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Shahed-136 really shouldn’t be classified as a “loitering” munition though. It’s really just a super low-cost, slow moving, low-flying, low cost, small RCS, cruise missile for all intents and purposes.

Next generation S-136 variants will sport better capabilities as implied by various IRGC officials. It’s an evolving platform.

Also, i myself am quite skeptical about the rumors that China (of all countries) wants to buy Iranian drones. Makes no sense practically speaking. They have a much larger domestic industrial base that can easily churn out ‘similar’ drones without needing the Iranian designed one.

As with the “Su35 is coming soon” news: this China buying Shahed-136 nonsense will most likely turn out to be hogwash.
I guess a better term would be suicide drones, which both are. One hovers around until it finds its target, and the other is preprogrammed to go directly to a certain target. Either way, they fulfill the same role.
 
I would like to remind about this 15000 drones and China thing, this was never said by any government officials, but based on "anonyous sources in Iran government" from some anti-IR outlets,
false.
It was stated by an important official from intelligence ministry, initially published by Mashreghnews and then was repeated by almost all Iranian news agencies. Intelligence ministry doesn't stay quiet about false quotes from their side.

Recently we heard it from IRGC guy who was explaining the products in IRGC museum with a little more details too.
 
Never said that, I said this particular drone is similar in its role.

Then why are you posting it? I asked you for an example of a chinese UAV better than Shahed-136 for a similar price like you claimed and you chose to mention that drone. I did not ask you to post any Chinese loitering UAV you could find on google. Are you confused?


If you think range is the only factor in making better drones, then you're a fool.

Range allows you to compare drones in similar classes, like we would do with ballistic missiles. If this fact is going over your head then perhaps these discussion are way too much for you.


This isn't a debate club, you can easily look for it yourself.

It is a defence forum where people come for defence related discussion, you made a claim and are unable to back it up and instead are trying to escape via "google it" response. Google was not the one who made the claim, you did.

Iran didn't invent loitering munitions, despite what some members here claim. They've been around for a long time.

Who said Iran invented them? Seems to me you're resorting to strawman arguments.

Lets try this again.

You claimed the Chinese have better drones than Shahed for similar price and I asked you for 1 single example. So far you have done nothing but attempt to deflect.

Next time, don't make a statement without having prior evidence for the claim. You don't make a claim and then go around hoping there is evidence for it. This is just embarassing.

false.
It was stated by an important official from intelligence ministry, initially published by Mashreghnews and then was repeated by almost all Iranian news agencies. Intelligence ministry doesn't stay quiet about false quotes from their side.

Recently we heard it from IRGC guy who was explaining the products in IRGC museum with a little more details too.

Exactly. I am not sure why people are acting surprised. The Chinese have on multiple occasions in the past purchased systems from the likes of Russia when they already have very similar product. There can be various reasons why the Chinese want to get their hands of the Shahed-136. The most obvious one is they do not have anything with that level of capability.

Moreover, a battle tested system will always be a more attractive to customers than one which is not. This is why as soon as a system shows to be effective in a conflict buyers start lining up for it. How something works in practice is much more important than how it performs on paper.
 
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Then why are you posting it? I asked you for an example of a chinese UAV better than Shahed-136 for a similar price like you claimed and you chose to mention that drone. I did not ask you to post any Chinese loitering UAV you could find on google. Are you confused?




Range allows you to compare drones in similar classes, like we would do with ballistic missiles. If this fact is going over your head then perhaps these discussion are way too much for you.




It is a defence forum where people come for defence related discussion, you made a claim and are unable to back it up and instead are trying to escape via "google it" response. Google was not the one who made the claim, you did.



Who said Iran invented them? Seems to me you're resorting to strawman arguments.

Lets try this again.

You claimed the Chinese have better drones than Shahed for similar price and I asked you for 1 single example. So far you have done nothing but attempt to deflect.

Next time, don't make a statement without having prior evidence for the claim. You don't make a claim and then go around hoping there is evidence for it. This is just embarassing.



Exactly. I am not sure why people are acting surprised. The Chinese have on multiple occasions in the past purchased systems from the likes of Russia when they already have very similar product. There can be various reasons why the Chinese want to get their hands of the Shahed-136. The most obvious one is they do not have anything with that level of capability.

Moreover, a battle tested system will always be a more attractive to customers than one which is not. This is why as soon as a system shows to be effective in a conflict buyers start lining up for it. How something works in practice is much more important than how it performs on paper.

It’s just a weird story to run with though. Here we have China who developed the J20, Type-055 Destroyer, DF-21BM and a whole slew of drones and cruise missiles on their own: yet they want to buy Shaheds from Iran, 15,000 nonetheless?

