Russia Increases Lethality of Shahed-Based Drones With Twin 50 kg Warhead Configuration..

Russian forces have begun operational use of Geran 2 one-way attack drones equipped with a 100 kg twin warhead, according to Ukrainian reporting dated December 14, 2025. The upgrade significantly increases destructive potential and signals a shift in Russia’s long-range drone strategy toward fewer but more damaging strikes.

Russian forces are now fielding an upgraded version of the Geran 2 one-way attack drone, incorporating a double warhead totalling roughly 100 kilograms, according to reporting from Ukrainian news agency UNN and local OSINT channels. Ukrainian radio technology expert Serhiy Beskrestnov, known by the call sign Flash, said analysis of recovered wreckage confirms the configuration is no longer experimental and is entering routine combat use against Ukrainian targets.
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Upgraded Russian Geran 2 one-way attack drone carrying twin high-explosive incendiary warheads totaling about 100 kg, boosting blast and fire effects for infrastructure killing strikes while retaining long range, low speed penetration (Picture source: social media).

The original Shahed 136 and early Geran 2 iterations are simple, propeller-driven loitering munitions built around a pusher engine and a lightweight airframe optimized for long range. Typical characteristics include a flight range reaching up to 1,500 km, cruising speed around 180 km/h, operating altitude from very low level to several thousand meters, a launch mass near 200 kg, and a high-explosive fragmentation warhead of roughly 40 kg, powered by a small piston engine derived from commercial designs. In practice, later Russian-produced variants have already been observed with multiple warhead options and internal layout changes, including heavier payloads that extend further into the fuselage.

The new configuration appears to stack two identical 50 kg high-explosive incendiary blocks, bringing the total payload to approximately 100 kg. Reporting from both Ukrainian and Russian technical outlets describes each block as a standardized munition equipped with an electronic base fuze, while noting that the airframe has been rebalanced to preserve stability despite the heavier forward load. Ukrainian specialists have published dimensional details of the warhead blocks and emphasized their combined blast and fire-producing effects, indicating a design meant to maximize both overpressure and post-impact ignition.

Operationally, doubling the warhead moves Geran 2 closer to the destructive class of much larger strike weapons, even if it remains far below the payload of cruise missiles. The tactical logic is straightforward: Ukraine has spent two years hardening critical infrastructure, dispersing stocks, and building layered air defense zones, which raises the number of drones required to achieve a mission kill on a single target. A heavier unitary payload is a crude but effective answer, reducing the need for multiple impacts on the same transformer yard, fuel storage area, or reinforced facility. Analysts have long assessed that Russia seeks deadlier warheads with stronger fragmentation, incendiary effects, and improved structural damage to complicate repairs and increase both material losses and casualties. The 100 kg step fits that trajectory.

Why two warheads instead of one larger custom charge comes down to engineering and production realities. Using two standardized 50 kg blocks simplifies manufacturing, acceptance testing, and logistics, while allowing engineers to tune the center of gravity by shifting onboard systems and fuel rather than redesigning the entire casing. It also offers tactical flexibility in fuzing and damage mechanisms. Two charges aligned along the fuselage can generate a longer impulse and more extensive internal collapse than a single compact detonation, particularly against roofs, floors, and layered structures, where sequential failure produces greater damage than peak blast alone. Physics still imposes a trade. Added mass generally reduces range, endurance, or launch flexibility, meaning these heavier Geran 2 variants are likely optimized for regional strikes rather than maximum reach.

On the battlefield, a 100 kg warhead sharply raises the penalty for any drone that penetrates defenses. Even with high interception rates, the drones that get through can shift from causing nuisance damage to disabling critical infrastructure or destroying hardened facilities. Combined with mass launches designed to saturate point defenses, the upgraded Geran 2 underscores a broader pattern of rapid iteration inside Russia’s long-range drone program. Incendiary-focused payloads, airburst concepts, and evolving fuzing options all point to a system no longer defined solely by low cost, but by steadily increasing lethality. For defenders, the challenge is no longer just shooting down large numbers of cheap drones, but preventing a smaller number of heavier hits from producing disproportionate operational shock.