are designed to deal with the slower \u00abGerani-2\u00bb missiles, to operate.<\/p>\n<h2>Ukraine is adapting its defences to a new threat<\/h2>\n<p>A source speaking to *The Economist* on air defence matters estimated the success rate of intercepting jet-powered UAVs during the recent attacks at approximately 30%. This is not an official summary of statistics from the Ukrainian Air Force, nor does it represent the success rate for all attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine is developing faster <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/science-tech\/reaktyvni-drony-perekhopliuvachi-ukraina\/\">interceptor drones<\/a> and is adapting its air defence system. The Main Intelligence Directorate noted that Russia developed the \u00abGeran-4\u00bb in part as a response to the effectiveness of Ukrainian interceptor drones.<\/p>\n<p>President Zelenskyy also called on partners to approve additional missile packages for the Patriot system and other air defence systems, due to the increasing number of \u00abShahed\u00bb drones.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cost of producing Russian jet drones has fallen by at least half: a single UAV costs $50\u201370 thousand, according to The Economist.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433355,"featured_media":28481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0412\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0431\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0442\u0432\u043e \u0440\u0435\u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u0438\u0445 \u0434\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0456\u0432 \u0420\u0424 \u043f\u043e\u0434\u0435\u0448\u0435\u0432\u0448\u0430\u043b\u043e \u0449\u043e\u043d\u0430\u0439\u043c\u0435\u043d\u0448\u0435 \u0443\u0434\u0432\u0456\u0447\u0456: \u043e\u0434\u0438\u043d \u0411\u041f\u041b\u0410 \u043a\u043e\u0448\u0442\u0443\u0454 $50\u201370 \u0442\u0438\u0441\u044f\u0447, \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0456\u0434\u043e\u043c\u043b\u044f\u0454 The Economist.","rank_math_title":"\u0427\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0440\u0435\u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u0456 \u0434\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0438 \u0420\u0424 \u0441\u0442\u0430\u043b\u0438 \u0434\u0435\u0448\u0435\u0432\u0448\u0438\u043c\u0438 \u0443 \u0432\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0431\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0442\u0432\u0456","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u0440\u0435\u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u043d\u0456 \u0434\u0440\u043e\u043d\u0438","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805620],"tags":[806764],"class_list":["post-28482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science-tech","tag-806764"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433355"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28483,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28482\/revisions\/28483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}