Three NASAMS launchers of the Dutch military, each can be loaded with six AMRAAM missiles. Source: the Dutch Ministry of Defense.
Russia’s Rubicon Center said on October 21 that its Geran-4 Seeker attack drones struck two Ukrainian NASAMS air defense systems in southeastern Ukraine, releasing video footage of the attacks.
The drone unit identified targets near Shyroke in the Zaporizhzhia region and Bashmachka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. It said both targets were successfully hit.
The reported strikes followed another Rubicon video showing a Geran-4 Seeker drone striking a Ukrainian P-18 Malakhit radar near Kotliarivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
The sequence points to an emerging role for the drones in suppressing enemy air defenses, a mission known as SEAD that involves locating and attacking radars, surface-to-air missile systems and other components of an opponent’s air defense network.
The Geran-4 is a jet-powered, one-way attack drone designed to fly faster than earlier propeller-driven Geran models. Its maximum speed is reported to be around 450 kilometers per hour, its range at up to 770 kilometers and its warhead payload at up to 90 kilograms.
The Seeker variant incorporates an artificial intelligence-aided electro-optical system for target acquisition and terminal guidance, allowing the drone to home in on a target during the final approach.
The NASAMS was jointly developed by Norwegian Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and American Raytheon to defend against drones, helicopters, cruise missiles and warplanes. When armed with reprogrammed AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, the system has a range of 30 kilometers.
Ukraine’s exact NASAMS inventory remains undisclosed. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last February that the country had more than 10 systems and continued to receive additional equipment, without revealing the precise number.
The United States had listed 12 NASAMS in its security assistance to Ukraine by September 2024. Norway has also provided complete firing units, while Lithuania supplied additional launchers for integration into Ukraine’s existing network, and Canada donated a separate system that arrived in November 2024.
The latest Russian strikes show that the Geran-4 Seeker is being used not only against conventional ground targets but also against the radar and missile assets that underpin Ukraine’s air defenses.
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