Author Topic: Iranian UAVs (Read 24436 times)

farbod · « **Reply #200 on:** January 30, 2012, 12:58:55 PM »

Tehran: Iran will unveil a new domestically-built unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with high capabilities and versatile features, a media report said Monday.

Mehdi Iraji, the aeronautics engineer in charge of the project, said the new remote-controlled aircraft, called A1, has a maximum flight level of 10,000 feet, reported Xinhua.

It is capable of travelling for at least two hours, and can carry a 5-kg payload, Iraji was quoted as saying.

The unmanned aircraft is also equipped with sound, chemical and colour recognition systems as well as other sensors, he said. The drone runs on hi-octane gas mixed with a percentage of oil.

In December, Iran's armed forces had shot down an unmanned US spy plane that violated its eastern borders.

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said Sunday that the Islamic republic would soon unveil a new domestically-manufactured naval surveillance plane.

The new maritime patrol plane is remote-controlled and has high flight duration, enabling it to keep maritime areas under surveillance via optical and radar subsystems.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/et-cetera/iran-to-unveil-new-home-made-uav/articleshow/11685245.cms

Catsoo · « **Reply #201 on:** January 30, 2012, 02:27:23 PM »

This one is definitely with low capabilities. Altitude of 10,000 feet and two hours of flight time is close to a student project and not a product for armed forces.

Catsoo

farbod · « **Reply #202 on:** January 30, 2012, 02:39:59 PM »

I know, I was wondering the same.

maybe they made a mistake, there was a new on fars news about student making such a UAV, its capability are too low for modern warfare.

Catsoo · « **Reply #203 on:** January 30, 2012, 02:50:06 PM »

Here are photos of UAV University projects:

http://www.payvand.com/news/12/jan/1298.html

Catsoo

Catsoo · « **Reply #204 on:** January 30, 2012, 07:57:18 PM »

Lur,

That video existed even before the RQ-170 force landing in Iran.

Catsoo

mamdali · « **Reply #205 on:** January 30, 2012, 08:06:15 PM »

I posted this a few months back about an Iranian UAV competittion. I thought it wwas very interesting and with some great photos and graphics:

http://www.iranmilitaryforum.net/land-forces/iranian-uavs/msg91325/#msg91325

Mamdali

Catsoo · « **Reply #206 on:** February 06, 2012, 10:15:10 PM »

Iranian-built drone equipped with co-pilot, GPS Tracking

Source: ISNA

Iranian researchers managed to design and build a drone equipped with co-pilot and Global Positioning System (GPS) Tracking.

The manager of the project, carried out in International Imam Khomeini University in central city of Qazvin, Ali Farzan told ISNA the drone which is equipped with 55cc two-stroke engine is 220cm long and enjoys wings that are 260cm long.

Farzan stressed the unmanned plane with maximum speed of 150km is capable of flying and performing missions for 3 hours in the height of 500 meters up to 3 kilometers.

He pointed out the drone which weighs 17kg is capable of patrolling the areas with dimension of 10 in 10 km.

Farzan continued OSD technology is one of the other features employed in building the drone which allows the pilot to receive, record and send out online Analogue videos.

Radio control system of the drone has been reinforced by 20 km.

http://www.payvand.com/news/12/feb/1061.html

Apollyon · « **Reply #207 on:** February 07, 2012, 03:42:52 AM »

About the GPS tracking: For military drones it's not ideal if the enemy can manipulate the signal or jam ir or use it to locate the drone's because Iran does not have control over the GPS satellites, no?
Whose satellites would drones with GPS tracking be connecting to, and as far as I know very few nations have their own GPS networks, so how difficult would it be for Iran to establish its own GPS network, given that Iran can already produce and launch satellites through all phases of R&D through launch by itself?

Aspahbod · « **Reply #208 on:** February 07, 2012, 12:33:43 PM »

This is a university project. It is not related to military drones.

Ayyash · « **Reply #209 on:** February 07, 2012, 04:36:43 PM »

This video was supposedly captured over Syria recently:
http://youtu.be/7TO9LGSwAyc

Notice that it resembles the Iranian "Pahpad" (not it's real name) that we've talked about earlier. Attached is an image captured from the skies above Sudan which i've long suspected is an Iranian drone. It's not enough to say that it is the Pahpad, (presumably operated by the Syrian government, but they are very similar and I think it's a real possibility.

psychobobby · « **Reply #210 on:** February 07, 2012, 09:35:39 PM »

Quote from: Apollyon on February 07, 2012, 03:42:52 AM

About the GPS tracking: For military drones it's not ideal if the enemy can manipulate the signal or jam ir or use it to locate the drone's because Iran does not have control over the GPS satellites, no?
Whose satellites would drones with GPS tracking be connecting to, and as far as I know very few nations have their own GPS networks, so how difficult would it be for Iran to establish its own GPS network, given that Iran can already produce and launch satellites through all phases of R&D through launch by itself?

