Tel Aviv: The Iranian defence forces have completed a huge scale exercise of the their UAV fleet. The official television and website quoted the assistant for coordination affairs of the army commander, Rear Admiral Habibullah Seiri, who said that the manoeuvres have been carried out with the participation of more than 150 UAVs of different types.
“This was the first time that a joint training of UAVs has been held at the level of the four branches of the army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the joint air defence headquarters,” he explained.
The Iranian UAV industry has recently made headlines. Iran is sending UAVs to Russia to be used in Ukraine. Israeli experts said that the Iranians are sending hundreds of different to Russia.
Tal Inbar, an Israeli senior expert on UAVs said that the Iranians have built a very big, very advanced UAV industry.
Israeli sources said that the Iranian have built their UAV industry based on imported components that have been purchased in different countries by a number of “Straw” companies, this to avoid the sanctions.
“They have developed some advanced armed UAV’ that have been unveiled recently.” As an example Inbar pointed to the Ababil 5 that has been unveiled in April. ” This a UAV is about 5 meters long and has a wingspan of 7 meters.”
The Israeli expert said that the Iranian UAV industry grew very fast because unlike the heavy industry needed to make nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, UAVs often rely on commercial components that can be purchased even online.
The Israeli sources also said that some of the Iranian UAVs have been manufactured based on reverse engineering of American and Israel UAVs that have been shot down and the Iranian UAV industry is spreading to other countries. In May, 2017, the Iranian press reported on the inauguration ceremony of a UAV factory that was established In Tajikistan.
Israeli defence sources said that this plant is currently producing older models of the Iranian “Ababail” UAV.
On May 28, 2022, Iran unveiled an underground UAV base, at undisclosed location. Among various types of drones and munitions, a new, small, air launched cruise missile was also observed. The new cruise missile is carried by an Iranian copy of the US “Predator” UAV.
Last year the Israeli air force shot down two Iranian UAVs that were on their way to Israel. This operation is considered the “corner stone” of the anti-UAV coalition formed by Israel and some countries in the Middle East and Gulf.
Israel, according to the foreign press is waging a war against the proliferation of the Iranian UAV’s and missiles. This by attacking shipments of them to Leadon to be used by Teheran’s proxy, the Hezbollah and attacking UAV bases in Iran.
Iran UAV industry is continuing to create very surprising situations in different parts of the world. While Russia is buying hundreds of Iranian made UAV for its war in Ukraine, Tehran established a UAV division in the Indian ocean.
The Iran Navy announced recently the launch of its first drone division in the Indian Ocean during US President Joe Biden’s Middle East tour.
According to Iran International website, the first UAV carrier flotilla of Iran’s Army, comprised of surface and subsurface units equipped with various types of combat, reconnaissance and kamikaze UAVs, was unveiled by the southern fleet of the Navy in a ceremony attended by Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi and Commander of the Iranian Navy Commodore Shahram Irani.
According to state media, the UAVs that were displayed included the Pelican, Arash, Homa, Chamrosh, Jubin, Ababil-4 and Bavar-5, but it was not clear how many UAVs were included in each unit, only that one ship carried 50 UAVs.
Mousavi said the reconnaissance UAVs have increased the intelligence sway of Iran’s vessels to hundreds of kilometres beyond the borders of the country, adding that the Navy’s suicide and combat UAVs have levelled up Iran’s deterrence power.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
