Russia’s novel use of Iranian drones in Ukraine serves as classroom for Western militaries

The Mohajer-6 drone shown by Ukraine to CNN are said to have the same Austrian engines used by US Predator and Israeli Heron drones.


Regardless of whether this is true or not regarding the Mohajer-6, most of Iran's other drones, including the Shahed-136, use Iranian engines such as the one below used by Shahed-136.
https://www.uskowioniran.com/2014/11/takeaways-from-iranian-national.html

 

The primary jet engine produced by Iran is the Owj, used in both the Kowsar fighter and some of Iran's jet powered drones. The engine is regarded by US sources as a reversed engineered exact copy of General Electric's J-85.

Now, if they find this engine in some drone, will it be called a J85 or Owj?
Another Iranian engine for UAS and aircraft is the Jahesh-700

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org...flaunts-new-missile-and-jet-engine-technology

 

And for those who need to see the production lines for these engines:

 

These were the specifications of the Mohajer-6 drone. The engine of this particular drone is described as the Austrian Rotax 912 by "Islamic World News" so I guess the CNN report isn't much of a revelation.
https://english.iswnews.com/24793/military-knowledge-mohajer-6-reconnaissance-combat-drone/

 

When they are divided its sanctions when united its more like Saddam scenario, tension builds up, years go by and a then a Cowboy gets in office...

 

And Pelosi supported the Nuclear Agreement with Iran which gave them back their billions of dollars and started removing sanctions, which gave them money to make weapons. Just think how much more money Iran would have now if Trump hadn't ended the agreement with them.

 

those 2cycle engine are chinese mopod engine in early 2000, which is also driven from german 2cycle engine. also alot its part are commercially available, you can purchase it from aliexpress.

 

1. The MD-550 engine is a 4-cylinder engine, manufactured by an Iranian company (MADO -- hence MD prefix).
2. The MD-550 engine was indeed available for commercial purchase as a UAV engine from the Iranian company through Chinese resellers, including the website aliexpress hyperlinked here.
3. The other Iranian made UAV engines (Owj - GE J85 reversed engineered jet engine and the turbo-jet engine Jahesh-700) are much more powerful engines and not commercially available.

The smack about Chinese "moped engines" by some doesn't change anything about the capabilities of drones which have already wrecked much of Ukraine's infrastructure. In fact, some the same sites contributing to such smack and trolling are now covering the issue differently because the Israeli president is in Washington using (easily available open source evidence) to establish where these drone components are made, now that they have an interest to prove the opposite of what they had been saying before.

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-720641

 

I think they are being opportunistic, and using this battlefield to test their swarm capability. And Russia is also curious because when the WW3 show kicks off, Iran's job is to ensure the West's Gulf states oil supply is harassed into total seize up.

Whether a mistake, I can't say because I'm American, and biased, as I just watched Iran hand it to my politicians throughout the Iraq War, with nary and outcry from my fellow citizens about this rogue nation killing their brothers and sisters, UNTIL Trump drone strikes their battlefield commander, and suddenly there is a huge outcry for this man that murdered their fellow citizens for 2 decades.

 

If General Soleimani was killed by the US during America's engagements against Iraqi forces fighting the US occupation say between 2004-2010, you could justify it from an American perspective. But the assassination of General Soleimani in 2020, while lured under false pretenses to Iraq to embark on a diplomatic mission and traveling there for that purpose, was a cowardly, criminal, act. Whether you realize it or not, General Soleimani was the actual architect for the defeat of ISIS forces, especially in Iraq (which at one point was near total collapse before Iran stepped in) but also Syria as well. And Iran's assistance to Iraqi shia militia fighting American occupation was a billion times more justified than say US/NATO assistance to Ukraine right now.

 

In the meantime, while claiming to have downed more than 270 Iranian-made drones just a few days ago (total propaganda bs*), today Zelensky is accusing Russia of carrying out such drone strikes using dozens of such drones while picturing himself with a solitary Geran 2/Shahed-136 shut down.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63421603

*I'll post a detailed analysis to show the notion that Ukraine has even a 60% (much less up to 90%) success rate shooting down these drones is total propaganda and completely false.

 

I had that exact same thought too, but one thing to consider is that Iran started a program of building these drones after downing and capturing a couple of American drones several years ago, and then copying the technology.

 

Iran's combat drone program dates all the way back to the1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. It was already producing decent enough drones before its program was boosted taking control of the RQ-170 and several other US and Israeli drones. Iran's program did benefit from what it learned through those incidents, but lets not overstate their importance either. A nation without an already sophisticated drone program can't turn around and reverse engineer and manufacture some of America's most prized UAS in such a short time (2-3 years) as Iran was able to do. Nor would it be able to hack those systems again and again the way Iran has been able to since that incident.



