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- Russia has started arming its drones with air-to-air missiles to hunt Ukrainian aircraft.
- Ukraine said that these modified Shahed-type drones contain foreign parts, including some from the West.
- Foreign parts continue to be found inside Russian weaponry, underscoring the challenge of enforcing sanctions.
A new kind of Russian drone armed with an air-to-air missile is being made using foreign parts, including some sourced from Western countries, Ukraine's military intelligence agency revealed on Monday.
The drone — a modified Geran-2 — was recently spotted in Ukraine carrying a Soviet-era missile, a first for this war. From the Ukrainian assessment, it's the latest Russian weapon to turn up with foreign components despite the sweeping international sanctions and export controls targeting Moscow.
Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the GUR, said that Russia has armed its Geran-2 drones with R-60 air-to-air missiles to fire at helicopters and aircraft providing air defense for Kyiv. Officials and analysts have delivered similar determinations about the purpose of the modification.
"The main purpose of the new development is to create a threat to Ukrainian military and tactical aviation, reducing the effectiveness of its work in intercepting enemy UAVs," the GUR wrote in a translated statement.
The GUR said that the modified drone contains foreign-made parts produced by companies in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, China, Japan, and Taiwan. Kyiv has frequently identified components in Russian weaponry sourced from these countries, some of which are among Ukraine's closest partners.
Russia's defense ministry and its US embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the foreign parts assessments.
Despite global sanctions, Western technology can still find its way into Russian weaponry via civilian markets, middlemen, or countries that sidestep export rules. Ukraine has repeatedly urged the international community to close those gaps and further isolate the Kremlin.
In one attack this fall, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that more than 100,000 foreign-made parts were discovered among 550 drones and missiles that Russia launched, underscoring just how massive the problem continues to be for Kyiv.
Russia's introduction of a new Geran-2 — a one-way attack drone based on the Iranian Shahed-136 — armed with an air-to-air missile is notable, though it is not the first time in this war that drones have received these types of modifications.
Ukraine, for instance, has armed some of its naval drones with surface-to-air missiles, which have been used to shoot down Russian aircraft flying combat air patrols over the Black Sea.
The Shahed-style Geran-2 usually carries an internal warhead that explodes when the drone impacts a target. The R-60 missile — which entered service for Soviet fighter jets in the early 1970s and has a 6-mile range — may force Russia to limit the size of the payload, potentially reducing the drone's effectiveness in exchange for increased survivability.
The GUR said that the missile could be used if Russian operators saw a nearby Ukrainian aircraft or helicopters through cameras mounted on the drone and then ordered a launch. The R-60 features heat-seeking technology that enables it to home in on its target.
The new missile-armed Geran-2 comes as Russia continues to invest heavily in drone operations, including domestic production and the development of new launch sites.
