Not long after the Russian military forces began operating Iranian Geran-2 / Shahed-136 unmanned aerial systems deployed as loitering munitions during September 2022, and in particular, in several main waves in October and December, attacks using these weapons increased, in terms of frequency, scope and geographical distribution throughout Ukraine. Concomitantly, since October 13, 2022, Russian forces have started to use, albeit less frequently, another model of a similar UAS from the Iranian arsenal – the Geran-1 / Shahed-131 – known from its past use in other arenas, intended for deployment in attacks against infrastructure and energy targets. Attacks against these specific targets have increased in the country in recent months, in addition to attacks against civilian targets, at the expense of military targets near the front line, and they usually occur in waves incorporating a large number of UAS striking several locations near-simultaneously. The widespread use of these weapons in Ukraine allows both Russia and the manufacturer, Iran, to test their function and gain experience in operating on a significant scale, while optimizing attack methods, learning, and drawing conclusions in the field. At the same time, the extensive documentation from Ukraine makes it possible to examine the structure and components of these attack systems in detail for the first time, after years of limited documentation in Iran’s areas of influence in the Middle East.
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