As reported by EurAsian Times, the Shahed-136 kamikaze drones
have become a significant challenge for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russian military has successfully conducted
swarm attacks using these drones against Ukrainian positions located as far as Kyiv,
deep behind Ukrainian frontlines in the eastern part of the country.
Notably, the Russian military achieved an element of surprise in these swarm attacks,
thereby minimizing the chances of repulsion by Ukrainian air defense.
Experts Talk On Iranian Drones.
Uzi Rubin, Israeli defense engineer,
analyst, and currently a Research Fellow with Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security,
told EurAsian Times – “The advantage comes from the design of the Shahed-136 suicide UAVs.”
He explained that the Shahed-136 is a very small, simple, low,
and slow-flying unmanned air vehicle equipped with a simple piston engine
driving a wooden propeller – more like a model aircraft than a weapon of war.
“It is very easy to operate – just upload the target coordinates and launch it with
a small booster rocket – and very hard to detect by radars or electro-optic devices
because of its tiny size (wingspan of about two meters), its slow speed – usually below
the threshold of detection of most radars and its tiny infrared signature,” Rubin said.
Rubin also pointed out how Iran effectively used
the Shahed-136 in September 2019 to hit the Saudi oil installation in Abqaiq,
causing considerable damage and shutting the installation down for two months.
“The Russians are exploiting the advantages built into the weapon by the Iranians,” Rubin said.
When asked about the Mohajer-6 drone, Rubin said that the Mohajer-6 is a different
kind of weapon, as it is relatively large (wingspan of about ten meters),
it flies in medium altitudes of about 15,000 feet.
“It is also quite slow. It is easy to detect and shoot down with anti-aircraft missiles,
even with the older Soviet types the Ukrainians operate,” Rubin said.
This could explain why Russian forces are not using the Mohajer-6 as frequently as
the Shahed-136. However, Shahed-136 does have some shortcomings as well.
“It [Shahed-136] is very difficult to detect, but if detected (means to detect
it are now being developed), it is easy to shoot down because of its slow speed.
Another shortcoming is the dependence on satellite navigation, which can be blocked,
causing the Shahad-136 to lose its way,” Rubin said.
Apart from that, the Shahed-136 also makes a recognizable noise from a few kilometers away.
Ukrainian soldiers have described the sound of the
drone’s engine to those found on a motorbike or a lawnmower.
Ukrainian forces are using a mix of Soviet-era equipment and modern
systems supplied by Western nations to counter the threat of Iranian-made drones.
Maj. Gen. Borys Kremenetsky,
the defense attache at the Ukrainian Embassy in the US,
said that the 9K33 Osa (NATO reporting name:
SA-8) missile launchers and self-propelled Shilka
anti-aircraft guns are very effective against the Iranian-made drones.
Additionally, Kremenetsky noted that the German-made Gepard air
defense tanks also are being used to great effect
to engage the suicide drones before they can inflict damage on the ground.
As discussed earlier by EurAsian Times,
Iran has been a revolutionary in the UAV industry for many years. The country assumes
a more prominent role as an emerging drone superpower in the Middle East.
Iran has many UAVs ranging from small, light short-range systems to medium to heavy unmanned
aerial vehicles (UAVs) for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR).
Iranian armed forces are known to operate more armed drones than many other nations
that have twice their defense budget, and that too under crippling western sanctions.
Based on various media reports and evidence from Ukraine, Russia appears
to have received two types of drones from Iran, the Mohajer-6 and Shahed-series,
which could be used to conduct strikes, electronic warfare, and targeting.
While Iran
has several UAVs in its inventory, the Mohajer-6,
which has reportedly been delivered to Russia, is one of Iran’s top-of-the-line combat drones.
The latest in the Mohajer series of drones, the Mohajer-6, can fly up to 18,000 feet in the air,
which exceeds the range of many short-range air defense systems in terms of altitude.
The drone has a maximum range of around 200 kilometers with 12-hour endurance.
According to the US Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) website,
the Mohajer-6 is an Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) UAV
capable of carrying a multispectral surveillance payload and up to two precision-guided munitions.
The drone’s armament consists of two hardpoints, one under each wing,
designed to carry one Qaem TV/IR glide bomb or one Almas missile.
Per some unconfirmed reports, there are also variants of the Mohajer-6 having
four hardpoints, two under each wing, capable of carrying the same munitions.