Iran’s Growing UAV Capabilities Unveiled

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Iran has been using unmanned aerial vehicles for launching attacks and smuggling weapons. Isarel Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that Iran has launched maritime attacks with unmanned aerial vehicles from bases in the country’s south.

“One of the key tools is UAVs and precision weapons, which can reach strategic targets within thousands of kilometers, and thus this capability is already endangering Sunni countries, international troops in the Middle East, and also countries in Europe and Africa,” he said, according to jerusalempost.com.

Tehran also attempted to send explosives to Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank from Syria using unmanned aerial vehicles, Gantz said. “Iran is not only using unmanned aerial vehicles to attack but also to transfer weapons to its proxies.” In February 2018, Iran carried out an attempt to smuggle TNT explosives using the Shahed m141 UAV. The advanced Iranian drone took off from the T-4 airbase in Syria and crossed into Israeli territory via Jordanian airspace, according to Gantz. The drone was spotted and intercepted in Israel near Beit She’an by an Apache attack helicopter.