Iranian UAVs | News and Discussions

[thesaint]

Iranian Jet-Powered Drone Armed with New Air-Based Missile - Politics news - Tasnim News Agency

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian experts have adapted a homegrown surface-to-air missile for the ‘Karrar’ jet-powered drone, a top commander said.

www.tasnimnews.com

 

[Sineva]

What do you suppose its a2a range would be?

In tasnimnews it quotes the Commander of the Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard as saying that on Sunday that his forces have managed to furnish the Karrar drone with a heat-seeking air-to-air missile with a range of 8 kilometers.

 

[HGV]

In tasnimnews it quotes the Commander of the Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard as saying that on Sunday that his forces have managed to furnish the Karrar drone with a heat-seeking air-to-air missile with a range of 8 kilometers.

I am not really sure what the purpose of this is, Iran already has A2A missiles for drones, but why Karrar?

Drones are much slower than jets (especially Iranian drones), so they are less able to reach a critical zone for interception as fast as a jet, with various other disadvantages

I don't understand the rationale here

 

[Sineva]

I am not really sure what the purpose of this is, Iran already has A2A missiles for drones, but why Karrar?

Drones are much slower than jets (especially Iranian drones), so they are less able to reach a critical zone for interception as fast as a jet, with various other disadvantages

I don't understand the rationale here

I suspect that this [karar/majid] combo is for taking down things like prop powered drones,which would be a lot slower than a jet powered drone like the karrar,also thngs like helos and prop powered manned aircraft would also have to keep an eye open for these as well.
I think that we`ll be seeing increasing numbers of these same types of anti-air drones in the future.

 

[Shawnee]

First A2A missile on UAV ever was on Sarir UAV in 2013.
I wonder what happened to Sarir project

I am not really sure what the purpose of this is, Iran already has A2A missiles for drones, but why Karrar?

Drones are much slower than jets (especially Iranian drones), so they are less able to reach a critical zone for interception as fast as a jet, with various other disadvantages

I don't understand the rationale here

1. Interception of low speed birds, tankers, recon planes and UAVs.

2. Swarm to supersonic jets from multiple different directions

 

[HGV]

1. Interception of low speed birds, tankers, recon planes and UAVs.

2. Swarm to supersonic jets from multiple different directions

8km range is tiny, Karrar will have to get very close to those targets first and will be very vulnerable on that journey (more vulnerable than a SAM alone)

Are you envisaging a QRA force of Majid-equipped Karrars?

 

[Ich]

8km range is tiny, Karrar will have to get very close to those targets first and will be very vulnerable on that journey (more vulnerable than a SAM alone)

It is good against glide bombs in direction Syria what where released over Lebanon by Israel

 

[LegionnairE]

Oh yeas, turkish high techs, so high, it's way up in the sky above skies, so out of reach.

 

[WudangMaster]

 

[sahureka2]

I post the news so that it can be evaluated and possibly confirmed or refuted.
on Russian sites,(article in Russian but well understandable using an automatic translator) https://zavtra.ru/events/shojgu_ras...samolyota_vsu_za_5_dnej_chto_eto_za_kompleksi
in articles where they discuss the shooting down of 24 Ukrainian aircraft in 5 days (19 October two planes and two helicopters, on 20 October ten MiG-29s, two Su-25s, two Mi-8 helicopters, on 21 October - four planes and three helicopters, October 22 - three MiG-29s and one Su-25, October 24 - two MiG-29s and one L-39.
In addition to listing the possible Russian missile systems that enabled this, they also hypothesized:
<< Some military experts write about Iranian UAVs. Yuri Kotenok: “ Regarding the figure announced by the Russian Ministry of Defense of 24 Ukrainian aircraft destroyed in 5 days, there is reason to believe that Iran transferred to Russia Karrar (کرار) drones equipped with Majid (مجد) and Shahab-e-Saqeb missiles "(شهاب ثاقب). Iran tested drones of this type as interceptors carrying air-to-air missiles in early 2021. Furthermore, just a few days ago, Tehran announced the modernization of the Karrars and an increase in speed and flight range and maximum altitude. The previous values were 900 km/h, 1,000 km and 12 km, respectively. The range of the missiles themselves is from 500 m to 12 km. Andrey Dobrovolsky: " Information has appeared that the 'Iran has provided us with Karrar air defense drones with Majid and Shahab-e-Sakeb missiles. These are unmanned vehicles designed to operate in the front-line zone: stealthy patrol platforms with air-to-air "air" and "air-to-surface" missiles. The patrol roof ranges from 20 meters to 12 kilometers in height, the autonomy is up to 4 hours. The radius of destruction of the missiles carried by the "Carrar" goes from 500 meters to 12 kilometers, therefore 24 targets shot down in 5 days "The technical superiority is growing and this is good news".>>

 

[Stryker1982]

On paper yes, but the lack of pilot training and absence of modern munitions greatly retarded that big force to the point of just dropping glide bombs from behind the lines and returning to base If this is your operational capability it doesn't matter if you're flying Su-35 or F-5.

