The Insider ties Geran-4 drone's new antenna to sanctioned supplier Harxon

TLDR

• A new 32-element CRPA antenna recovered from a downed Russian Geran-4 drone closely resembles a design from sanctioned Chinese supplier Harxon, an Insider photo analysis found.¹
• Russian drones previously carried antennas with at most 16 elements, so the jump to 32 could make Geran and Gerbera drones significantly harder for Ukraine to jam.¹
• An "ALB" marking engraved into the housing, not printed on a sticker, points to assembly at Russia's Alabuga special economic zone.¹
• Militarnyi, reporting independently on the same photos and video circulating on Telegram since September 30, corroborated the 32-element design and the Alabuga-linked markings.²
• A rough housing finish and engraved serial numbers suggest Russia may now be assembling the antennas locally from Chinese-made circuit boards, rather than importing finished units.¹

Photos and video of a 32-element CRPA antenna pulled from a crashed Geran-4 drone began circulating on Telegram on September 30, after Ukrainian electronic-warfare specialist Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov first posted images of it.¹ An Insider analysis of those images found the antenna's design closely resembles products built to specifications from Harxon, the Chinese manufacturer sanctioned last year after The Insider identified it as Alabuga's main antenna supplier.¹

Why it matters: doubling the antenna's elements from 16 to 32 makes it far more resistant to electronic jamming, narrowing one of the few reliable countermeasures Ukraine has against Geran and Gerbera drones.¹ A serial number engraved directly into the casing, rather than printed, also suggests Russia is shifting from buying finished Chinese hardware toward local "screwdriver" assembly of Chinese-made components at Alabuga, which would make future sanctions on named suppliers less effective on their own.

Driving the news:

• The Insider found the new antenna's output-connector layout matches Harxon's design, while a rough metal finish and an engraved serial number, a feature already seen on some 16-element units, point to localized production rather than a straight import.¹
• Images of other Geran electronics posted on the Ukrainian military-trophy marketplace reibert.info show a similar pattern: more components marked "ALB" now carry Russian-language stickers, consistent with Chinese circuit boards being assembled into finished units inside Russia.¹
• Militarnyi's own write-up of the same photos, published the same day, independently confirmed the 32-element antenna and its Alabuga-linked "ALB" marking, attributing the Harxon design match to The Insider's analysis.²
• The Insider says the apparent development path runs from small trial batches bought on marketplaces, to bulk factory orders, to eventually licensing local assembly or full domestic production, once a supplier's hardware proves itself against jamming in the field.¹

The big picture: Harxon was sanctioned last year after The Insider and the Nordsint project traced it as Alabuga's main supplier of multi-element satellite-navigation antennas, publishing an invoice the company sent to a volunteer posing as a Russian defence-industry buyer and naming two Harxon staff who dealt with Russian customers.¹ Harxon has disputed the sanctions and said the named employee acted in a private capacity, a claim The Insider says its own evidence contradicts.¹