Satellite images reveal that Russia has built a base for a new generation of jet-powered drones

• Russia has built new launch rails for attack drones at one of its bases.

• The launch rails appear to be designed to support Russia’s new, jet-powered Geran drones.

• The development reflects Russia’s continued investment in its drone capabilities.

Russia has extended the length of launch rails at one of its drone bases to support new, jet-powered aircraft used to attack Ukraine, satellite imagery obtained by Business Insider shows.

The development indicates that Russia is investing in support infrastructure for a new generation of Geran unmanned attack drones as Moscow continues to modify and upgrade the deadly weapon.

At the Simbulova drone base in Russia’s Oryol region – about 100 miles from the Ukrainian border – imagery collected by US spatial intelligence firm Vantor on Tuesday reveals four launch rails – two of which appear to be elongated.

The extended launch rails are 85 meters (280 ft) long. According to Vantor, construction would begin at the end of December 2025.

Meanwhile, construction on the two shorter trains began in late March or early April, Kyle Glenn, an open source researcher at the UK-based Center for Information Resiliency, told Business Insider.

Russia’s Strategic Aviation, an open-source intelligence group, published satellite imagery of Simbulova on its Telegram channel earlier this week. Analysts said the two short launch rails support the older Geran-3 and Geran-4 drones, while the two longer rails are designed for the newer Geran-5.

Neither Russia’s Defense Ministry nor its US embassy responded to requests for comment on Simbulova’s developments.

Geran is a family of Russian one-way attack drones. The first version, the Geran-2, is a domestic copy of the infamous Iranian Shahed-136 that Moscow plans to use in 2022 to attack Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure.

Geran-2 is powered by a propeller, while later versions – Geran-3, Geran-4, and Geran-5 – are all equipped with jet engines. These drones – launched by rail to accelerate them to flight speed before taking on engines – can be armed with explosive warheads and fly at high speeds at their targets, exploding on impact.

Unlike earlier Geran variants, which have a delta-wing shape, the Geran-5 resembles the profile of a conventional cruise missile, said Glenn, who closely follows Russian drone developments.

Tsimbulova is one of several bases that Russia uses to launch drones in Ukraine, although it is one of only two sites that appear to have the infrastructure to support the new Geran variants, the other being in the occupied Donetsk region, Glenn said.

Russia has also expanded the Donetsk base in recent months, adding additional launch sites and storage facilities to what was once an international airport. The base is miles from the front lines, and Ukraine has carried out several strikes against it.

Moscow has significantly increased nightly drone strikes against Ukraine. Russia launched about 16,000 drones in the first three months of 2026, up from 10,000 in the same period last year.

Ukraine has responded to these regular bombings by increasing the development and production of inexpensive interceptor drones, which have emerged as a priority defense investment for Kiev.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that Kiev could produce at least 2,000 interceptor drones, half of which are available for supply to partner nations.

The success of Ukrainian interceptor drones has caught the eye of NATO countries and US allies in the Middle East who are looking for low-cost air defenses after facing substantial barrages during the Iran war, which saw Tehran launch thousands of drones into surrounding areas.

Read the original article on Business Insider