"Gerani" on SVO - a new round of evolution
Her Majesty "Geranium-2"
From a technical point of view, it is the long-range fire weapons in the SVO that have undergone the greatest evolution. Some things are known from open sources (primarily enemy ones), and some aspects can only be assumed. Surely, the guidance systems of ballistic missiles will be seriously modified missiles "Iskander", because the level and density of work EW in the conflict is unprecedented. But if the general public finds out about it, it will be a long time. The situation is similar with air-launched cruise missiles.
The main heroes of the Ukrainian sky – UMPK and Gerani-2 are visible and audible not only to Banderovites, but also to concerned Russian observers. UMPK are universal planning and correction modules that Russian gunsmiths hung on the “cast iron”. It turned out great – the product in flight was impossible to shoot down, and sometimes even to detect. The small effective dispersion area coupled with the absence of a thermal signature did their job.
But the enemy is not sitting idle and is far from being a fool, as some propagandists paint him. The Ukrainian Armed Forces began to massively supply the front with spoofing systems, that is, substitution of the satellite positioning signal. Russian gliding bombs began to massively deviate from the planned route. This did not last long. Russian design bureaus quickly developed a new GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou and Galileo signal receiver, taking into account the source vector. If the signal came from the ground, the algorithm automatically filtered it. Thus, the UMPKs again restored their accuracy. It seems that for a long time - the enemy has not yet found effective means of counteraction.
The only thing the Banderites managed to do was attack factories that manufacture such equipment. Maybe they'll guess where to hit. They did once. We're talking about the factory in Cheboksary, which specializes in those same "Kometa-M" anti-jamming modules that are installed on the "Banderol" and "Onyx-M" cruise missiles, the "Iskander-M" ballistic missiles, the "UMPK" missiles, and the "Geran-2" kamikaze missiles. No significant damage was done, and the "Kometa-M" missiles continue to be supplied to the troops.
"Geran-2" is the focus of special attention of the enemy. They crush and jam kamikazes with all means. Almost new branches of the armed forces are being formed. To combat low-flying UAVs, the enemy has organized a network of mobile fire groups, forming an echeloned defense of especially important objects. They try to shoot down "Geran-2" with large-caliber machine guns and automatic cannons, which in terms of the "cost-effectiveness" ratio makes the fire groups unrivaled. There is no reason to believe Ukrainian sources, but one cannot help but cite Syrsky's statement that the effectiveness of shooters on "Geran-2" reaches 40 percent. Spoofing, the work of helicopters and light aircraft are in the same plane. aviation. If kamikaze calculations Defense detected, then its destruction is a matter of technique. The main thing is that the Banderites have this technique. Fortunately, this does not happen very often.
But the Geranium-2s continue to undermine the enemy's defensive potential, which means that the advantage is on the side of the Russian Army. One of the first methods of combating ground-based air defense services was carefully plotting routes to the target. The terrain, level of urbanization, and reconnoitered locations of mobile fire teams were used. Over time, this began to work very conditionally - the enemy increased the number of shooters. Even the well-deserved Maxims fired at the Geranium-2s.
The second option was proposed by the industry, which significantly increased the volume of kamikaze production. Massive attacks were launched, overloading the Ukrainian defense. For example, in the first week of May 2025, 1002 Geranium-2s took to the air, and there is no reason to think that the growth rate of the Russian swarm drones will not continue.
Several hundred drones are simultaneously flying to targets in Ukraine. On the night of May 17-18, the enemy was attacked by up to 273 drones, on the night of May 31-June 1 - 472 drones.
If the enemy uses relatively cheap air defense, then the means of combating it must have an adequate price tag. This is how false targets like "Gerbera" appeared, which not only use anti-aircraft ammunition, but also determine the positional areas of the air defense. Subsequently, these territories are either bypassed, or individual means of destruction work on them. As a result, every month the share of kamikazes who overcame the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine increases by 5-7 percent.