Just doesn’t make much practical sense for them to do it imo.

S-136 is capable, battle tested and proven to work in theatre: true enough. Maybe there could be some credence to the notion that they want to acquire it but I’m skeptical at best.
 
I have said it before and say it again:

If this story is indeed true: This would be a pure business deal..China buys battle proven drone from Iran and do a resale (or re-brand) of the drone to the customers that want "shahed" drone but can not buy it directly from Iran due to US sanctions....

Iran makes money, China makes money and customers get what they want..and US gets a middle finger 👆

Marketing products in the age of sanctions!!!:p:
 
It’s just a weird story to run with though. Here we have China who developed the J20, Type-055 Destroyer, DF-21BM and a whole slew of drones and cruise missiles on their own: yet they want to buy Shaheds from Iran, 15,000 nonetheless?

Just doesn’t make much practical sense for them to do it imo.

S-136 is capable, battle tested and proven to work in theatre: true enough. Maybe there could be some credence to the notion that they want to acquire it but I’m skeptical at best.

I am not surprised even slightly with this new reality, which is Iran has now become an exporter of military hardware to even great military powers. This was inevitable. I can understand why there are people who are not transitioning into accepting this reality as smoothly, but soon enough it'll be a normality for you.

China like every other nation also imports when it needs to. There are many reasons why it would import Iranian drones. The most obvious one is what I mentioned earlier: A nation which is arguably even more advanced than China in most military sectors in the form of Russia has imported Iranian hardware and putting them to very good use. China like everyone else would want to get its hand on battle tested technology. People should remember Shahed-136 is being used in an environment where the west is pouring many of its technology into. China would frankly be fools if they did not want to get their hands on this UAV.

China does not have any UAV which has capabilities on par with Shahed-136. Furthermore, their production capability while commendable, is not infinite. They may have already more or less maxed out their production line producing other UAVs. Thus, using the industrial capability of another nation to get their hands on a battle tested UAV is not something that should surprise you but rather the exact opposite.
 
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I'm very skeptical about China purchasing drones from Iran.

China purchased the Harpy from the Israelis in the 1990s. China unveiled its own variant in 2017, the ASN-301 / JWS-01. It's dimensions and stats are extremely similar to the Shahed-131

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China also has a hypersonic, maneuverable, stealth drone, the WZ-8. Allegedly Iran is going to turn the Qaher-313 into a maneuverable drone in the near future.

WZ-8_at_Airshow_China_Zhuhai_2022.jpg

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Which UAV does China make which is a better drone for similar price? The UAV in question from the Iranian side is of course the Shahed-136.
 
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The Chinese made ASN-301 / JWS-01 is most similar to the Shahed-136. In terms of its dimensions it's actually more similar to the Shahed-131.

JWS01a.jpg


Never said that, I said this particular drone is similar in its role.

If you think range is the only factor in making better drones, then you're a fool.

This isn't a debate club, you can easily look for it yourself.

Iran didn't invent loitering munitions, despite what some members here claim. They've been around for a long time.

They were very famously used during the Azerbaijan-Armenia war when Azeri troops used them to hunt down Armenian systems and even fox-holes.
 
Well it can loiter, although in practical terms it's rarely used in that capacity. In terms of the SU-35, we will have to wait and see. Right now Russia likely needs the SU-35s more than they need the revenue. This might be a similar situation to that satellite that Russia launched for Iran recently. Iran purchased the satellite & it's meant for Iran, but from what I've read, Iran & Russia are both utilizing it simultaneously, with Russia using it to aid them in the Ukraine conflict.

Shahed-136 really shouldn’t be classified as a “loitering” munition though. It’s really just a super low-cost, slow moving, low-flying, small RCS, cruise missile for all intents and purposes.

Next generation S-136 variants will sport better capabilities as implied by various IRGC officials. It’s an evolving platform.

Also, i myself am quite skeptical about the rumors that China (of all countries) wants to buy Iranian drones. Makes no sense practically speaking. They have a much larger domestic industrial base that can easily churn out ‘similar’ drones without needing the Iranian designed one.

As with the “Su35 is coming soon” news: this China buying Shahed-136 nonsense will most likely turn out to be hogwash.
 
Well it can loiter, although in practical terms it's rarely used in that capacity. In terms of the SU-35, we will have to wait and see. Right now Russia likely needs the SU-35s more than they need the revenue. This might be a similar situation to that satellite that Russia launched for Iran recently. Iran purchased the satellite & it's meant for Iran, but from what I've read, Iran & Russia are both utilizing it simultaneously, with Russia using it to aid them in the Ukraine conflict.
Why do you hate Iran and everything about Iran? Just trying to be a friend.🤓
 

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