Shahed-136 (Geran-2): speed, range and flight time
The regular Shahed is a one-way attack drone with a piston engine and a pusher propeller. It is the Iranian Shahed-136; Russia builds its own copy, the Geran-2, at the Alabuga plant. Its top speed is about 185 km/h, but with loops and detours around air defence it flies to its target at an average of 140 km/h. From Bryansk Oblast to Kyiv that is at least 1 h 35 min — several times longer than the jet-powered Shahed.
How long a Shahed takes to reach Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Lviv
The times below are for a straight line from the launch site to the city centre, at the speed the map uses (140 km/h). They are a lower bound: Shaheds rarely fly straight — they skirt air defence, circle and change course, so the real flight often takes longer. For comparison, the jet-powered Shahed's time (340 km/h, our measurement to the target).
regular Shahed jet-powered Shahed
| From | Kyiv | Kharkiv | Dnipro | Odesa | Lviv |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bryansk Oblast (Churovichi) | 1 h 35 min 38 min 217 km | 2 h 45 min 1 h 5 min 382 km | 3 h 20 min 1 h 20 min 465 km | 4 h 35 min 1 h 55 min 639 km | 4 h 25 min 1 h 50 min 615 km |
| Kursk | 3 h 1 h 15 min 420 km | 1 h 25 min 34 min 193 km | 2 h 40 min 1 h 5 min 372 km | 5 h 5 min 2 h 5 min 706 km | 6 h 15 min 2 h 35 min 879 km |
| Oryol | 3 h 25 min 1 h 25 min 473 km | 2 h 20 min 58 min 331 km | 3 h 35 min 1 h 30 min 506 km | 5 h 50 min 2 h 25 min 817 km | 6 h 25 min 2 h 40 min 903 km |
| Shatalovo | 3 h 15 min 1 h 20 min 452 km | 3 h 55 min 1 h 35 min 547 km | 4 h 50 min 2 h 677 km | 6 h 20 min 2 h 35 min 882 km | 5 h 25 min 2 h 15 min 763 km |
| Primorsko-Akhtarsk | 5 h 20 min 2 h 10 min 748 km | 3 h 20 min 1 h 20 min 462 km | 2 h 35 min 1 h 5 min 357 km | 4 h 5 min 1 h 40 min 574 km | 8 h 5 min 3 h 20 min 1132 km |
| Chauda (Crimea) | 5 h 10 min 2 h 10 min 724 km | 4 h 1 h 40 min 556 km | 2 h 45 min 1 h 10 min 390 km | 3 h 5 min 1 h 15 min 430 km | 7 h 25 min 3 h 5 min 1037 km |
| Hvardiiske (Crimea) | 4 h 35 min 1 h 55 min 647 km | 4 h 5 min 1 h 40 min 568 km | 2 h 45 min 1 h 5 min 381 km | 2 h 5 min 52 min 294 km | 6 h 30 min 2 h 40 min 912 km |
The map counts the time to arrival from each drone's current position, not from its launch site — so it shows how much time is left right now.
Shahed speed
The Shahed's top speed is a little over 185 km/h [1]. On the route it is slower: it skirts air defence, circles over the target, sometimes waits for other drones. So the map counts with 140 km/h — the average at which most Shaheds actually fly.
Where Shaheds are launched from in 2026
In its daily reports the Ukrainian Air Force names the same sites as for the jet-powered drones:
- 13 September 2026: Shatalovo, Oryol, Kursk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Hvardiiske (Crimea), the Sea of Azov [6].
- 8 October 2026: Oryol, Kursk, Shatalovo, occupied Donetsk, Hvardiiske [7].
Earlier, Shaheds were often launched from Bryansk Oblast (Navlya, Churovichi), Millerovo and Cape Chauda in Crimea; those directions are in the table above too.
How many Shaheds are launched and shot down
- Production. Ukraine's Defence Intelligence (August 2026) estimates Russia builds about 2,800 piston Gerans and about 3,000 jet-powered ones a month, with a stock of over 6,000. Once it has a stock, Russia launches 600–1,000 drones at a time; while building one up, 150–200 [5].
- Record of the year. On 13–14 May 2026: 1,567 drones and 56 missiles over more than 30 hours; air defence downed 93% of the drones. May was a record month: over 8,000 drones, 91.7% shot down [8].
- September 2026. The Air Force destroyed 2,722 Shahed-131/136 and 1,935 jet-powered Shahed-238 [9].
- More and more are jets. On the night of 9 October 2026, 93 of 136 Shaheds were jet-powered [12].
How the Shahed changed in 2025–2026
- Heavier warhead. Besides the standard 50 kg — versions with 90 kg and a thermobaric warhead [1].
- Camera and datalink. According to Defence Intelligence (January 2026), the "E" series carries a Chinese nose camera and a mesh modem so an operator can fly it by hand, plus a Verba MANPADS alongside a thermobaric warhead [2]. Newer series can carry an R-60 air-to-air missile [3].
- Altitude. In 2025 Shaheds climbed above 2 km and dived onto the target to stay out of reach of mobile fire groups [4]; in 2026 some are again flown very low, hugging the terrain [3].
How Shaheds are shot down
A regular Shahed is slow and loud, so it is downed by almost everything: mobile fire groups with machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, aircraft, electronic warfare. Since 2026 most of the work is done by interceptor drones: in March they downed about 30% of Shaheds [10], and Sting interceptors alone, according to their maker, have downed over 11,000 drones since the start of 2026 [11]. Jet-powered Shaheds are too fast for them — which is why Russia is switching to jets [3].
Shahed specifications
| Type | one-way attack drone with a piston engine |
|---|---|
| Other names | Shahed-136, Geran-2 (Russian), "moped" (monitoring channels' slang); the smaller Shahed-131 is the Geran-1 |
| Engine | MD-550 piston engine — a copy of the German Limbach L550E, pusher propeller [1]; per the Defence Intelligence catalogue, an MD550 by Iran's MADO [22] |
| Size and weight | 3.5 m long, 2.5 m wingspan, about 200 kg [1] |
| Speed | up to ~185 km/h; on the map, 140 km/h average along the route |
| Range | estimates vary: 970–2,500 km; about 650 km with a 90 kg warhead [1] |
| Warhead | 50 kg (standard), 90 kg, thermobaric [1] [2] |
| Guidance | satellite plus inertial navigation; newer series add a camera and operator control [2] |
| Price | estimates range from $20,000–50,000 to $80,000; no official 2026 estimate [1] |
| Production | Alabuga (Tatarstan), about 2,800 piston drones a month (Defence Intelligence, August 2026) [5] |
Defence Intelligence's teardown (the War & Sanctions portal): the Shahed-136 of the MS001 series holds 75 components from eight countries — Iran (the MADO engine), China, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Taiwan, Switzerland and Japan; the makers are Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Xilinx (AMD), Infineon, STMicroelectronics, NXP, Murata, Nvidia, Micron and Microchip. The chips were made between 2009 and 2020 [22].
Shahed or shahid?
Shahed. In Persian shahed (شاهد) means "witness"; shahid is a different word. The Ukrainian Air Force writes Shahed in its reports.
What a Shahed looks like on the map
A yellow delta marker is a Shahed; the jet-powered one is orange, with a nozzle at the tail. Next to the marker is the number of minutes to arrival; the dashed line shows the course. Open the map · all threat types · jet-powered Shahed · Gerbera and decoys
Sources
- Wikipedia — HESA Shahed 136 (a review of sources on specs and variants)
- Ukrinform — a new Geran variant carries a warhead and a MANPADS (12.01.2026, Ukrainian)
- LB.ua — how Shaheds change and what shoots them down (23.09.2026, Ukrainian)
- UNIAN — Air Force spokesman on the new Shahed tactics (27.05.2025, Ukrainian)
- LB.ua — Defence Intelligence on Geran production (24.09.2026, Ukrainian)
- Fakty — the 13 September 2026 attack: launch sites (Ukrainian)
- LB.ua — the 8 October 2026 attack: launch sites (Ukrainian)
- 24 Kanal — May 2026: a record number of drones (05.06.2026, Ukrainian)
- Censor.NET — Air Force totals for September 2026 (10.10.2026, Ukrainian)
- dev.ua — interceptor drones down about a third of Shaheds (30.03.2026, Ukrainian)
- Censor.NET — Sting interceptors down more than 11,000 drones (14.08.2026)
- Ukrpohliad — the night of 9 October 2026: 136 Shaheds, 93 of them jets (Ukrainian)
- Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, War & Sanctions — Shahed-136 (Geran-2) MS001 UAV: components and manufacturers
Our figure — the 140 km/h the map uses for a Shahed's time to arrival — comes from the Alarm Maps map; how we compute it is described on the Sources page.
Updated .