After the events of the July 31st night, when russia launched 89 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles in an attack on Ukraine, speculations arose that many of these drones were not the typical Shahed-136 models but the newer Gerbera drones, made from plywood and plastic foam.
Military expert Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov names several factors leading to this conclusion, namely the large number of drones and the Ukrainian Defense Forces' success in neutralizing all of them. Beskrestnov referenced a video shared by Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, showing a UAV falling in an unusual spiral after being shot down.
Read more: Gerbera, the New russian Foam Plastic Killer Drone, Showcased in Detail (Video)
"A Shahed does not burn like that and doesn't fall so slowly. Nobody has seen a Shahed go down in a spin like that either. A lightweight Gerbera made of plywood and plastic foam, I think, could burn and fall exactly this way," the expert notes.
A source clarified for Defense Express that while Gerbera drones were indeed used, they were not in large numbers and only appeared in isolated cases.
One such drone was downed in southern Ukraine and, like the last time, lacked a warhead, suggesting its purpose was to serve as a decoy and distract air defense systems. Worth noting, it is actually a very suitable role for a drone that is designed to be as cheap as possible, made of plywood and plastic foam with other materials available at a common construction store.
Either way, the assumption that a significant portion of the drones used in the July 31st attack were Gerberas, was not confirmed.
Besides, the Ukrainian Air Force released a video showing air defense units in action. There we can recognize the characteristic wingtips of Shahed drones in the silhouettes of the targets.
Meanwhile, the Gerbera drones, although having a similar "flying wing" aerodynamic design, have distinct clean wings.
Overall, the use of cheap drones like the Gerbera as false targets by russian forces is a plausible strategy and might become more frequent in the future. For now, it remains an occasional practice.
Read more: Ukrainian Long-Range Drones Have Interesting Feature that Effectively Destroys russian Aircraft
