Iran's New Unmanned Bomber Drone 'Karrar' Unveiled

[Pasban]

for the Iranian "drone" physically, it has far more in common with a one-shot cruise missile than it does with a drone that loiters, gathers intel, with a light attack capability

Nothing is known about it's flight plan. As for the 1,000km range, that is probably the maximum most where as it's real operational range is perhaps 500-600km only, which means that it is intended to hover around a designated area. As for intelligence gathering, that is not it's purpose. Iran has other UAVs for that, the Karar is meant to deploy ordnance only. Also, the fact that it has a jet power pack doesn't render it as been close to a cruise missile. Other nations have in the past embarked on numerous projects of jet-powered UAVs. At it's core basic, a cruise missile is a flying bomb, which the Karar apparently isn't, it's a bomber.

Take note of below of a very similar US design and concept from the Vietnam War period. The tail, intake and fuselage bear a close semblance to the AQM-91 jet-powered High altitude UAV. The two are fairly similar in design, the primary difference being in the intended role (the AQM-91 Firefly was purely for high-altitude reconnaissance), the proportions and most notably, the range-- 3,700 km maximum at 815 km/h.

This high-flying, unmanned photo reconnaissance aircraft is an early example of stealth technology. Developed in the late 1960s to fly into deep China, Compass Arrow was to cruise at nearly 15 miles altitude while taking photos showing ground details as small as one foot in size. After air-launching from a DC-130E Hercules aircraft, Compass Arrow navigated automatically, but it also could be flown manually by an operator in the launch aircraft.

To present a small radar image and avoid surface-to-air missiles, Compass Arrow's vertical surfaces are canted inward, and its body uses radar-absorbing materials. The engine is mounted on top to reduce its heat signature from below, and the aircraft also carries anti-radar electronics.

Compass Arrow was ready to deploy by late 1971, but friendlier U.S. relations with China made it unnecessary. The AQM-91A never became operational. However, lessons learned from its development contributed to later stealth fighters, bombers and unmanned aerial vehicles.

TECHNICAL NOTES:
Operational altitude: 78,000 ft.
Endurance: 4.5 hours
Range: 2,000 miles
Photography: Coverage of an area 1,720 miles long and 43 miles wide
Span: 48 ft.
Length: 34 ft.
Weight: 5,245 lbs.

Factsheets : Teledyne-Ryan AQM-91A Compass Arrow

Continuing...

Drones like the Predator need to loiter at slow speeds, which allow tight turns over a point on the earth. They need sensors. They need landing gear unless Iran wants to mess with parachutes, a real PITA and a recovery method which usually results in some damage.

The Predator UCAV has the advantage of being able to utilize SATCOM, which is unavailable to Iran and is a severe limiting factor. The two are not comparable and neither is the Karar meant to be a competitor to the Predator. As to the last bit, the retrieval of the Karar is done by a deployed parachute.

This thing has a high wing loading, a turbojet engine, and lacks (for now) any sort of sensor suite. So why not call it what it apparently is, a cruise missile?

Iranian media has quoted officials that the UCAV has a sensor suite as well as other instrumentation.

The only trouble with the last sentence is that it apparently isn't a cruise missile, unless of course there are aerial combat, multiple munitions carrying, and retrievable (non-disposable) cruise missiles, in which case they wouldn't be cruise missiles then.

It appears to be well-made, and it is definitely impressive. Cruise missiles have a huge advantage over ballistic missiles in cost, and in their ability to saturate air defenses preparatory to an attack by manned aircraft.

The US designed Attack and jet-powered multimission RPVs, namely the BGM-34A/B/C in the 70s. The BGM-34A, piloted by an operator watching a TV image transmitted from the drone's nose, successfully launched AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles and electro-optically guided glide bombs against simulated SAM sites. Paradoxically, almost 30 years later a firing of an AGM-114 Hellfire missile by an MQ-1L Predator UAV was much hyped as a breakthrough in armed UAV technology. The trouble is, "although the tests were considered successful, no funds were approved for follow-on orders for production vehicles. This was at least in part caused by the general view of some Air Force officials, who saw the RPVs as a "competition" to the conventional manned aircraft." Hence, the concept is promising indeed and has been shown to work but nothing can be said beyond that realistically as of now.

BGM-34B

 

[mughaljee]

Congratulation.

 

[Tajdar adil]

wow great but how can he made it.

 

[BATMAN]

Quite ingenious move i must say to get the basic job done in given resources.

without landing gear will it be landing in water with water skies unfolding from baseline or falling on the net?

I don't see any camera and not sure of controls and data link too.

 

[BATMAN]

Why the rudeness? we want democracy to the entire world, whats so bad about it?.....

