Deadly, cheap and widespread: how Iran-supplied drones are changing the nature of warfare

Shahed 136 drones have a light carbon fibre airframe and range of more than 1,500 miles, enabling Russia to fly them from Belarus in the north and occupied areas in the south to target Ukraine’s cities. They can carry 20-40kg of explosives, around double the 131 and enough to “blow in a pretty big hole in a non hardened structure” according to Justin Bronk, an aviation analyst at the Royal United Services Institute.