Iran has undergone a drone revolution and now possess the largest fleet of combat drones in the Middle East, it’s media reported on Sunday. The exclusive report that provides a deep look into Iran’s done history is an insight into Iran’s emerging use of drones as a strategic weapon, one that it would like to use more against Israel, the US and other enemies. In recent years Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia last year, harassed US ships and flown a drone into Israeli airspace in 2018.
Iran claims its drone fleet dates back to the era of the “revolution” in this technology and including technology from the pre-1979 Iranian air force. It mentioned the Beechcraft MQM-107 Streaker which was a target drone built in the 1970s by the US which looks like a small plane mounted on a rocket engine. Iran built its HESA Karrar drone based on this in 2010. Why it took Iran decades to build something based on a US model that was supposedly lying around is unclear. It is believed that the MQM-107 was sold to Iran in the 1970s. Iran also had BQM-74 Chukar target drones. It was also exported to Iran apparently in the 1970s.
Iran’s Fars News says that after the 1979 revolution the war with Iraq forced Iran to innovate in drone technology. Iran had acquired US F-4s and the surveillance model of the same aircraft the RF-4 but apparently it had didn’t want to use them too frequently because they would be shot down. So the IRGC decided in 1983 to start using model airplanes from a civilian club that had a stock of them. The article says that a “Thunder (Raad) Battalion” was built within the IRGC for use of the drones. It is believed that these units were based in Ahwaz and included areas of Khuzestan province on the border with Iraq. It was here that Qasem Soleimani, later to be the IRGC Quds Force head, was involved in some of the bloodiest battles of the war crossing the Shat-Al-Arab waterway to try to take Basra in Iraq. The drones ay have been used in these battles, such as Karbala-5, a massive battle that took place in this area. Fars News only specifies that the battalion was stationed in the “fish farming canal” area, which was this area. The Mahi Canal was crossed in January 1986 during this bloody battle.
The drones helped provide surveillance and could be flown without risking planes against the Iraqi Air Force. High-resolution images were provided and the article says the Raad Battalation was able to successfully integrate its Mohajer-1 drones. By the end of the war 940 missions had been flown and 54,000 photos taken. Some 187,070 square kilometers had been covered, the article claims. That is a lot, it’s like half the land area of Iraq.
Fars News says that in parallel to the drone development and industrial base the IRGC Air Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Research Center. Which helps build ballistic missiles, was also set to work researching better combat drones. This “led to the birth of the Shahed family of drones.” The Shahed 121, for instance, flew over the USS Harry Truman in January 2016 and came near the French Aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle. The French sent a helicopter to monitor the drone. It apparently buzzed the French frigate FS Provence and USS Bulkeley.
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