RFE/RL dissects Russian Geran-4 drone in teardown video

Key points

What's the story? Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) published a four-minute teardown video on 24 September ʣ2026 in which its Ukrainian Service experts dismantle a Russian Geran-4 jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle recovered in Ukraine. The investigation walks through the drone's turbojet engine, its electro-optical camera and its foreign-made communications and navigation components, to explain why the Geran-4 is faster, harder to intercept and able to operate deeper inside Ukrainian airspace than earlier Shahed designs.

Why it matters: Geran-4 is the jet-powered evolution of the Shahed one-way attack-drone family now built for Russia. Design work traces to Iran's HESA and Shahed Aviation Industries. Serial production has been ramping at the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan, per Ukrainian intelligence reporting. Cataloguing the foreign-sourced electronics helps counter-drone programmes, export-control enforcement and efforts to map the supply chain behind Russia's long-range strike campaign against Ukraine.

The video: Rate the full four-minute segment on RFE/RL's YouTube channel.

Read more: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty