Russia’s Geran-2 Kamikaze Drone Factory Unveiled: Inside the Yelabuga War Machine

In a rare state-sanctioned revelation, Russian media has broadcast exclusive footage of the Alabuga drone production facility in Tatarstan, exposing the inner workings of the Kremlin’s most prolific suicide drone assembly line.

The Alabuga Special Economic Zone, situated near the Kama River, has quietly emerged as the nerve center of Russia’s unmanned aerial warfare enterprise—an industrial complex now synonymous with mass production of the Geran-2 loitering munition.

Colloquially known as a “kamikaze drone,” the Geran-2 is a Russian-manufactured variant of the Iranian-designed Shahed-136, a platform that has drastically shifted the cost-effectiveness calculus of modern long-range precision strike operations.

First deployed in Ukraine in September 2022, the Geran-2 has become an indispensable asset in the Russian military’s arsenal, executing saturation strikes on energy grids, radar systems, and logistics hubs across Ukraine’s rear echelons.

The broadcast footage showcased hundreds of completed airframes lined up for delivery, with the facility believed to be the largest drone manufacturing site of its kind anywhere in the world.

Since the second half of 2022, Russia’s defence-industrial complex has exponentially increased its loitering munition output—from 300 units a month to well over 100 per day by early 2024.

According to Western intelligence assessments, the target production rate could reach 500 drones daily, enabling Moscow to launch swarms of up to 1,000 drones multiple times per week.

In a surprising turn of geopolitical alignment, it was reported in June that approximately 25,000 North Korean workers may be deployed to support drone assembly operations in Tatarstan.

The move, consistent with earlier predictions by defence analysts and corroborated by Ukrainian intelligence, also reportedly involves Russia transferring unmanned aerial system (UAS) expertise to North Korea.

With Pyongyang boasting a technically trained industrial workforce, such cooperation could provide Russia with manpower while enabling North Korea to leapfrog critical defence-technological gaps in drone warfare.

The Geran-2 drone is a tangible manifestation of Moscow’s wartime shift toward scalable, attritional, and cost-efficient strike capabilities that bypass traditional limitations of manned aviation.

Alongside drones, Russia’s war economy has seen massive upticks in the production of Iskander-M ballistic missiles, Kh-101 cruise missiles, Su-34 fighter bombers, and T-90M main battle tanks, reflecting a full-spectrum mobilisation of its defence industrial base.

Geran-2: Technical Specifications of a Strategic Gamechanger

The Geran-2 measures approximately 3.5 meters in length and spans 2.5 meters in wingspan, with a maximum takeoff weight of around 200 kilograms.

Its distinctive delta-wing design and V-tail configuration are powered by a rear-mounted MD-550-type two-stroke gasoline engine, granting it a cruising speed of 180–200 km/h and a terminal impact speed exceeding 300 km/h.

The platform initially carried a 40–50 kg high-explosive fragmentation warhead, but Russian upgrades have pushed payload capacity close to 90 kg, significantly enhancing its destructive reach against fixed infrastructure, radar arrays, and fortified positions.

Originally limited to a strike radius of 1,500 km, the latest iterations reportedly extend the drone’s operational range to as far as 1,800 km, making targets deep inside western Ukraine and even bordering NATO territories theoretically within reach.

Geran-2 employs hybrid guidance comprising GNSS (GLONASS/GPS) navigation paired with inertial systems (INS), and newer models integrate anti-jamming features such as Controlled Reception Pattern Antennas (CRPA).

Some advanced variants are reportedly equipped with 3G/4G modems and embedded SIM cards, facilitating real-time telemetry, mission updates, and post-launch target re-tasking through mobile communication networks.

To expedite mass production, Russian engineers have substituted carbon fibre components with more affordable fiberglass structures—optimising for quantity without severely compromising performance.

Yelabuga: Epicentre of Russia’s Loitering Munition Doctrine

Built with Iranian technical assistance in early 2023, the Yelabuga facility has transitioned from assembling imported kits to full domestic manufacturing, encompassing airframes, engines, navigation electronics, and explosive payloads.

By mid-2024, output from the facility surpassed 4,500 units, with expectations of producing as many as 18,000 Geran-2 drones in just the first six months of 2025.

The original production agreement aimed to deliver 6,000 drones by end-2025, but expanded contracts now estimate over 30,000 units will be fielded—some assembled in Iran, the rest on Russian soil.

The factory itself is a sprawling military-industrial hub, comprising composite fabrication plants, propulsion assembly lines, electronics cleanrooms, warhead integration bunkers, and even drone testing zones.

In a highly controversial development, the workforce includes hundreds of students—some reportedly as young as 15—enrolled in state-sponsored vocational-industrial training schemes aligned with national defence priorities.

Warhead supply, once reliant on Iranian imports, is now sustained through contracts with Russian explosives manufacturers tasked with producing both conventional high-explosive and thermobaric payloads.

Operational Survivability: A Drone Factory Built to Endure War

Despite mounting Western sanctions and repeated Ukrainian drone strikes, the Yelabuga complex remains operational and fortified.

Attacks in April 2024 and April 2025 caused only superficial damage, thanks to an integrated air-defence architecture safeguarding the perimeter with overlapping short and medium-range intercept systems.

Satellite imagery suggests the factory employs a modular infrastructure with built-in redundancy, allowing production lines to continue even if one sector is disabled by kinetic strikes.

Furthermore, defence analysts point to continued integration of foreign-made components—especially in avionics—sourced via indirect trade routes through third-party nations circumventing export controls.

Strategic Implications: Industrialised Drone Warfare and Global Security Recalibration

At a cost estimated below US$50,000 (RM235,000) per unit, the Geran-2 provides Russia with a scalable means of executing strategic strikes while overwhelming Ukrainian and NATO-funded air defence networks.

With Ukrainian forces having to rely on interceptors that often cost over US$500,000 (RM2.35 million) each, the economic asymmetry favours Russia’s attrition-based approach to aerial warfare.

Beyond the physical damage inflicted, the psychological effect of repeated drone barrages has disrupted daily life, crippled Ukraine’s energy grid, and undermined civilian morale.

The Yelabuga facility, therefore, is not just a production plant—it is the epicentre of a new warfare paradigm where scale, saturation, and cost asymmetry redefine the battlefield.

As great-power competition intensifies in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, the Geran-2 and its production model serve as a chilling template for how future conflicts may be fought—with mass, automation, and relentless attrition.