Bad part is you go around the world and change regimes by all possible means, in your blind obsession with a governance system.

Is UK not a Kingdom?

 

[Pasban]

Quite ingenious move i must say to get the basic job done in given resources.

One really cannot comment on the operational effectiveness. It remains in theory alone. The design is indeed workable though. Refer to my earlier post concerning similar USAF and USN projects, especially the BGM drone series.

without landing gear will it be landing in water with water skies unfolding from baseline or falling on the net?

It lands primarily via parachute and is then retrieved. It's other method is through a deployed parachute again and then assisted by floats (for marine operations).

I don't see any camera and not sure of controls and data link too.

I am merely quoting from Iranian media reports. They have stated that it houses various sensors. As to how it's controlled or directed, no information has been released so it is really anyone's guess. SATCOM is not available to Iran and therefore radio-control (which has a host of operational limitations), like Iran's other drones, is probably the true answer.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

There is a vast difference between a recce/light attack drone, and a cruise missile, re-usable or not.

Drones designed to loiter and gather intel, or perhaps launch a missile like Predator, UMTAS (or equivalent), have the following general characteristics:

- Advanced sensor suite combined with secure datalink, allowing a flexible operation from a remote location

- Long duration. Lower speed. Sensors don't like mach .99; you pass over small, valuable targets without detecting them. Long duration usually means piston engines, but some extremely advanced small turbofans can do the job.

- Low wing loading. This allows tight orbits, quick turns, and increases fuel efficiency.

A cruise missile, on the other hand, is an autonomous beast. It is programmed prior to launch, and flies a low altitude, high-subsonic profile designed to evade air defenses. It does not datalink.

Everything I can see visually is that this is a form of cruise missile. It might be a re-usable cruise missile, but I think the best that can be expected is that it dumps a payload over a set of coordinates, then returns home. The utility of this is dubious, as you are probably not going to be able to target real-time, and at best, you'll have a munition with JDAM-like intelligence.

It's still cool. There's nothing wrong with cruise missiles. It has the potential to be a great weapon. But I don't think it is a drone in the sense that we think of them orbiting over the battlefield with a ground operator, selecting and blasting targets real-time.


i dont know, that is an assesment; based on pictures seen, and data provided

 

[Pasban]

There is a vast difference between a recce/light attack drone, and a cruise missile, re-usable or not.

This is what I was emphasizing.

Drones designed to loiter and gather intel, or perhaps launch a missile like Predator, UMTAS (or equivalent), have the following general characteristics:

- Advanced sensor suite combined with secure datalink, allowing a flexible operation from a remote location

- Long duration. Lower speed. Sensors don't like mach .99; you pass over small, valuable targets without detecting them. Long duration usually means piston engines, but some extremely advanced small turbofans can do the job.

- Low wing loading. This allows tight orbits, quick turns, and increases fuel efficiency.

As to the wing loading, the Karar has a low-wing loading. I for one don't understand how you understood it to be a high-wing loading aircraft whereas there is enough pictorial evidence to show otherwise.

As to the endurance (length of flight/ area of operations), that is dependent on a host of factors namely the specific mission of the drone. The same is true for speed. For instance, high-altitude reconnaissance drones often make use of high speed which combined with their height aids their survivability.

A cruise missile, on the other hand, is an autonomous beast. It is programmed prior to launch, and flies a low altitude, high-subsonic profile designed to evade air defenses. It does not datalink.

A cruise missile, at it's basic element, is a self-powered guided high-explosives container/bomb. Payloads are internally carried and cruise missiles are unable to dispense multiple munitions or carry external payloads which can be individually dispensed. As such, I don't see the Karar meeting the definition of a cruise missile.

Everything I can see visually is that this is a form of cruise missile.

I would disagree to that, though I am begininng to understand that your identification of it as a cruise missile is solely based on appearance and resemblance to cruise missile systems. This would let you gloss over a series of UAVs and label them as cruise missiles. Refer to the example of the BGM series UCAVs I provided in my earlier post to you above which utilizes the same principles as on the Karar. If you would wish, I could provide you numerous more examples of conical shaped, jet-powered UAVs and one more UCAV.

It might be a re-usable cruise missile, but I think the best that can be expected is that it dumps a payload over a set of coordinates, then returns home.

Here lies the contradiction in your statement. If it is able to be reused, then it obviously cannot be armed internally and must carry external armaments and furthermore it must carry navigational instruments to allow it to return. In that sense, rather than a cruise missile it becomes an unmanned multi-use aircraft, even if it be a crude one. This renders it outside the very definition of a cruise missile itself.

The utility of this is dubious, as you are probably not going to be able to target real-time, and at best, you'll have a munition with JDAM-like intelligence.

