Military drone comparison: from FPV to Global Hawk
Compare size to scale, reference range and payload for the best-known military drones: a generic FPV, loitering munitions such as the Shahed and Lancet, the Bayraktar TB2, the MQ-9 Reaper and the RQ-4 Global Hawk.
Shahed-136 / Geran-2 is 8.3 times larger than Generic FPV (5-7 inch)
Reference range: a 200× difference.
Size to scale
Reference range
Generic FPV (5-7 inch) * — 10 km
Shahed-136 / Geran-2 * — 2,000 km
Logarithmic scale from 1 km to 100,000 km.
Payload or warhead
Generic FPV (5-7 inch) * — 1.5 kg
Shahed-136 / Geran-2 * — 50 kg
Logarithmic scale from 1 kg to 10,000 kg.
Generic FPV (5-7 inch) *
0.3 m · 10 km · 1.5 kg
Generic model: indicative figures for the typical range seen in Ukraine, per RUSI reporting; they vary widely.
Shahed-136 / Geran-2 *
2.5 m · 2,000 km · 50 kg
Iranian one-way attack drone; range and warhead are open-source and government estimates.
* Open-source estimate. Range may be control-link, flight or ferry range depending on the system; it is not a combat radius.
Popular comparisons
Method and limitations
Size is wingspan (or diagonal for multirotors). Range is not measured the same way for every system: for small drones and the TB2 it is control-link range; for the Predator, Reaper and Global Hawk, published flight range; for the Shahed, an estimated maximum. Payload is maximum payload or, for loitering munitions, the estimated warhead. Where a manufacturer does not publish it, we say so.
Why is the FPV a generic model?
Because there is no single model: they are adapted racing drones built by the thousand in many variants. We use indicative figures for the most common 5-7 inch type, drawn from RUSI reporting on Ukraine.
What is a loitering munition?
A drone designed to circle over an area and then dive onto its target, destroying itself in the attack. Unlike the TB2 or the Reaper, it does not return to base.
More context: Weapons · Modern warfare · More tools
Sources / References
- U.S. Air Force official fact sheets for the MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk.
- Baykar, Bayraktar TB2 specification sheet.
- AeroVironment and Teledyne FLIR public sheets for Switchblade, Raven and Black Hornet.
- RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) reports on drone use in Ukraine (2023-2025).
- CSIS and IISS open-source analysis of the Shahed-136, Lancet, Orlan-10 and Wing Loong II.
- DJI public specifications for the Mavic 3.