Some elements of the modern ground penetrating radar (GPR) determine its performance factor, resolution and depth of sounding. There are impulse transmitter, ultra-wide-band receiver as well as transmitting and receiver antennas. Improvement of the GPR's parameters is usually achieved by modernization of receiving circuits, antenna design, decreasing of input noises and using of complex computational algorithms for on-line and post-processing. As active element for impulse generation are widely used step recovery diodes (SRDs) or avalanche transistors. However such devices can not generate nanosecond pulses up to some hundreds volts on the antenna terminal. This work is devoted to application of drift step recovery didoes (DSRDs) in GPR transmitter design. Current drive circuit based on charge DSRD model has been computed and optimized. Investigation results for pulse generator characterized by peak power up to 5 kW and rise times as small as 2 nanosecond (ns) are reported. Application abilities of commercial power rectifier diodes in the DSRD mode are shown. Transmitter based on DSRD can operate with low impedance antennas, high repetition rate and efficiency.