Crude and slow, the deadly Iranian drone Shahed-136

It is crude, it is slow and perhaps for this reason it is deadly. It’s theDrone Shahed-136rose to the honors of war thanks tomassive use sul Ukrainian theaterby theRussian armybut above all the flagship of the autarkicIranian war industry. I guardsthey showed tunnels full of them in a video that went viral and to show off theoffensive ability della Islamic Republic.

Produced byIran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company(company subject toUS sanctions), lo Shahed-136it’s a small oneremotely piloted aerial vehiclewhich, usually in formations of two, explodes on impact with the target and is therefore calleddrone “kamikaze”. 3.5 meters long, it has a wingspan of 2.5 meters and amaximum speed of 185 kilometers per hour. According to theBritish Ministry of Defence ha una range of 2,500 kilometers. The Shahed has a delta-shaped fuselage, which can carry onewarhead of 36 kilograms. Fly mainly tolow altitudeand is rarely detectable byradar.

It takes off on a structure that allows the sequential deployment of up to five aircraft. The launch is of typerocket assistedwhich is replaced byconventional engineonce the drone has reached the pre-established altitude. Noisy, cheap, suitable for amassive use con burst launchesi droni Shahed-136they are competing with theBayraktar TB2provided byTürkiye all’Ukrainefaster and more sophisticated, decisive in the first days of the clashes.

Attack limits and capabilities

Secondo Justin Bronk, senior fellow del think tank britannico Royal United Services Institute, “lo Shahed-136offers a relatively wayeconomicto strikelong range attacks su fixed objectives. Shahed’s navigation and accuracy are based oncommercial GPS systems e la sua load capacity ne limita le attack ability. It also lacks theability to hit moving targets e ha minimal defense mechanisms contro i anti-UAV systems.

I droni Shahed-136they officially entered service inIran nel 2021but according to various sources they were already operational in2020 nello Yemen.