Iran is nowhere near forming it's own GPS.. they could use the Russian Glonas or the Chinese one which is being made... Europe also started working on their own version of it (Galileo). The simple fact is you need too many satellites and at too high of an orbit for Iran to be able to achieve this anytime soon. The E.U had to join forces to even dream of overcoming the financial challenge of the project. My guess would be that for military use the Chinese one probably would be more reliable(the Russian Glonas is more and more dependent on private investment which makes Russia easily pressurable) but I personnaly don't think GPS reliant systems are that great, for the simple reason that an enemy able to destroy one of those satellites would probably render all other satellites in geostationary orbit useless (through scattering of debris). That's not even talking about how you can (relatively) easily emit false GPS signals..

Catsoo · « **Reply #211 on:** February 08, 2012, 07:40:19 PM »

Iran to exhibit downed US drone's model

Submitted by admin4 on 8 February 2012 - 11:34pm

Muslim World News

By IANS,

Tehran : Iran will put on public display a model of the downed US drone next Saturday when it will mark the anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic republic, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

According to the Sepah news affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), the IRGC said it would display the maquette in the demonstrations to be held Feb 11 to mark the anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic republic.

It did not say whether the maquette will be shown only in Tehran or in other cities too.

The demonstrations to mark the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 are held every year nationwide in Iran.

In Dec 2011, Iranian military downed the US RQ-170 stealth aircraft in the eastern part of the country after finding it transgressing the eastern border.

http://twocircles.net/2012feb08/iran_exhibit_downed_us_drones_model.html

Ayyash · « **Reply #212 on:** February 17, 2012, 09:31:24 PM »

Iranian Unmanned Aircraft Signal New Threat

Quote

Military sources say that Iran has begun to harass the ground-based air defenses of the U.S. Army and allies in the Persian Gulf region using swarms of unmanned aircraft. The aircraft, which appear to be of Chinese design or origin, are typically launched to exploit the operating pattern of U.S. radars. They can fly beneath or around the limited coverage area of radars currently deployed in neighboring states, and their flight characteristics make them difficult to classify. On at least one occasion, they were mistaken for birds because of their slow speed and small radar cross section.

...

The aircraft can easily be intercepted and shot down once they are detected using attack helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft. What worries local commanders is that they might not be detected in a timely fashion, or might be launched in such large numbers that they overwhelm the limited capabilities of defenders. Military sources say that the same tactics can be employed by other adversaries such as China, and that the ground-based radars U.S. defenders currently rely on lack the sensitivity and coverage area to cope with the emerging threat.

http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org/iranian-unmanned-aircraft-signal-new-threat?a=1&c=1171

The quoted article is somewhat bland itself but it highlights and interesting trend which is that the USN is beginning to encounter more and more of Iran's drones on a regular basis which establishes some pattern for their doctrinal use. This is, of course, something we've all discussed here on a theoretical level before but there was no real precedent for their use (or at least none that I was aware of). This becomes more of a danger as Iran's UAV technology has matured and their numbers have increased over the years. Remember how Vahidi described the operation of the Karrar - like a "swarm of bees".

I'm interested to know under what grounds he makes the claim that the drones are Chinese in origin. On one hand, this could be simply inaccurate information but it could also indicate the origin of the many of the critical components within Iranian UAVs like the Mohajer. (assuming the claim is based of USN ESM/EW interactions with the drones which is the only way I can see that that would be established in this scenario).

maydayfire · « **Reply #213 on:** February 17, 2012, 09:39:36 PM »

Ayyash what is the source/link of that article?

Ayyash · « **Reply #214 on:** February 17, 2012, 10:58:04 PM »

Quote from: maydayfire on February 17, 2012, 09:39:36 PM

Ayyash what is the source/link of that article?

Fixed

M-ATF · « **Reply #215 on:** February 18, 2012, 04:59:50 AM »

Quote from: Ayyash on February 17, 2012, 09:31:24 PM

I'm interested to know under what grounds he makes the claim that the drones are Chinese in origin. On one hand, this could be simply inaccurate information but it could also indicate the origin of the many of the critical components within Iranian UAVs like the Mohajer. (assuming the claim is based of USN ESM/EW interactions with the drones which is the only way I can see that that would be established in this scenario).

