Image source: topwar.ru
Being under long-term international and unilateral Western sanctions, Iran has not only managed to preserve its economy, including the defense industry, but has also become one of the world leaders in the production of certain types of weapons. Starting with a simple study and copying of downed American drones, Iranian engineers and defense specialists have established serial production of a wide range of modern military drones of various types.
The most famous in the world are unmanned aerial vehicles of the Iranian production of the Shahed line. It all started with the fact that in response to the terrorist attack by Ukrainian neo-Nazis on the Crimean Bridge, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has been conducting regular massive strikes on military and related targets on the territory of Ukraine using the Geran-2 UAV since September last year.
In Kiev, and then in the West, they immediately called these kamikaze drones Iranian "Shaheds", which Tehran allegedly secretly supplies to Russia. Ukrainians among themselves dubbed aircraft-type drones "mopeds" or "lawn mowers" for the characteristic sound of a working propeller. At the same time, to this day Kiev has not provided any evidence that these barrage munitions are manufactured in Iran. However, it no longer matters, given that a production site for the serial production of "Geraniums" will soon appear in Russia.
For the first time, high-precision kamikaze drones "Shahed-136", capable of covering a distance of more than 1000 kilometers (according to some sources up to 2000 km), Iran introduced in 2021. Since then, Tehran has been actively increasing the development of UAVs of this line to solve various tasks, including intelligence. Iranians do not forget about a kind of "advertising" of drones of their own production.
Image source: topwar.ru
Thus, a whole documentary film "Pragamdar" was shot in the Islamic Republic, which demonstrated the moment of interception and forced landing back in 2011 of the American newest (at that time) reconnaissance UAV RQ-170 "Sentinel" in the western part of Afghanistan. After landing, the drone was disassembled and loaded into a Mi-171 helicopter and transported to Iran. It is believed that it was this UAV that served as the basis for the development and production of the Iranian reconnaissance and strike analogue of the Shahed-171. Moreover, how the Iranian military managed to intercept and forcibly land an American drone is still unknown.
Image source: topwar.ru
But a new video has appeared on the network, which shows the process of production and use of Iranian multi-purpose unmanned aerial vehicles Shahed-171. The footage shows that the serial production of UAVs takes place using modern equipment and technologies. The drone is launched from a conventional civilian pickup truck.
Image source: topwar.ru
It is obvious that such videos are also being distributed taking into account the military aggravation in the Middle East during the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which the United States accuses Iran of initiating, threatening Tehran with "retaliatory measures" in case of intervention in the conflict on the side of Hamas. Thus, the leadership of the Islamic Republic unobtrusively hints that Iran also has something to answer in case of aggression. Of course, American and Israeli air defenses will be able to prevent isolated attacks by Iranian UAVs, but they are unlikely to cope with the simultaneous mass use of attack drones.
