GUR: Russia has adapted a Soviet missile to be mounted on drones to hit Ukrainian aircraft

Russia has adapted an old Soviet design, the R-60 aviation missile, to be mounted on the Geranium to target Ukrainian helicopters and aircraft hunting Russian UAVs. About, said the press service of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

Intelligence has published the structure, components and list of cooperation enterprises for the production of the Russian Geranium-2 UAV equipped with the R-60 aircraft missile.

Russia has adapted an old Soviet design, the R-60 air-to-air missile, to be installed on the Geranium to target Ukrainian helicopters and aircraft hunting enemy drones.

The missile with the APU-60-1MD (P-62-1MD) air-to-air launcher is mounted on a special bracket located in the upper front part of the fuselage.

The UAV is equipped with two network cameras – in the nose and behind the missile launcher. Video and control commands are transmitted via the Chinese mesh modem Xingkay Tech XK-F358.

The flight controller, navigation and inertial units remain typical of other Geraeus. For satellite navigation in conditions of active electronic warfare, a 12-channel jamming-resistant Kometa module is used.

The electronic filling also includes a single-board microcomputer Raspberry Pi 4 (UK), a tracker and two GSM modems for telemetry transmission.

The countries of origin of the electronic component base remain standard for Russian UAVs of this type: The United States, China, Switzerland, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

According to the GUR, the likely principle of missile use is to transmit images from cameras mounted on the drone via a mesh modem to the operator, who, if a Ukrainian plane or helicopter appears in the target area, gives the missile's automation unit a command to launch it.

After launching, the R-60 thermal homing head independently acquires the target. It is also possible for the homing head to pre-acquire the target and transmit the relevant information to the operator, who gives the launch command.

The goal of the occupiers is to create threats to Ukrainian army and tactical aviation, to reduce the effectiveness of its work on intercepting UAVs. Thus, the Russian multi-purpose version of the Iranian Shahed-136 receives another purpose, and the experience of such use is likely to be transferred to Iran.

• November 25, GUR published the detailed structure of the new Iranian Shahed-107 drone, which Russia is using to strike the frontline regions of Ukraine. About its development was known in early 2024.
• On November 28, the Ministry of Defense reported that Russia has started using drones type Shahed missiles to try to shoot down Ukrainian airplanes and helicopters in the air.