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Iran drills

krzepice1976

DEFCON Staff
Staff member
Iran has a large fleet of drones of various types and purposes. The first Iranian drones were created in the second half of the 1980s - in the Iraqi-Iranian war, for example, Mohajer-1 and Ababil-1 were used. Currently, it is estimated that Tehran may have up to two dozen types of drones in different, sometimes several versions. Therefore, Tehran has the right tools to carry out effectively not only tactical tasks, but also to develop a new concept of air-land and air-sea battle, which assumes potential asymmetry of forces and the massive use of reconnaissance and reconnaissance drones and kamikaze drones (ammunition circulating).
Drones can perform various missions: typically reconnaissance, strike (with precision ammunition or in suicide attacks), guiding and correcting artillery and missile fire, etc. In addition to frequent exercises with the mass use of drones, it is worth bearing in mind the experience gained in Syria, where drones not only served as a reconnaissance means, but also carried out strike missions and directed the fire of their own artillery and ballistic missiles (e.g. they highlighted targets, transmitted coordinates, illustrated the effects, etc. .). One feature typical of the concept of air-ground combat with the use of drones is their massive use, including in combination with ballistic missile attacks.
in January this year, large exercises of the Air-Space Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "Great Prophet 15" (Payambar-e Azam) were carried out in the central part of Iran, in which drones and circulating ammunition were used en masse. In the first stage of the exercise, the kamikaze drones destroyed the enemy's anti-aircraft defense, followed by massive attacks with ballistic missiles (including Zolfaghar (up to 700 km and Dezful up to 1000 km) and Shahed-129 shock drones (each with 4 guided missiles). Sadid).
January this year. maneuvers of the types of troops subordinate to the army and the corps of guards with the massive participation of drones Interesting episodes include the use of Arash kamikaze drones thrown from the transport and launch container. The Arash is possibly a variant of the Kian drone, only with a piston engine instead of a jet. Karrar drones were also used, from which Azarakhsh missiles were fired and bombs were dropped. Popular Mohajer and Ababil drones were used for reconnaissance missions. The Pelican-2 vertical take-off and landing drone was also tested. The exercises also included cavadrocopters with suspended mini-bombs and kamikaze quadrocopters. Various types of Mohajer drones (Mohajer-2N, Mohajer-6), Ababil (Ababil-3/4?), Kaman-12 and Kian kamikaze drones were used.
 
The massive use of drones obviously leads to many technical faults and forced, emergency landings in unimpeded terrain. In such situations, it turns out that the Iranians approached the issue quite pragmatically - in many drones they used parachutes that enable a "soft" landing and, as a result, the damage to the camera is small and can be repaired or repaired. This was the case, for example, with the unmanned Mohajer-6, which recently accidentally landed in central Iran, which avoided crash thanks to a parachute.
Tehran has extensive experience with the use of drones in combat operations, e.g. over Syria. Reconnaissance missions were / are everyday life there, there are also shock missions. Combined attacks by drones and ballistic missiles may be of particular interest in the context of the Karabakh war and new variants of the air-land battle. Such a combined attack was carried out on the positions of Daesh Islamists in Abu-Kamal, Syria in 2018. It is assumed that the attack used several medium-range missiles from the Zolfaghar and Ghiam families to hit targets near Abu Kamal (distance approx. 570 km) . Unmanned aerial vehicles were also used, which made another attack on Daesh bases shortly after the missile strike, and also transmitted the effects of the blows, which is a standard.
Unmanned systems are also used during fleet exercises, for example to observe the maritime area and identify ships. During this year's January exercises of the Navy "Eqtedar-99", among others, Mohajer family systems. One of the assumptions of the maneuvers was to practice the simultaneous operation of drones, helicopters and airplanes in the sea area. On the Makran coast, where military exercises are frequent (the coast stretching from the Strait of Hormuz to the border withl Pakistan), new military infrastructure is being developed and the use of drones is routine.In September 2020, Zolfeghar-99 combined air, navy and ground forces maneuvers took place during which offensive operations at sea were carried out. During the exercises, the new Shahed-171 Simorgh drone was used for combat operations, as well as the Kaman-12, Ababil-3, or Karrar unmanned aerial vehicles (the latter together with F-4 aircraft of the naval air force, which practiced, among others, attacks on mobile naval targets and the use of cruise missiles

The armaments handed over to the army and guard include large series of drones, received by the military with a large pump. For example, in September 2020, a large batch of weapons was handed over to the KSRI Navy, including several dozen drones - 15 Mohajer-6, 13 Ababil-3, 27 Kavosh (a copy of the Scan Eagle) and 15 other drones and as many as 70 Ababil-2 cameras in various versions - drones - targets, drones - kamikazes, etc. The concept of an asymmetric war, e.g. with the US Navy or other in the region, involves the use of small, fast cutters carrying drones. By the way, the vertical take-off drone programs were mentioned - Sepher, Shabab-2 and Hodhod-4. Undoubtedly, many unmanned programs (drones and their weapons) are not yet disclosed
 
New variants of drones are constantly being constructed, with modernized weapons, e.g. rockets. Some of these types are native constructions, some copies, e.g. of the GPS spoofed RQ-170 almost a decade ago - on its basis several copies of the drone in the "flying wing" layout were created (Shahed-141, Shaded-161, Shaded-171, Shahed -181 and Shahed-191). The most massive in the KSRI Air and Space Force, it seems, are Shahed-181 and Shahed-191, which have often been seen in exercises recently and are reportedly also used for combat operations in Syria. Tehran's technical achievements are often questioned in the West, and along with the concealment of many programs, this may lead to an overestimated, or rather underestimated, assessment of the potential of the Iranian drone fleet

 
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