Iran's copy of RQ170 shown in 2014 (above), also shown in flight that same year (below)

 

The influence of the RQ170 is clearly noticeable in the fleet of Shahed-191 strike drones Iran has been producing, even though the Shahed 191 (unlike the RQ170 which is used for recon only) is equipped with 4 missiles and is only 60% of the size of the Sentinel.

While I have not seen any clear evidence to back up this allegation, the US government (probably relying on satellite imagery showing a Russian delegation being shown the Shahed 191) has alleged that some of the drones sold to Russia by Iran are Shahed 191 drones.

 

People seem to marvel how puny Ukraine seems to kick Russia's butt all over, saying that they aint all that. But they forget that the west pumped in billions and billions of equipment into that war. There is also a massive group of "volunteers" there fighting for the cause. Those volunteers are actually just freaking mercenaries. We are kidding ourselves way to much on all these play of words and leaving out the obvious.

Last time I checked, the US fled out Afghanistan because they could not control a bunch of goatherders.
Those goatherders weren't backed up with billions of aid or mercs.

And so for your idea that the US made something unhackable.... because it's so much sophisticated.
That sounds like you're a person who thought the Russian couldn't shoot down a U2 plane.
And oohhh snap, they did.

 

Not sure how how you got that idea, since I referred to several cases when Iran did hack American drones.

 

The following pics from Iran's electronic warfare exercises a couple of days ago.

Iran’s Electronic Warfare System with a 400 km range-Tasnim News Agency

 

lol even a Türkish drone ? Türkish drones are the best in the World right now, drones from other countries have very primitive technology when compared to. If they were capable, they would have made a move to counter Türkish drones in Armenia, Syria, Libya, Mediterranean, Aegean, Ethiopia and many other parts of the World where Turkish drones are actively used. I guess it was only China who deigned to do so in Libya and took its lesson. Türkish drones took the history of World warfare to a whole new level. The destruction of approximately 20-30% of the Assad army in Syria within a few hours had a great impact in the World (After the Türkish soldiers in the ceasefire area were shot by planes despite the agreement). Now all orders are full and many countries want Türkish drones. The important thing here is not the drones but the concept of war in which these drones are involved. The UK is pursuing this concept and offers many things to have it, in return offers rolls royce jet engines for 6th generation Turkish fighter jet project. Türkiye does not accept any offers. And you should know that Türkiye is just getting started, what you see is 1 out of 100.

 

Turkiye is definitely one of the top drone powers in the world and its drones have been quite effective in the wars you mentioned. (In the Ukraine war, however, reports suggest that after their initial success, the Russians learned to effectively handle them).

In terms of technical sophistication of their drones, Turkiye (and Israel) would be expected to have an edge over Iran because unlike Iran (which is under strict sanctions), they can buy whatever they need from outside or use foreign subcontractors to help develop the military equipment they manufacture. But in their actual specifications, the Bayraktar TB2 is actually similar to the Mohajer-6.
https://www.newsweek.com/ukraines-bayraktar-compared-russias-new-iran-supplied-drones-1737735

That said, because Iran had a couple of decades head-start developing its combat drone industry, it has a larger inventory of combat drones compared to Turkiye -- with far greater variety than the 3-4 models Turkiye has just recently begun testing and producing besides the Bayraktar drones. Overtime, though, the comparative advantages would appear to favor Turkiye, which is fast developing its military industries and producing (sometimes jointly with other countries) some top of the line combat drones, helicopters, naval vessels etc.
p.s.
Besides the different "kamikaze" type drones Iran produces, including the Shahed-136 that has gained attention in the Ukraine war or the even more capable Arash-2, a sample of the other more conventional drones by Iran is shown in the poster below.

 

The thing is though - we dealt with Sadaam. He was caught and hanged.

Charges -
violation of civil rights
use of WMD's for mass murder
development of nuclear and biological technology for 'dual use'
invasion of Iran
invasion of Kuwait
attacks on Israel

 

The Shahed-149 "Gaza Drone" is arguably Iran's most advanced conventional combat drone.

 

It is not surprising that the name Gaza appears on weapons.
The Palestinians in Gaza would love to recieve & shoot down some drones on Israel.
Gaza - The Palestinian Arab city of evil and violence.

 

These aren't meant for export. Iran has only a handful of the Shahed-149 "Gaza" drones. Besides, they aren't going to be useful for non-state actors like Hamas et al given their range (way beyond what Hamas needs), price tag (expensive), and sophistication...

 

What Hamas needs ?

 

The Kaman-22 is another model among Iran's most sophisticated UAVs.

The "Aviationist" calls it a Rip Off of America's MQ-9 Reaper

The Kaman-22 compared to the MQ-9 Reaper. (Composite image made by The Aviationist on Twitter and USAF photos)