Moscow has turned to its ally Tehran to acquire these drones because it has a powerful and diverse drone system and has been a major supplier of drones for decades.
According to a Forbes analysis, Iran’s development of this force has been largely driven by sanctions, as Iran has neither been able to import warplanes nor build large warplanes for years.
On Friday, in the latest announcement related to its program for these planes, which has worried its enemies, especially Israel and the United States, Iran unveiled a naval unit of UAVs that allows them to be launched from ships and submarines.
Iran has become an expert in combat drones, commonly exporting its planes to proxy forces in the region, such as Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, who use them to attack targets in Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Tehran also supplies other customers such as Venezuela, Ecuador and some friendly countries in Africa – but only commercially.
A Russian delegation has visited an airport in central Iran at least twice in the past month to inspect drones capable of carrying weapons, according to national security adviser Jake Sullivan and satellite imagery obtained exclusively by CNN.
— CNN (@CNN) July 16, 2022
This growing industry produces dozens of different types of drones, from large aircraft with a range of thousands of miles to tactical models, hand-launched and warheads.
This Iranian industry includes many different types, of course, most of them are only prototypes that have not yet entered production and service.
In the midst of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, it has been revealed that Tehran plans to export its aircraft to Moscow, which is suffering from a severe shortage of equipment as a result of more than four months of war.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed on Saturday that Russian officials have visited Iran at least twice this summer to inspect combat drones that Tehran is delivering to Moscow.
According to satellite images released by the US government, the Iranian military showed its drones to a Russian delegation on July 8 and 5 at the Kashan Air Base, 200 km south of Tehran, as Russia seeks to strengthen its arsenal against the resistance. gave Shown by the Ukrainian army in the east of the country.
“We’re releasing these photos taken in June that show the Iranian drones were reported to the Russian delegation that day,” Sullivan said.
He added: As far as we know, this is the first time that a Russian delegation visits this airbase for such a purpose.
And the White House announced on Monday that it had received information that Iran was preparing to supply Russia with hundreds of drones, including combat drones, and that the Iranian military would hold training courses to deal with these weapons starting in July. .
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told CNN this week that the drones could be used to detect and deliver munitions.
“It was important to say to the world that we know Russia needs these additional capabilities,” Kirby said Tuesday, noting that they are exponentially increasing their resources.
A Russian delegation visited an airport in central Iran at least twice last month to inspect drones capable of carrying missiles and rockets, according to satellite images obtained exclusively by CNN.
Russia is severely lacking in armed drones in exchange for the superiority of the successful Ukrainian fleet of Turkish bi-copters, which have proven their effectiveness during the ongoing war since February 24.
Iran has several types of combat-proven drones capable of launching missiles, such as the Mehjir-6 exported to Ethiopia and the Shahid-129 used in Syria and Iraq.
The Shahid 129 has a wingspan of 50 feet and is powered by a powerful Rotax 914 engine that gives it a top speed of around 100 mph and a flight time of over 20 hours.
This plane carries four “SADID-345” smart bombs with precise guidance (laser) and is capable of hitting moving targets.
This type of aircraft could top Moscow’s list due to its ability to carry out long-range missions to find and destroy mobile HIMARS missile launchers for Ukraine, the report said.
American mechanisms helped destroy Russian ammunition depots and command centers, as well as the destruction of Ukrainian defenses, which was very “disturbing” for Moscow.
Thursday’s attack on Vinnytsia was carried out by a missile launched from a Russian submarine, a military official at the US Department of Defense said.
The Russian Air Force has so far only conducted a limited number of sorties and has so far proven its inability to hit such targets, perhaps due to a severe lack of guided weapons, which is the secret of its direction towards Tehran.
This may account for the unfortunate failure of Moscow’s forces this week, when two Russian Sukhoi Su-27s attempted to bomb targets on Snake Island and missed not only their targets, but the island itself.
The Russians have also lost at least 34 warplanes from what appears to be a small operational fleet and appear unwilling to risk more.
Iran may be supplying Russia with stealth drones, as it has built a whole host of unmanned vehicles copied from a US RQ-170 Sentinel that crashed in Iran in 2011.
These planes are known as the Simorgh class and have a distinct bird wing shape, two of which, Shahid 181 and 191, were displayed in the “Great Prophet 14” exercise in 2020.
The 191 can carry two Sadid-345 missiles and the larger 181 can carry four.
In theory, they are difficult for air defenses to detect, but Israel seems to have shot down many of them without apparent problem, “so a carefully engineered stealth might not be very effective.”
But in this report, the question was raised, what will be the other planes that Russia may benefit from Iran and that were not announced before?
One possibility is that Iran could introduce newly developed and undeclared drones that could act as booby traps, gather intelligence and disrupt Ukraine’s defenses while armed drones do their job. .
And while it’s still unclear how much information the U.S. has about the deal, it’s impossible to say whether Iran will be able to keep its promise or whether Russian forces will be able to effectively use any of these weapons.
Source: Lebanon Debate
