Ukraine's Defence Intelligence unveils "unboxing" of Russian Gerbera drone – photo
Despite being made from the simplest materials, the Russian Gerbera drone incorporates foreign components, can carry a warhead as a kamikaze UAV and conducts electronic reconnaissance, including detecting air defence positions and recording strikes by other attack drones.
Source: Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU)
Details: This UAV mimics the Shahed-136/Geran-2 and is widely used by Russia to overload Ukraine’s air defence systems. Russia assembles these multi-task drones at a factory in the city of Yelabuga.
Usage of simple materials such as plywood and foam makes the Gerbera drone tens of times cheaper than the Shahed/Geran. However, its construction still contains the familiar set of foreign components often found in Russian weaponry.
Analysis of downed samples has shown that the Gerbera is produced using a Chinese prototype and foreign components imported from China.
Gerbera is developed by the Chinese model aircraft manufacturer Skywalker Technology Co., Ltd., which also produces fuselages and facilitates the delivery of kits to Russia via third parties.
The Gerbera’s anti-jamming antenna (CRPA) includes chips manufactured by Analog Devices and Texas Instruments (USA) as well as NXP Semiconductors (Netherlands).
Its universal flight controller also contains components from companies such as Texas Instruments, Atmel (USA), STMicroelectronics, U-Blox (Switzerland), NXP Semiconductors (Netherlands), and XLSEMI (China).
The UAV is equipped with a Chinese three-axis stabilised camera (Topotek KHY10S90) and a modem from Xingkai Tech Mesh Network (XK-F358) to target objectives and conduct aerial reconnaissance following an FPV-drone principle.
The engine, DLE60, is manufactured by China’s Mile Hao Xiang Technology Co., Ltd., which was sanctioned by the US in the summer of 2024 for supplying components to Russia.
Background:
- In October 2024 alone, Russia deployed over 2,000 UAVs against Ukraine. The intelligence reports revealed that approximately half of these drones were decoys or false targets intended to distract and overload Ukrainian air defence systems.
- DIU had previously showcased the "unboxing" of the Parodiia (Parody) drone – one of the primary decoys that the Russians employ in their aerial assaults.
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