Parodiya: Russia's plywood decoy drone that mimics the Shahed

The Parodiya, Russian for “parody”, is a Russian decoy drone that Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (HUR) calls one of the most widely used decoy drones in Russian air attacks. It carries no warhead and is much smaller and cheaper than the Shahed-136, but a lens inside its body makes it look like the larger attack drone on radar¹, so that air defences spend effort on it. Russia launches it in large numbers alongside Shahed strike drones². Ukraine’s Air Force names it in its night reports as “imitator drones of the Parodiya type”, as for the night to 9 November 2026³.

Design and development

HUR says the drones have been recorded in Ukrainian airspace since at least autumn 2024⁴. In October 2024 Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said Russia was increasingly using a new drone type¹ alongside Shaheds, and that Ukrainian electronic warfare often made such drones crash harmlessly. HUR says the Parodiya is in mass production in Russia², but the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) wrote in December 2024 that it is unclear where in Russia it is produced⁵.

The airframe is simple. ISIS describes a high-wing monoplane of cheap plywood⁵ in a composite structure, with a wing that can be fitted before launch, and notes that it could visually be compared to the Orlan-10 reconnaissance drone, although the two have different roles. Kyiv Post described a plane-shaped body with stubby wings², and The War Zone a drone of mainly lightweight wooden construction⁶ with a piston engine driving a propeller in the nose.

The key part is a radar reflector. Kyiv Post reported that a 3D-printed reflector is built into the fuselage²: a metallic, many-faceted sphere known as a Luneburg lens, which makes the small drone look like a Shahed on radar. ISIS found the lens inside the airframe of recovered drones⁵ and wrote that it gives the decoy a radar cross-section similar to a Shahed 136.

Specifications

ISIS describes the drone as much smaller than the Shahed 136⁵ and identifies its engine as a DLE55RA 55 cc two-stroke engine from Mile Hao Xiang Technology, a mass-market product typically used by hobbyists in model airplanes and available off the shelf. HUR later reported that Russia had used DLE engines in Gerbera and Parodiya drones⁷. The War Zone wrote in January 2025 that the light decoy nonetheless offers long range⁶ without giving a figure.

Its cost is low. Defense Express estimated that all the electronics needed to build and fly one cost no more than $200², and The War Zone’s writer put a drone like this at maybe $10,000⁶, against at least $1 million for a missile that might be fired at it.

Sensors and weapons

The Parodiya has no strike capability¹, according to HUR, and ISIS says it is not known to carry an explosive charge⁵. In November 2024 HUR listed the makers of parts in its flight controller module: Ebyte, Jiashan Jinchang Electron and Yangzhou Yangjie Electronic Technology from China, Texas Instruments, Cypress Semiconductor and InvenSense from the United States, STMicroelectronics from Switzerland² and SONiX Technology from Taiwan. Defense Express said the parts are off-the-shelf and none was under sanctions.

Operators and combat use

HUR said that of more than 2,000 drones Russia launched at Ukraine in October 2024, about half were decoys¹ or fake targets. Ihnat told CNN in November 2024 that the Parodiya and other decoys made up as much as half of the drones⁶ in large attacks, and Kyiv Post reported Russian military bloggers putting the share at at least a third².

On 10 November 2024 two Parodiya drones crashed in Moldova⁸; Kyiv Post reported that one came down almost intact in a farm field² next to a village. On 16 January 2025 a drone was engaged over Kyiv during British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit, and The War Zone wrote that it was apparently a Parodiya-type decoy⁶.

After a break of several months, Ukrainian radio-technology expert Serhii Beskrestnov reported that Russia again used dozens of Parodiya decoys⁴ over Kyiv Oblast on 2 May 2026 to distract air defences. Ukraine’s Air Force listed Parodiya decoys with Shahed, Gerbera and Italmas drones in the attack of the night to 26 July 2026⁹, and again in the attacks of the nights to 9 November³ and 10 November 2026¹⁰.

Similar drones

• Gerbera: another cheap Russian decoy that imitates the Shahed, but with a foam body and a large delta wing with a single vertical tailfin¹¹, where the Parodiya is a high-wing monoplane⁵.
• HESA Shahed 136: the Iranian-designed¹¹ attack drone the Parodiya imitates on radar; HUR describes the Parodiya as much smaller and cheaper¹.
• ADM-160 MALD: an American air-launched decoy from Raytheon that mimics US or allied aircraft¹² to confuse air defences, powered by a turbojet.