Russia doesn't have dedicated SEAD squadrons like we have and that was their greatest weakness from the first hours of this war. And Ukraine's method of attaching AGM-88 HARM to ancient Su-24s quite simply isn't good enough. It takes more than that.

And let's not ignore the elephant in the room. We're flying wooden biplanes in an age of all metal fighters. 5th gen fighters are a necessity. It's the same reason why Israeli air force is able to carry out strikes in Syria with impunity even in an airspace controlled by S-400 systems.

Russia has dedicated SEAD, not only in air but in space as well. Russia is among the top 5 in space-based ISR, any radar that is activated in Ukraine, they can see the emission and get a general approximate location. These areas can be targeted with anti-radiation missiles, but it's not as simple as that. It is very difficult to truly disable an IADS to have unrestricted access, while all-in-one mobile SAM systems exist in the country. Optics have gotten so good, an AD system can hide and scan the sky 10s of kilometers away, and prepare an ambush at any given time only activating its radar during the attack phase.

Ukraine already had a large AD force in the country before the invasion, SEAD/DEAD is going to be a years long operation not 1 month shock and awe as seen in Iraq. This is a fallacy that spread because of US performance, but no one remembers that in the 10 years before the invasion. The US was repeatedly striking Iraqi AD targets from 1991- 2003.

The US lost two F-117A's in Serbia as well. the second one only acknowledge recently, was damaged beyond repair but managed to return back to base. This was with 1960's AD in a very poor country.

Those S-400's as well are under Russian control, and they do not defend Syrian Airspace, they defend their own airbases. Israel even with its 5th gen aircraft do not dare enter Syria airspace, but instead launch long range missiles from the Mediterranean and in special cases Jordan.

Israelis are using airstrikes on targets they could easily hit with artillery. Why would you fly F16 sorties in gaza when you can get the job done with laser guided artillery shells and Heron UAVs? I don't know. Their methods make little sense but daddy USA pays the bill so it's alright I guess.

JDAMs are rather simple weapons and can be made cheaply, that's not the issue.


We mostly drop laser guided bombs on such easy targets, we don't even waste JDAMs on everything

Because a 155mm shell won't level a 7 story building. They use Jdams to target the underground foundations of these building to bring them down. They are trying to flatten the whole strip. They also do not have enough shells to flatten the strip either. Most shells are getting consumed in Ukraine, and this was ultimently my point. You will find that in a war that doesn't last 1 month, inventory will deplete very quickly, and if your equipment is very expensive to replace, chances are production time is long as well.

JDAMs atleast the ones that America makes are not cheap at all (20k for a single 500lb gravity bomb), and their stocks are not unlimited. If the superpower of the world has 23,000 JDAMs in stock, and the Israeli's are proudly announcing they are doing like 300 strikes every day. That's only 73 days of inventory + some production. Fact of the matter, is that non of the nato countries are fit to fight attrition warfare, and that's where the playing field will begin to turn. The key is to be durable and hardened enough to live during that difficult period. Which is what HZ and Hamas are prepared for including Iran.

A good example of this is the Saudi intervention in Yemen. They had 7 years of air superiority with all American fighters and apaches. They wanted to do shock and awe in first 3 weeks to dethrone the revolutionary movement. They survived, and Saudi capability on its own began to deteriorate.

 

[buntalanlucu]

Iran bring the term 'cost effectiveness in warfare' with their drones. they have drones from the cheap ones to the high tech ones. and iranian drones also combat proven as the russian industry copied their design and succesfully destroy UKR targets during the highly successful russian SMO

 

[LegionnairE]

Russia has dedicated SEAD, not only in air but in space as well.

They don't have dedicated squadrons for this. Turkish Air Force has 151. SEAD squadron based in 5. Air Base Merzifon. They are sepcialized in SEAD missions and this is all they train on.

151.Filo - Vikipedi

tr.wikipedia.org

Tell me which Russian squadron has this specialty

Because a 155mm shell won't level a 7 story building. They use Jdams to target the underground foundations of these building to bring them down.

You still don't need a JDAM, these are fire & forget munitions with very expensive electronics. Laser guided bombs will do the job nicely

Israeli air force is a bit wasteful as I said earlier

But then again, we produce all this stuff. Turkey produces an incredible array of munitions, too long to list here.

We have he NEB which is equivalent of the American Paveway II

So we have opfions for every situation and there's less waste.

 

[thesaint]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1717495286266806489

 

[yugocrosrb95]

In tasnimnews it quotes the Commander of the Iranian Army’s Air Defense Force Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard as saying that on Sunday that his forces have managed to furnish the Karrar drone with a heat-seeking air-to-air missile with a range of 8 kilometers.

8 kilometers is anemic and way they implemented it on Karrar is downright incompetence because they use surface to air missile in air to air role that is in tubular container.
Hence considerably more dead weight for both carrying and design of missile since it has folding fins, along reported warhead weight of 14 kilograms which neuters range.
Iran should have either mount two R-60 AAM's that have same range or single AIM-9 clone to double the range or more if possible.