Italmas (BM-35)
Long-range kamikaze drone against fixed targets, a cheap alternative to the Shahed
Kamikaze drone from ZALA Aero and its parent company Aeroscan of Izhevsk, unveiled on Russian TV in September 2023 as 'Izdeliye 54'. Simply built (plywood fuselage, a plastic bottle as fuel tank, a Chinese petrol engine) and intended for mass production as a cheaper complement to the Shahed/Geran. Used against Ukraine since October 2023 and now a regular part of the mixed overnight drone waves. Performance figures differ between sources and are not independently confirmed.
Learn more in the Drone Academy →Key data
- Manufacturer
- ZALA Aero Group / Aeroscan (Izhevsk, Russia); production code 'Izdeliye 54' ('product 54')
- Engine
- Petrol engine with a tractor propeller in the nose, of Chinese origin (Wikipedia names a 60 cc DLE-60 — uncertain)
- Speed
- ~120–150 km/h (Ukrainian media)
- Range
- up to ~200 km (Russian claim)
- Warhead
- 15–25 kg according to Ukrainian media, 40 kg according to Wikipedia; Army Recognition (2023) mentions a shaped charge — uncertain
- Navigation
- Autonomous or operator-guided; unconfirmed reports of camera-aided navigation under GPS jamming and AI target recognition
Recognition
- Shape
- Delta wing, smaller and lighter than the Shahed-136
- Sound
- Nicknamed the 'lawnmower' (Ukr. hazonokosarka) because of its engine noise
- Build
- Plywood fuselage, plastic bottle as tank, cheap Chinese components; a radar reflector has been found on captured examples
Relevance
- Use
- First reported attack on Kyiv on the night of 22–23 Oct 2023 (all drones intercepted); HUR confirmed its use in Nov 2023. Later used against Sumy (Jul 2025), among others, and in the 27 Jan 2026 attack with 165 drones — source: Telegraf (27 Jan 2026)
- Current (Oct 2026)
- Ukraine's Air Force lists Italmas alongside Shahed, Gerbera, Banderol/Dan-T and Parodiya in the waves of 13–14 Oct 2026 (RU Mil Tracker e-20261014-02). An interceptor gunner of the 92nd Brigade claims several (e-20261010-s03), and the 78th Air Assault Brigade downed a BM-35 on 19 Oct 2026 only with a second FPV interceptor (ArmyInform, e-20261020-s02). ArmyInform calls the drone jet-powered there; that does not match the known piston engine and is probably wrong
- Comparison
- Lower and slower than the Shahed, with a smaller warhead and less suited to moving targets, but cheaper and harder to detect because of its low altitude; the nose-mounted engine is said to dampen its heat signature
- See also
- The Shahed-136 / Geran-2, Gerbera, Lancet-1 / Lancet-3 and KUB-BLA cards (other ZALA munitions)
News archive 4
Analysed reports from the RU Mil Tracker about this system, newest first. Archive since 2026-07-17.
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Russia hits Kyiv with Iskander-M, S-400, Zircon and Oniks missiles and 210 drones, including cluster-armed Iskanders in the historic centre, hours after the Putin–Witkoff meeting; at least 9 killed across Ukraine
Russia launched a combined missile and drone attack on Ukraine from 18:00 on 21 October 2026 into the morning of 22 October, with Kyiv as the main target. According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russia fired Iskander-M ballistic missiles, S-400 missiles, Zircon and Oniks missiles from Kursk, Bryansk and Rostov oblasts, together with 210 drones: Shahed (110 of the…
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«Поранений, вбитий: російський реактивний дрон збили з другого разу» (ArmyInform: 'Wounded, then killed: Russian jet drone shot down at the second attempt')
ArmyInform reports on a combat video posted on 19 October by Ukraine's 78th Air Assault Brigade. In it, operators of the brigade's "Redneck" unit shoot down a Russian BM-35 ("Italmas") delta-wing kamikaze drone, which the article calls jet-powered and says Russia uses against frontline and rear-area cities. A first FPV interceptor drone hit the BM-35 and da…
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Russia fires 39 ballistic-trajectory missiles and 128 drones, 77 of them jet-powered, at Ukraine overnight on 13-14 October: three killed in Kyiv, power cut in five districts
Russia carried out a massed combined strike on Ukraine between 18:00 on 13 October and the morning of 14 October, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. It says its radio-technical troops tracked 167 air-attack assets. These were 39 missiles flying ballistic trajectories, listed as Iskander-M, KN-23, S-400, Zircon and Oniks and launched from Kursk, Bryansk,…
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«На висоті 5500 метрів: «Маямі» з 92-ї бригади збив російський Supercam» (ArmyInform: At an altitude of 5,500 metres: 'Miami' of the 92nd Brigade shoots down a Russian Supercam)
According to the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade named after Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko, a soldier with the call sign 'Miami' from the brigade's interceptor-drone battery 'Stervyatnyky' ('Vultures') shot down a Russian Supercam reconnaissance UAV at an altitude of 5.5 km. The interception was made with a Ukrainian interceptor drone, i.e. a drone used to destr…