Western journalists and analysts always believe everything Iran builds is North Korean or Chinese.
I think when he says " ... be of Chinese Design Or Origin" , it means he doesn't know he talk about what and he hasn't accurate information.

maydayfire · « **Reply #216 on:** February 18, 2012, 06:22:50 AM »

Quote from: M-ATF on February 18, 2012, 04:59:50 AM

Western journalists and analysts always believe everything Iran builds is North Korean or Chinese.
I think when he says " ... be of Chinese Design Or Origin" , it means he doesn't know he talk about what and he hasn't accurate information.

completely agree.

M-ATF · « **Reply #217 on:** February 22, 2012, 01:57:41 PM »

This image isn't new (March 2010) , But I hadn't seen it till now, this is first time that I see this version of Mohajer (Shahin) with its camera.

the8march · « **Reply #218 on:** February 22, 2012, 02:24:40 PM »

2 questions:
1- how does it land? I see some kind of sliders and no wheels
2- What are the two white rods on the top? Antennas for communication?

one more photo

M-ATF · « **Reply #219 on:** February 22, 2012, 02:33:24 PM »

it lands on its landing skits, The clip of landing of it is available.

mustavaris · « **Reply #220 on:** February 22, 2012, 05:13:42 PM »

Yeah... these beasts are quite slow.

The antennas look like VHF antennae to me.

Ayyash · « **Reply #221 on:** February 27, 2012, 08:46:06 PM »

There's been further discussion going on about that UAV spotted over Syria (see post #209 in this thread) and much of it has centered on the possibility that it's an Iranian model.

Syria (14 Feb 2012) UAV Captured on Video Over Kafr Batna [UPDATED...AGAIN] [OSGEOINT]

Mysterious drone overflying clashes in Syria could be a new type rarely seen outside Iran. And here’s a new picture (maybe). [The Aviationist]

M-ATF · « **Reply #222 on:** February 28, 2012, 05:18:26 AM »

Ayyash, do you know writer of article of second link that you posted?
I think he is wrong about the UAV that is designed by students and introduced by Fars and the UAV that its images has been released by Mashreghnews.ir (those images has been captured from a video of one of exercises). They aren't the same.

Ayyash · « **Reply #223 on:** February 28, 2012, 05:20:43 AM »

I don't know the author, but there's a comments section on the article page so it might be worth it to post it there.

farbod · « **Reply #224 on:** March 17, 2012, 04:56:41 PM »

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian experts managed to produce a new type of drone which is capable of carrying out military and border patrol missions.

The new remote-controlled aircraft, called Shaparak (Butterfly), has a maximum operational radius of 50 kilometers (31 miles), and a maximum flight ceiling of 15,000 feet (4,572 meters), Reza Danandeh Hakamabad, the aeronautics engineer in charge of the project, said on Friday.

The aircraft is capable of three and half hours of non-stop flying, and can carry an 8-kilogram (17-pound) payload.

He added that the unmanned aircraft is powered by a two-cylinder engine, and is equipped with three digital color cameras, that can transmit high-resolution footage to the base on the ground.

Danandeh Hakamabad noted that Shahparak drone can perform a wide variety of functions, including military missions, border patrol, forest and road traffic monitoring, search and rescue, pipeline monitoring as well as transport.

Iran successfully tested a home-made radar-evading UAV with bombing capabilities in June 2009.

In February 2011, Iran inaugurated the production line of two home-made Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with bombing and reconnaissance capabilities.

The two hi-tech drones named 'Ra'd' (Thunder) and 'Nazir' (Harbinger) are capable of conducting long-range reconnaissance, patrolling, assault and bombing missions with high precision.

Ra'd which is a UAV of choice for assault and bombing missions has the capability to destroy the specified targets with high pinpoint precision.

Experts believe that once the UAV enters the scene of aerial missions, it would enhance the reconnaissance, patrolling and defensive power of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Armed Force.

Iran started construction of a plant in the Northern province of Mazandaran in 2008 to mass produce UAVs for different civilian and military missions.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in September unveiled the country's first home-made combat Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

The combat drone, named Karrar, was unveiled in a special ceremony in Tehran marking the national 'Day of Defense Industry'.

The Karrar UAV is capable of carrying a military payload to carry out bombing missions against ground targets. It is also capable of flying long distances at a very high speed.

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9012152537