DUBAI, United Arabย Emirates, Oct. 7 (UPI) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say they’re nowย producing armed unmanned aerial vehicles, such as the Shahed-129, capable ofย attacking air and ground targets.
If that’s correct, it marks a significant technologicalย advance for the Islamic Republic’s defense industry — even if the Unmannedย Combat Aerial Vehicles, or UCAVs, do appear to be rip-offs of Israeli or U.S.ย systems.
In recent days, Iran’s military leaders have claimedย self-sufficiency in the UAV sector and announced initial production of a combatย drone called Raad-85, Farsi for thunder, and the mass production of theย Shahed-129, unveiled in September 2012.
The Shahed, or witness, has an operational radius that topsย 1,000 miles, can stay aloft for 24 hours and can carry as many as eightย indigenous Sadid-1 missiles on four under-wing twin-launchers.
According to the U.S. military website Defense Update, theย Shahed-129 is a “precision-guided version of the Zelzal medium-range rocket.
Maj. Gen. Mohammad-Ali Jafari, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, hailedย Shahed-129, built by the IRGC’s Aerospace Division, as a major technologicalย breakthrough.
However, it bears more than a passing resemblance toย Israel’s Hermes 450 UAV, built by Elbit Systems. Analysts say it has the sameย shape, size, landing gear type and performance characteristics.
Although details of the Shahed’s internal systems, sensorย arrays and ground control station are not known, the similarities with theย Hermes 450 suggests the Iranians may have had access to one of the Israeliย craft, possibly lost on a covert mission, and were able to reverse-engineer itsย components.
Tal Inbar, a UAV specialist with Israel’s Fisher Instituteย for Strategic Air and Space Studies, said photos of the Shahed-129 indicated aย size and design similar to Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900, with what appeared to be aย laser designator for advanced laser-guided anti-tank missiles.
“Based on the visuals, this could be a real UCAV system,ย not just a mock-up for exhibitions,” Inbar observed.
Defense Update said that on the basis of the performanceย characteristics cited by the Iranians, the Shahed-129 “is a more powerfulย platform with significantly more payload capacity compared to the Israeliย drone.
“Its external shape reflects significant advancement inย composite materials fabrication, including the production of large airframe andย structural elements.”
Defense Update says the Sadid missiles seen on theย Shahed-129 “are similar in diameter and container size to the Israeli Spike LRย missile,” a long-range anti-tank weapon built by Rafael Advanced Defenseย Systems.
Iran captured a U.S. stealth RQ-170, manufactured byย Lockheed Martin, in December 2011 after it went down over the Islamic Republicย during a secret mission for the Central Intelligence Agency.
The Iranians claimed they were able to hack into itsย command system and force it to land. The CIA later admitted Iran had capturedย one of the highly sensitive surveillance craft designed to evade enemyย defenses.
It was believed the Iranians would seek to reverse-engineerย the RQ-170.
Indeed, Jafari himself claimed in a Sept. 27, 2012,ย interview with the semi-official Fars news agency the IRGC had successfullyย reverse-engineered a version of the RQ-17.
But if that’s true, the results have not yet been sighted.
“All the memories and computer systems of this plane haveย been decoded and some good news will be announced in the near future not justย about the RQ-170 and the optimizations that our forces have done on theย reverse-engineered model … but also in areas of other important defenseย achievements,” IRGC Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said in September withoutย elaborating.
The U.S. weekly Defense News quoted Israeli expert Dannyย Eshchar as saying he doubted the Shehad-129 was a fully integrated,ย combat-capable UCAV for various technical reasons.
“It’s a real air vehicle, but that’s about all,” saidย Eshchar, deputy chief executive of Aeronautics Ltd.
The Iranians also unveiled details of new designs,ย including photos of a tactical reconnaissance UAV named Yaseer.
The Israeli experts said it appeared to be a copy of theย U.S. ScanEagle, manufactured by Insitu, a subsidiary of the Boeing Co.
Iran claimed to have captured one over the Persian Gulf inย December 2012, plus two more soon after. The U.S. Navy insisted none of itsย ScanEagles was missing.
–
