Russia adapts Soviet R-60 missile for Geranium to destroy Ukrainian helicopters and aircraft

According to Ukrinform, the DIU reported this on Facebook.

The “Weapon Components” section of the War&Sanctions portal has published the structure, components, and list of cooperating enterprises involved in the production of the Geranium-2 E series UAV, equipped with the R-60 missile.

Russia has adapted an old Soviet design, the R-60 air-to-air missile, for installation on the Geranium in order to destroy Ukrainian helicopters and aircraft hunting Russian drones.

The missile with the APU-60-1MD (P-62-1MD) aviation launcher is mounted on a special bracket located in the upper front part of the UAV fuselage.

The drone is equipped with two network cameras — in the nose and behind the missile launcher. Video and control commands are transmitted via a Chinese Xingkay Tech XK-F358 mesh modem.

The flight controller, navigation, and inertial units remain typical for other Geraniums. For satellite navigation in conditions of active electronic warfare, a 12-channel interference-protected Kometa module is used.

The electronic components also include a single-board Raspberry Pi 4 microcomputer (UK), a tracker, and two GSM modems for telemetry transmission.

The countries of origin of the electronic components remain standard for Russian UAVs of this type: the US, China, Switzerland, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, and the UK. A complete list of components with markings and photos is available at the link.

The likely principle of missile application is to transmit images from cameras installed on the drone via a mesh modem to the operator, who, in the event of a Ukrainian aircraft or helicopter appearing in the strike zone, sends a command to the missile's automation unit to launch it.

After launch, the R-60's heat-seeking head independently locks onto the target. Another possible scenario is for the heat-seeking head to lock onto the target in advance and transmit the relevant information to the operator, who then gives the command to launch.

The main goal of the new development is to create a threat to Ukrainian army and tactical aviation and reduce its effectiveness in intercepting enemy UAVs. Thus, the Russian multi-purpose version of the Iranian Shahed-136 will have another purpose, and the experience of such use will likely also be transferred to Iran.

As reported by Ukrinform, the DIU published data on the Iranian Shahed-107 UAV, which the Russian Federation began to actively use in the war against Ukraine.

Photo: war-sanctions.gur.gov.ua