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As Russia adapts to new wartime dynamics, driven in large part by Ukrainian successes with drones, Western defense companies are rushing to develop faster interceptors that are cheap enough to deploy in enormous numbers.
Ukrainian manufacturer SkyFall unveiled its P1-SUN Jetkiller at the Farnborough International Airshow in England on Monday, July 20.
The interceptor can reportedly reach 370 kilometers per hour and was designed specifically to counter Russia’s expanding fleet of jet-powered Geran drones.
SkyFall said that the new Jetkiller has destroyed more than 12 jet-powered drones during battlefield testing and will go into production this August.
It’s a significant development - one that appears to mark a new stage of a worldwide arms race that began with Ukraine’s ingenious use of commercially available first-person view (FPV) drones that were jury-rigged with conventional munitions.
Now, Russian mass production of its own jet-powered Shahed-type drones, in response to Ukrainian innovation, is pushing the West to take action to prepare for future wars.
Russia Transforms an Iranian Design
The jet-powered drones Russia is using are actually an evolution of a design that originated in Iran, known as the Shahed.
Iran first supplied Russia with the propeller-driven Shahed-136 in 2022, giving Moscow an inexpensive, long-range one-way attack drone capable of striking cities and infrastructure hundreds of miles behind the front lines.
Russia soon began manufacturing its own version under the designation Geran-2, gradually replacing imported drones with domestically assembled models.
In November 2023, Tehran unveiled the newest version of the Shahed design, the Shahed-238, which was a jet-powered version of the Shahed-136.
While it retained much of the earlier drone’s design, including its distinctive delta-wing configuration, it replaced the piston engine and rear-mounted propeller with a turbojet.
It meant that the Shahed was now faster and harder to intercept. Russia saw this and went even further, adapting that concept and creating the Geran-3.
Russia Leads the Way
Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate (HUR) revealed in February 2025 that Russia had begun preparing domestic production of the Geran-3, replacing the original Iranian engine with a Chinese-made Telefly JT80 turbojet.
An intelligence update published by HUR revealed that the drone could reach speeds of over 300 kilometers per hour, and carry a warhead weighing approximately 50 kilograms.
The statement also confirmed that the drone could strike targets up to 1,000 kilometers away.
The Geran-3 also uses the Kometa-M12 anti-jamming antenna, allowing it to better resist Ukrainian electronic warfare while navigating toward its target.
Since then, Russia has moved well beyond simply producing the Geran-3.
Moscow is understood to have developed the more advanced Geran-4 and Geran-5 as part of its ongoing effort to field faster and longer-range attack drones that will help push back Ukrainian forces.
Russia is making big changes to the drone, too, with the Geran-5 looking substantially different compared to the original Iranian Shahed, featuring a conventional fuselage and wing configuration that makes it appear more like a small cruise missile.
The Geran-5 is believed to be capable of carrying a warhead of around 90 kilograms.
Production has also rapidly expanded. Russia is understood to manufacture the Geran family at the Alabuga Special Economic Zone located in Tatarstan, where facilities that were originally established to assemble the Iranian-designed drones have now turned into large-scale domestic production lines.
It’s not just Ukraine that has built a massive new drone manufacturing base.
The West Wants Ukraine’s Experience
The West sees what’s happening in Russia and Ukraine, and now wants to catch up.
Western governments and defense companies now see Ukraine as the world’s most valuable drone manufacturing facility, not just because it has the factories capable of producing them, but because of its combat experience.
Ukraine already conducts real-world testing that cannot be replicated on a proving ground.
At Farnborough, Ukraine and other countries presented their new drone technologies to potential new customers.
SkyFall says that its P1-SUN Jetkiller has already destroyed Russian Gerans in testing, while Ukrainian company General Cherry promised to develop a faster version of its Bullet interceptor capable of reaching 500 kilometers per hour.
The Bullet is expected to sell for just $2,000.
British-Ukrainian manufacturer Firebolt Engineering, meanwhile, is developing the Griffen interceptor, which is expected to reach speeds of 400 kilometers per hour while keeping the cost below $10,000.
Preparing for the Next Arms Race
Iran’s Shahed proved that relatively cheap drones can be made quickly and threaten far more powerful militaries.
Russia built on that success, showing that designs can be improved and mass-produced rapidly, and indeed integrated into large-scale attacks.
Western militaries see this and are now preparing for adversaries, including smaller countries and militaries, to launch their own initiatives, buy from non-Western-aligned suppliers, and begin punching far above their weight in terms of military strength.
For the West, it is now critical to develop equally affordable interceptors while continuing investment in advanced new technologies like sixth-generation fighters and stealth bombers.
About the Author: Jack Buckby
Jack Buckby is a British researcher and analyst specializing in defense and national security, based in New York. His work focuses on military capability, procurement, and strategic competition, producing and editing analysis for policy and defense audiences. He brings extensive editorial experience, with a career output spanning over 1,000 articles at 19FortyFive and National Security Journal, and has previously authored books and papers on extremism and deradicalization.
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