The Russian Aerospace Forces have begun to utilise Geran-2 single use flying wing drones to deploy PTM-3 anti-tank mines, that are housed in canisters hooked up underneath the plane’s fuselages. Footage from the frontlines confirmed two Ukrainian automobiles being hit by mines dropped by the plane. The flexibility to deploy mines from the air utilizing very broadly fielded low value plane offers a brand new diploma of flexibility to Russian mine warfare efforts, and is a possible low value technique of countering Ukraine’s very massive portions of armour, which incorporates each 1000’s of tanks and different automobiles inherited from the Soviet Union, and lots of extra Soviet and Western designed automobiles being delivered from throughout the Western world.
The Russian defence sector’s capability to supply Geran-2 drones has expanded tremendously since 2022, with The Economist reporting in Could that output on the main manufacturing facility, the Alabuga Manufacturing facility in Tartarstan, had elevated greater than tenfold from 300 a month to over 100 per day. Business was reported on the time to be on monitor to have the ability to produce 500 Geran-2 drones each day. Elevated numbers are anticipated to outcome within the plane taking over a wider vary of roles, with mine warfare probably being the primary of many.
Commenting on the brand new footage, the NGP-Razvedka Russia-based army Telegram channel reported that it was “the premiere of the newest drone techniques in opposition to ground-moving targets.” “The Geranium conducts distant mining of enemy provide routes in actual time, leading to one transport unit happening, whereas one other with shredded infantry manages to flee, although not very far in such a state,” it added, noting: “The steering system will probably be refined, the techniques of use expanded, and the logistics of the Nazis will probably be became an entire nightmare. The vary of the Geranium is over 1,000 km, do you get what which means?” Russian sources have incessantly referred to Ukrainian forces as ‘Nazis,’ stressing the participation of Neo-Nazi models such because the Azov Battalion within the Ukrainain Conflict effort for public relations functions. The report implies that roads as much as 1000 kilometres into Ukrainian managed territory could possibly be mined from the air, inflicting super difficulties for logistics efforts.
The PTM-3 mine getting used is small, permitting a number of to be carried by every Geran-2, and has a magnetic detonator optimising it to react to the passage of automobiles overhead. Ukrainian armour losses have been vital for the reason that outbreak of full scale hostilities in February 2022, with the T-64 that beforehand fashioned the spine of its fleet taking part in a diminished function as a result of an absence of replenishments, whereas steady deliveries of T-72 and PT-91 tanks from Poland specifically have change into crucial to sustaining tank numbers. Excessive expectations for the American M1A1 Abrams tank had been disenchanted, with 87 p.c of the automobiles equipped to Ukraine estimated to have been destroyed or captured by July 2025.
