Image source: topwar.ru
Iran has for many years been implementing a program of large-scale equipping of troops with drones, the fleet of which is steadily growing. In May of this year, the military demonstrated one of its underground bases with rows of locally produced attack UAVs, such as Fotros, Karrar, Mohajer-6, Kaman-12, Kaman-22.
Significant progress in the development of national unmanned aviation has been achieved due to China's technological assistance and long-term investments in its own developments. For example, the demonstrated Fotros strike drone has been created for a decade. It is armed with two Heydar-1 missiles, the roots of which go back to the Chinese PKR, delivered to Iran in the late 1980s.
- believe in the publication 21AAR.
Against this background, there are officially unconfirmed reports about the intention of the Russian command to purchase hundreds of Iranian UAVs for their active use on the Ukrainian front. Some observers believe that the mass use of drones will allow to uncover and destroy the remnants of the air defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and establish complete air supremacy; others believe that army combat formations need UAVs in the first place to inflict critical damage to enemy ground forces, who are mainly entrenched in fortified areas.
In both cases, we are talking about the supply of a mass of drones to the units. It takes time to deploy their production on their own, and the need for them is already felt now. The mass purchase of Iranian devices could be a temporary solution, especially since the Russian Defense Ministry has already resorted to a similar scheme by purchasing several dozen IAI Searcher II UAVs in Israel and gradually creating an "Outpost" on its basis.
A large training base in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will allow in a short time to prepare calculations of new UAVs, including with the participation of Iranian specialists, if necessary, and in a short time to saturate the units with drones. With the deployment of mass deliveries of devices of their own production, the military staff will already be staffed and ready to use new equipment at the front.
