Russian forces have begun equipping ‘Gerbera’ decoy drones with explosive warheads, deploying them in nighttime attacks alongside Shahed-136 drones. This was reported by Serhii Flesh, a military expert specializing in radio technology.
“In the white, polystyrene air defense ‘decoys’ known as Gerbera, we are now seeing various types of warheads, ranging from 3 to 5 kg of explosives,” Flesh stated.
A newly released photo shows one such drone equipped with a Russian OFBCh-2.5 fragmentation-explosive warhead, filled with OKFOL, a high-explosive compound.
This warhead is specifically designed for drones and is used in Russia’s Kub-BLA tactical strike UAVs, featuring an electromechanical impact fuse.
The Gerbera drone was first spotted in July last year during a massive drone attack on Kyiv region. It is designed to mimic Shahed-136/Geran-2 drones and is widely used by Russian forces to overload Ukraine’s air defense systems.
Due to its role as a decoy, the Gerbera drone features a simplified structure made from basic materials, allowing for maximum cost reduction. According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, these drones are dozens of times cheaper than Shahed-136 strike drones.
Structurally, the drone consists of a plywood-and-polystyrene fuselage, a small engine, a rudimentary onboard computer, and a soft polyethylene fuel tank.
Previously, it was reported that Russia has begun using Shahed drones equipped with larger 90 kg warheads and shrapnel-filled payloads designed to inflict higher civilian casualties, according to Andrii Yermak, head of Ukraine’s Presidential Office, on January 30.
Source: UNITED24 Media