Iran to increase home-built drones’ flight range: Cmdr

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Iran’s Aviation Industry Organization (IAIO) is manufacturing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with a longer flight range than previous models, said the organization’s deputy director Karim Bani Tarafi in an interview with IRNA, Islamic Republic News Agency, recently.

The new drones will also be able to fly at higher speed and altitudes and capture more accurate images, he added.

According to Press TV, all UAVs currently used by Iran’s Armed Forces have been completely designed and manufactured by local experts, he noted. Bani Tarafi said different types of equipment, including radars, could be installed on the new drones.

Iranian press sources report that in recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems, including a variety of domestically-manufactured drones.

Iran’s media always ends its reporting in saying the Islamic Republic unveiled its first domestically-developed long-range combat drone, Karrar (Striker), in August 2010. The country has, ever since, manufactured a whole range of other high-tech surveillance and combat UAVs.

Register to iHLS Israel Homeland Security
In November 2014, Iran put into operation a final domestically-manufactured version of the sophisticated US RQ-170 stealth aircraft, which was downed with minimal damage by the Iranian Armed Forces’ electronic warfare unit in December, 2011 while flying over the Iranian city of Kashmar, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) from the Afghan border.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Aerospace Force in August 2014 intercepted and shot down an Israeli stealth spy drone that intended to reach the nuclear facility in Natanz. The UAV was targeted by a surface-to-air missile before it reached the area.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly assured other countries that its military might poses no threat to other countries since its defense doctrine is based entirely on deterrence.

It should be noted that security experts have repeatedly told i-HLS that “Iran’s much ado about it so-called technological progress is more smoke than actual substance. Every so often, this Iranian general or another makes much of the country’s purported progress in avionics, artillery, UASs and what not. None of these displays amount to anything more than publicity stunts.”