Russia Upgrades Its Shahed Drones

Russia has deployed upgraded versions of its infamous Shahed-131 and -136 "kamikaze" drones, Ukraine has said, as Moscow hammers the war-torn with overnight drone strikes.

The Kremlin has used new, modified black Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), kitted out with material that absorbs radar signals, Ukrainian air force spokesman, Yuriy Ihnat, told media. The black paint disguises the drones in the night sky, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Ministry, added in a post to X on Sunday.

"We can now see they've used carbon fiber," Ihnat said in comments reported by Ukrainian media. "Carbon is an absorbing material for radar signals." Along with the change in color, "this will hamper the air-defense efforts, particularly the visual targeting by mobile fire groups," he said.

Russian military bloggers also claimed Russia had used black-colored versions of the drones for the first time, and that it would be more difficult for Ukraine's air defenses to detect them, the Washington-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest update.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

The grueling war in Ukraine has spurred on rapid drone development on both sides, not least around "kamikaze" drones. Russia has made extensive use of these cheap suicide drones, the most well-known of which are the Iranian-designed Shahed loitering munitions, also known as Geran-1 and Geran-2.

Ukraine has heavily invested in its own "army of drones," and Ukraine's drone tsar—Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov—has said that the country is on the path to becoming "a world leader in drones production."

Russia's Shahed drones are known for their distinctive, low buzzing sound, they are capable of carrying a warhead that shatters or explodes when it reaches the intended target. Once spotted, they are often relatively easy for Ukraine to shoot down, but detecting them is often the biggest challenge.

Drone warfare in Ukraine is constantly evolving, and experts have suggested Russia is upgrading several of its drones, including its "Lancet" suicide UAV.

Ihnat's comments came after Ukraine said Moscow launched a "record number" of Shahed drones on Saturday, sending 75 UAVs into its territory from two sites in Russia.

The drones focused on the Ukrainian capital, but strikes were recorded across at least six regions, the country's military said. Ukraine initially said its air defenses had destroyed 71 of the drones, but then said Kyiv's military had destroyed 74 UAVs.

Early on Sunday, Ukraine's air force said Russia had launched a further nine Shahed drones from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, a town in Russia's Krasnodar region frequently used to launch strikes. Ukraine's air defenses intercepted eight of the drones, Kyiv said.

The 75-drone attack was "the largest drone strike against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion," the ISW said on Saturday.

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