Italmas, in particular, is known to have the DLE-60 engine. This UAV was developed by ZALA, a russian company specializing in reconnaissance unmanned systems. The first public appearance of Italmas dates September 2023, it was featured in a video report by local media. Italmas UAV The declared specifications are a flight range of 200 km and a warhead of 40 kg – that is bigger than the warhead of iranian Shahed-136 loitering munition.
There was only one drone shown last month that had been tested back in winter. Therefore, there is a chance this drone would be used in attacks on Ukraine but not systematically, for the sake of real combat testing. Depending on how it performs, the decision on mass production might be made.
As for Geran-3, there's even less information available. No photos were ever published, the first time it was publicly mentioned was in fall 2022. It was described as a smaller variant of the Geran-2, i.e. Shahed-136. The report was illustrated with a photo of a ZALA Kub drone.
On a side note, to avoid confusion we should also mention there is another smaller version of Geran-2, it is called Geran-1 and refers to the iranian Shahed-131 munition. Probably, the Geran-3 is just another name for Shahed-131 but with another engine – the original is powered by a mixed diesel reciprocating engine, while the DLE-60 is twin gasoline. Shahed-131 downed in Ukraine. The frequency of use and elimination of these loitering munitions enabled Ukrainian researchers to comprehensively study them
Poster Comment:
Dima reports this has been used already. It is faster and flies further than the Geran II. Also has a bigger payload.
The Russians have added another battalion of FPV drone operators. One battlefield has so many Russian drones overhead in addition to artillery and 1,100 and 3,300 pound Glide bombs that the Ukrainians can do nothing.