Footage has emerged of a new Russian attack drone dubbed the “younger sister” of the Iranian-made Shahed-136.

The Gerbera appears to feature a foamed plastic fuselage reinforced with plywood supports, according to an analysis of a version of the drone downed over Ukrainian territory.

A promotional video soon started circulating on social media channels after the initial discovery of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The new model shares the distinctive body shape with the Iranian-designed drones that have been prominent in Russia’s long-range barrages against Ukrainian targets.

The footage was initially shared by the Russian “Stalin’s Falcons” unit, which has ties to the Alabuga facility in Tatarstan, where Russia is building thousands of Iranian-designed drones.

This could provide an indication that Russian engineers have managed to reverse engineer and recreate the Shahed-136 kamikaze drones, the Ukrainian Defence Express website wrote.

The designers behind the Gerbera claim the drone is available in three variants: kamikaze attack, electronic warfare and as a false target.

They also claim it can be used in a swarm to overwhelm Ukrainian air defences.

The notable difference between the Gerbera and the Shahed-136 is a camera that enables a pilot to take manual control of the drone, similar to the first-person view of UAVs prominently used on the battlefield.

Whereas, the Iranian models are pre-programmed with assigned targets, allowing for less flexibility once they are launched.

This does, however, indicate that the Gerbera likely has a range of less than 60 miles because of the radio signal strength required to control such a system.

The promotional footage appears to demonstrate the one-way attack model of the new Russian drone, with a video display showing the UAV honing onto a target in a grassy field.

A shot shows it exploding on impact with the mock target.

However, Ukrainian analysts believe that the Gerbera variants built to gather intelligence could have a much longer range.

One example downed over Ukraine revealed the drone was fitted with a Ukrainian 4G SIM card that allowed it to hunt for radar systems while using the country’s mobile network to relay data back to Moscow’s forces.

Similar systems were found in the wreckage of Iranian Shahed drones discovered on the battlefield from November 2023.

The discovered drones, which were found without warheads, had a wingspan of about 2.5 metres and a length of about two metres.

They were driven by a propeller attached to a small internal combustion engine, similarly found in other models of smaller drones.

Andriy Cherniak, a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, said last week that the Russians were resorting to cheaper, lightweight drones to hunt out Ukrainian air defence positions.

Ukrainian sources have told the Telegraph that Moscow often launches drones to exhaust Ukraine’s surface-to-air interceptors before following up with deadly, large-scale missile attacks.