Winged World

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Contents
  1. Design and development
  2. Specifications
  3. Sensors and weapons
  4. Operators and combat use
  5. Variants
  6. Similar drones

The Dan is a Russian jet target drone1 built to train and test air-defence crews, credited to the Simonov design bureau (OKB Simonova), also known as the Sokol Design Bureau. Its improved Dan-M version was presented in 20202. In May 2025 Ukrainian radio-technology expert Serhii Beskrestnov said Russia had converted Dan-Ms into strike drones and launched a group of them from Crimea3. In September 2026 the state corporation Rostec showed the Dan-T, which it calls an aircraft-launched loitering munition4. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says the Dan-T is based on the Dan-M5, while Janes judged it likely an export version of the S8000 Banderol cruise missile. Ukraine’s Air Force names “S8000 Banderol/Dan-T” among the drones of Russian night attacks6.

Design and development

According to the Russian outlet 360, work on the Dan began in the last years of the Soviet Union and serial production started in 19937. Euromaidan Press wrote that the Sokol bureau designed it for air-defence training in the early 1990s, with flight characteristics that mimic the US Tomahawk cruise missile. A Dan that survives a training sortie comes down under a parachute and can be repaired; the same article says one is usually good for up to 10 training flights8.

The Aviationist describes two launch methods: a Mi-8 helicopter can carry two on its outboard pylons9, and a ground version leaves a rail launcher with a booster that falls away after launch. The engine sits in a fully dorsal position, a layout it calls typical of older target drones.

The Dan-M received a partial update of its electronics and a new MGTD-125E turbojet of 125 kgf in place of the 120 kgf MD-120, and Russia claimed that parts of the engine’s combustion chamber and nozzle were made by additive manufacturing. Defense Express reported that the Simonov bureau had been declared bankrupt with debts of 1.2 billion rubles2, that its property was divided in 2024, and that its chief executive Alexander Gomzin had been jailed for fraud on defence orders.

Specifications

Defense Express lists the original Dan with a take-off weight of 345 kg2, a 2.7-metre wingspan, a top speed of 710 km/h, a flight altitude of 50 to 9,000 metres and an endurance of 25 to 40 minutes. 360 gives a body length of 4.6 metres7 with the same wingspan, a top speed of 750 km/h and up to 60 minutes of flight. Beskrestnov described the converted drones as flying at 400 to 750 km/h3 for 25 to 40 minutes at up to about 9 km.

The Dan-T is lighter. Rosoboronexport data quoted by Janes give a maximum take-off weight of 268 kg10, a maximum speed of 500 km/h and a range of 450 km. Rostec told TASS it weighs up to 270 kg11 and is powered by a compact turbojet.

Sensors and weapons

As a target, the original Dan flies a programmed route or under radio control. Defense Express estimated that a warhead fitted in place of the parachute would weigh several dozen kilograms and could be used against targets at known coordinates 300 to 400 km away2.

For the Dan-T, Rosoboronexport lists a 130 kg warhead10 and satellite plus inertial guidance, while ISW gives 135 kg5. Rostec says the munition is fully autonomous after launch11 and follows the terrain. Militarnyi reported in August 2026, citing Table.Briefings, that work was under way to add a Kometa-16 antenna array12 and an electro-optical seeker for the final approach.

Operators and combat use

Beskrestnov said three Dan-Ms were launched from Crimea towards Odesa1 on the morning of 29 May 2025, their bodies repainted from the original red3. Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (HUR) said it had destroyed one over the Black Sea9. Defense Express suggested the drone could have been misidentified from fragments, noting that the Dan is very similar to Iran’s Karrar2 and that the Dan-M is not known to be mass-produced.

Rostec told TASS that the Dan-T’s effectiveness was confirmed by hundreds of successful launches in Ukraine. ISW assessed in October 2026 that Dan-T production had not yet reached scale5 and said Ukraine began distinguishing Banderols from Dan-Ts on 13 September 2026. Rostec named the Yak-130, MiG-29, Mi-28N and Mi-811 as carriers. Militarnyi reported Russian plans, cited from the Ukrainian analyst kriegsforscher, to build about 10,000 Dan-Ts in 202712. For the night to 9 November 2026 Ukraine’s Air Force listed five S8000 Banderol/Dan-T6, Gerbera and drones of other types, counted as one figure, among the targets shot down or suppressed.

Variants

  • Dan: the original jet target, in serial production from 19937 with an MD-120 engine.
  • Zenitsa: an unmanned system funded with about 800 million rubles that Defense Express says turned out to be a repackaged Dan2.
  • Dan-M: the update presented in 20202 with the MGTD-125E engine, launched against Ukraine in May 20253.
  • Dan-T: the munition shown at the El Alamein airshow in Egypt10 in September 2026. A Russian military expert told TASS it is visually similar to the Banderol13 but has different specifications.

Similar drones

  • S8000 Banderol: Kronstadt’s jet cruise missile, which Janes found nearly identical externally10 to the Dan-T; HUR gives it a 500 km range14 and a length of about 5 m.
  • Karrar: an Iranian drone that Defense Express calls very similar to the Dan2, but mass-produced.