South Front
Click to see full-size image. Source: the Tasnim News Agency.
On June 11, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had successfully tested a new tactical attack drone.
The quadcopter was designed, developed, and produced as a part of a project by the Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization of the IRGC codenamed “Arbaeen”.
The IRGC said that the drone is typically armed with a single bomb weighing seven kilograms, or ten smaller munitions. The drone can also be used to deliver cargo, like medical supplies, during special military operations.
According to a brochure distributed by the IRGC, the Arbaeen has a top speed of 45 kilometers per hour, an operational altitude of 400 meters, an operational range of ten kilometers and an endurance of 30-60 minutes depending on the mission profile.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency speculated that Arbaeen drones will be used against terrorist groups in Iran’s rough northwestern and southeastern borders. However, it is also possible that the IRGC will supply drones of this type to its allies in the Middle East, like the Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Popular Mobilization Units in Iraq.
Despite facing sabotage attempts by the Israel intelligence as well as sanctions by the United States and the European Union, Iran managed to significantly expand its drone program in the last few years. Tehran insists that its drone program is purely defensive and of a deterrent nature.
