Major General and Honored Pilot of Russia Vladimir Popov said the unusual «whiskers» seen on a Russian Geran-4 jet-powered drone over Kiev could be part of an antenna system designed to improve accuracy against assigned targets.

According to Popov, the elements may form a distributed antenna used either to create interference or to receive a signal from the ground. He also suggested that such a system could potentially support guidance and strike correction through beacons or sensors previously installed by Russian reconnaissance and sabotage groups.

The unusual drone drew attention after images appeared on Ukrainian social media. The footage showed two elements extending from the nose of the jet-powered Geran-4 at a right angle to the aircraft’s longitudinal axis. Each was estimated to be about half a meter long.

The Military Chronicle Telegram channel offered a different explanation. Its authors suggested that the protruding «whiskers» could be contact fuzes designed to trigger the self-destruction of a downed drone when it hits the ground.

According to the channel, such a system could prevent the opposing side from recovering parts of the drone for further study.