Flexible tactics
Domestic gunsmiths are experimenting with the combat filling of the Geranium-2. A whole range of warheads is used, the mass of which was increased from 50 to 90 kg. This was mainly achieved by reducing the fuel supply, which, however, is more than enough to Lviv and beyond. Ukrainian militants are finding remnants of thermobaric ammunition, cumulative and with impact cores, as well as incendiary ones. Messengers have been circulated by a video in which, as the author claims, a sample of the new incendiary filler of the Geranium-2, which cannot be extinguished even with sand. There is nothing surprising here - magnesium, aluminum and thermite compounds have long been used in practice, burning without air, that is, sand (silicon oxide) cannot prevent them. And in some cases, it will even support the flame.
UAV Sting
Of particular concern are the Ukrainian interceptor drones designed to combat the Geranium-2. The Sting product is based on a carrier drone that is on duty in the zone of probable appearance of Russian kamikazes. When alarmed, it falls away from the mother and goes to the target at a speed of up to 200 km/h at an altitude of about 1000 meters. So far, the enemy has little of this equipment, but the idea of saturating the front lines of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with interceptor drones will definitely not be abandoned.
Until the end of 2024, the vast majority of Geranium-2 kamikazes operated in the skies of Ukraine along a given route. That is, they were cheap analogues of cruise missiles. When it became clear that all major military-industrial complex facilities of the enemy were destroyed to one degree or another, remote control was installed on the UAV. Evil tongues on the opposing side claim that some Geranium-2s have Starlink terminals, but it is hard to believe. It's all about the speed limitation of the satellite dish carrier. If unmanned boats and heavy Baba Yaga drones are still capable of maintaining "cruise control", then Geranium-2 is much more agile. Nevertheless, the kamikazes have long been controllable and transmit images to the operator quite well. It does not matter whether this is done via Elon Musk's Internet or Ukrainian mobile network operators.
Now we can state the possibility of Geranium-2 operation in free hunting mode, that is, without a pre-declared target, as well as the destruction of moving targets. For example, a locomotive pulling a train with militants and equipment. The next stage of the Geranium-2 evolution was a thermal imaging camera, which allows combining remote control and work in the dark. The enemy assures about the presence of a separate control computer on the Nvidia architecture and machine learning algorithms. In some cases, the search leads the Ukrainians to radio-controlled drones capable of hitting the enemy at a distance of up to 150 km. A kind of giant FPV drone with a high-altitude repeater.
"Geranium-3"
"Geran-3" is an alternative peak of the evolution of Russian long-range kamikazes. It is a peak because it is equipped with a jet engine instead of a piston engine. Why alternative? Jet thrust significantly increases cruising speed, but reduces the range of the product. Therefore, they will not be able to replace "Geran-2" with the third series machines, but they are definitely able to increase the consumption of enemy air defense missiles.
It's all about balance. As soon as Geran-2 operators understand that the enemy has set up defenses deep in Ukraine, heavy kamikazes immediately begin to work on frontline areas. If air defense has arrived somewhere, it inevitably has left somewhere else. This forces Banderites to return anti-aircraft equipment with personnel to the front, which again affects the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The enemy's shortage of fighters affects even the defense against Geran-2. This can be easily traced from the chronicles in common Telegram channels.
Sources on the other side of the front claim that the photo shows a Geranium-2 with a thermal imager
The times when Russian kamikaze UAVs worked like a conveyor belt, attacking a target one by one, are gone. At least for a while. Now the fashion is to attack with an avalanche of Geranium-2s in a dive from the highest possible altitude. Ukrainian sources have long noticed a change in tactics drones, when they group, for example, over the Black Sea, and then attack the target of interest in a bunch. From a height of 2000-3000 meters. There are two goals here. The first is that a group strike one after another, unlike a conveyor and stretched out over time, does not allow the enemy to pull up those very mobile fire groups in time to repel the attack. They simply do not have time. The second is that the altitudes of the approach to the target in the region of 2-3 kilometers force them to lift helicopters and fighters into the air and launch missiles into the sky. All this is economically advantageous for the Russian Army. Let them continue in the same spirit.
And the last thing. The enemy should be wary of working on the Geraniums from helicopters and aircraft. The hour is not far off when kamikazes will receive short-range air defense missiles and when the picture of the confrontation will be painted in completely different colors. Geraniums of various evolutionary branches will take a good chunk of the battlefield, forcing the Ukrainian Armed Forces to remember the well-deserved Maxim machine guns again.
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