On Sunday, January 4, 2026, the Darknode Battalion of the 412th Nemesis Unmanned Systems Brigade, part of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, reported the shootdown of a Russian Geran-2 combat unmanned aerial vehicle in the Chernihiv Oblast. The drone, an Iranian Shahed-136 produced under license and manufactured in series at the Yelabuga plant in Tatarstan, was flying in a new configuration. As it turned out, the aircraft was carrying a 9P333 launch-and-transport container for the 9K333 Verba air defense system.
Photos: Darknode
The combat drone was equipped with Chinese warheads used since early 2024, featuring cameras and radio modems that together form an optical guidance system for operations at shorter ranges. More recently, on December 1, 2025, another Geran was shot down while carrying a single Molniya/Vympel R-60 air-to-air missile (DIA/NATO designation: AA-8 Aphid) mounted on a weapons rail placed on its dorsal surface. The latest configuration is analogous, but the 9K333 Verba system is a classic shoulder-launched MANPADS (Man-Portable Air-Defense System), hence its dedicated launch-and-transport container. Interestingly, the markings on the container indicate a 2025 production year.
The 4th-generation 9K333 Verba man-portable air defense missile system (DIA/NATO designation: SA-29 Gizmo), developed by the KB Mashinostroyeniya design bureau in Kolomna, was introduced into service with the Russian Armed Forces in mid-2014 as a successor to the 9K38 Igla (from the 1980s) and the Igla-S (in service since 2002). This fire-and-forget system uses the short-range guided 9M336 missile with a solid-fuel rocket motor, providing a range of up to 6,000–6,400 m, an engagement altitude from 10 m to 3,500–4,500 m, and a speed of up to 500 m/s (Mach 1.5). Guidance is provided through three optical channels via a multispectral seeker operating in the ultraviolet band as well as short-wave infrared (SWIR) and mid-wave infrared (MWIR), which increases resistance to thermal decoys (flares) and countermeasures.
Interestingly, back in 2021 the Russians announced a successor to the Verba with even better performance, called Metka, but there has been no information on it since then.
It appears that integrating both R-60 missiles and the Verba system with Geran unmanned platforms is intended to increase their survivability on the battlefield, as they are being shot down en masse by Ukrainian forces, either by providing a self-defense capability against aircraft and combat helicopters, or as an attempt to create a low-cost interceptor drone.
Previously, the Ukrainian side reported that Gerans had carried two PTM-3 anti-tank mines simultaneously in a configuration intended for mining enemy lines of communication, and even toxic chemical agents, intended to cause additional harm to people who might attempt to recover the wreckage of downed drones.
Ukrainians have encountered a Shahed drone equipped with MANPADS for the first time.
The Shahed is fitted with a camera and a radio modem.
The drone is operated from the territory of the ruSSian Federation and poses a threat to Ukrainian aviation. pic.twitter.com/1TySNTpxmr— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△ 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇺🇲🇬🇷 (@TheDeadDistrict) January 4, 2026
And another mesh network-enabled air-to-air variant of the Geran-2. This time with a MANPAD. pic.twitter.com/7MQDKCyoZG
— Fabian Hinz (@fab_hinz) January 4, 2026
Source: https://t.co/qInB0RdPRI
— Fabian Hinz (@fab_hinz) January 4, 2026