Inside Russia's New Jet-Powered Attack Drone: Teardown Reveals Texas Instruments Chips

Inside Russia's New Jet-Powered Attack Drone: Teardown Reveals Texas Instruments Chips

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a US government-funded international news organization, has released a new report on the teardown of a mostly intact Russian Geran-4 “Seeker” turbojet drone, revealing what makes these new one-way attack drones deadlier than the older piston-powered Geran-2s.

We first detailed the new 300 mph Geran-4 in a report earlier this summer titled "Drone War Enters Terrifying New Phase As Russia Deploys 300-MPH Jet-Powered Shahed."

Drone warfare is evolving so quickly, and it is truly terrifying
, as these new drones are much faster, fly at higher altitudes, and can evade conventional air defense systems, as demonstrated in Ukraine right now.



RFE/RL analysts got their hands on one of these new drones, conducted a complete teardown, and inspected its components. They found many foreign-made components, much of which came from China.

The teardown also revealed that the jet's brain used Texas Instruments chips (markings scraped off, logos still readable).



Here's what they found:

  • Chinese mesh modem: radio + live video out to ~300 km, and it can relay so one Geran hands the link to the next.
  • Operators can sit in Bryansk, Oryol, or Crimea and fly it all the way in if the mesh is up.
  • Two GSM modems with SIMs (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and some EU carriers have shown up on these drones) to ping location over the cellular network.
  • A 16-channel CRPA antenna to blunt Ukrainian jamming.

Watch:

RFE/RL takes apart a Russian Geran-4 drone to uncover what makes the jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) faster, harder to intercept, and capable of operating deep inside Ukraine -- from its turbojet engine and advanced camera to foreign-made communications and navigation… pic.twitter.com/WGNdlpS9w1

— Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (@RFERL) September 25, 2026

We warned in May: "And just wait until micro jet engines become standard on suicide drones ..."



Read: Logic Of Violence: We Are Nowhere Near The Endgame In Drone Wars

Tyler Durden Fri, 09/25/2026 - 22:10

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[ H/T ZeroHedge ]
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