Russia's jet-powered drones

News · Heat 1.1 / 10 · 2 shows · 5m airtime

On October 15 Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 3,000 jet-powered drones at Ukraine last month. The converted Shaheds fly as fast as 370 miles per hour, roughly three times the speed of the propeller versions Ukraine had learned to shoot down, and carry heavier payloads. The discussion turns on the cost asymmetry: intercepting them requires missiles costing nearly a million dollars each.

How 2 podcasts covered it

1. The Headlines, 2026-10-15 (0:24 to 1:45)
   Opens with Russia's shift to jet-powered drones
   Opens the episode with the shift in Russia's drone campaign: the propeller Shaheds Ukraine had under control have been rebuilt with jet engines, and the intercept math now runs to nearly a million dollars a missile.
   New angle: Russia launched 3,000 jet-powered drones at Ukraine last month, per Ukraine's Air Force.
2. The Daily, 2026-10-19 (5:41 to 9:42)
   Explains the interceptor shortage behind the drones
   Méheut walks through the air-defense reversal: Patriot interceptors diverted to the Iran war, ballistic-missile interception down to about 10 percent, and the jet-powered drones that are roughly three times faster than the propeller versions. It retells the drone story inside the wider interceptor shortage.