It isn't certain as to what the targeting methodology is going to be. Iranian media has reported it as having on-board cameras and flight instrumentation. This leads to the conclusion that it would be controlled much like other visually controlled Iranian UAVs, which means it is most likely to arrive fast at its target location, make circular rounds briefs and escape by means of speed. As such, I supposed it's operational area to be about 500-600km only of the 1,000km stated maximum range. Also very conveniently, what focused imagery there is, has left out all the possible mounts for such cameras. This isn't surprising. Though most Iranian UAVs are meant for real-time monitoring, the models displayed are purposely shown lacking such features, except the few which have been shown at exhibitions. A good example of this is the drone that monitored USN aircraft carrier briefly. The presented models contained no visible mountings and controlling antennas.

Most probably, whatever weapon is externally carried, it will have it's own guiding mechanism. Iran does manufacture guided bombs. Also, videos have shown it armed with two anti-shipping missiles as well suggesting a marine role. To add to this the media mentioned that it is able to land on floats as well after deploying it's parachute. The orientation is obvious.

It's still cool. There's nothing wrong with cruise missiles. It has the potential to be a great weapon.

The primary issue is that it has been shown to work and is credible in theory but no comment can be made on it's operational effectiveness. Like other elements of Iranian strategy, such as the use of heavily armed small high speed craft in narrow waters, it remains a possibility alone.

 

[TorontoNoctis]

Iranian definition of "cruise missile" is any rocket which can fly low to the ground and has a certain range. They have called many rockets cruise missiles in the past.

So it would stand to reason if they invented a real cruise missile like what this looks like, they would not call it cruise missile.

 

[nightcrawler]

are SAUDIs happy with this Iranian achievement

 

[Aspahbod]

A person who worked on Karrar in Iranian TV said that it can be controlled like all UAV's or have a system like autopilot. He said : We can tell it to call the base in a period of time from 0.5 seconds up to minutes. And because of that, It will attack the target even if the communications with base is lost. That's mostly because Iran can't use SATCOM (At least yet).
Anyway, this is the first Iranian UAV with a newert tolue (possibably tolue 5) engine. Which can be used on Noor AShMs to increase their range.

 

[500]

Please do read the entirety of my post. I did mention that Iranian UAVs do not utilize SATCOM (for obvious reasons) and that this is a severe limiting factor as concerning UAVs, whilst the range can be physically enhanced to very large ones but the key element remains command and control, ahead of target acquisition. As for the FLIR, I did mention I did not find any such systems on it myself, and indeed they were the first element I was trying to identify but I supposed that it being a mock-up, they were intentionally not displayed. Iran does mount locally-manufactured FLIR pods for it's helicopters already. I'm guessing to the likelihood of another variant. However, these are guesses alone. There are other sketchy details regarding this project which may become more apparent only after certain time. Iran itself has made no mention of it's guidance systems. Indeed, it is very likely that it will follow a set course alone.

So how u suppose to remote control that thingy without SATCOM? Thats basically reusable V1. However since it lacks TERCOM and cant fly at low altitudes chances to return, or even bomb something are very low.

 

[Pasban]

So how u suppose to remote control that thingy without SATCOM? Thats basically reusable V1. However since it lacks TERCOM and cant fly at low altitudes chances to return, or even bomb something are very low.

Guidance and control remain the key elements of a UAV apart from it's physical abilities. Whereas, physically a drone can be designed for very lengthy ranges, without adequate control mechanisms, the process reaches its death knell and cannot be processed further and reduces survivability and usefulness significantly. The fact that Iranian drones, lacking SATCOM, have to rely on radio control (usually from a mobile station), is a significant limiting factor. As such the Karar most probably relies on the same. Given that it's operational radius is most probably 600km at most (from the maximum 1,000 km stated range), this brings about some serious criticisms of it's actual effectiveness in a real scenario, especially against targets that are bolstered by air defenses.

To say that it is a a re-usable V-1 is a significant understatement of it's abilities for it to be reusable it would have to mount much navigational instrumentation and control measures to actually become re-usable, that is, to be able to return to base or secure airspace safely before being retrieved. This represents a significant technical advancement from the gyro-compass stabilization and control mounted on the V-1. The main consensus for the V-1 hype remains it's appearance only.

 

[Pasban]

Karrar - Iran's New Jet-Powered Recce and Attack Drone

Iran has this week unveiled a new type of turbojet-powered drone designated 'Karrar' (striker - in Farsi), described by Iranian officials as capable to perform long-range reconnaissance and attack missions. Iranian Defense Minister, Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi announced on Sunday that the country's first home-made long-range Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) named 'Karrar' has a flight-range of 1,000km. Karrar is described as capable of operating at long range, and in 'great operational depth', at high or low altitudes.

Another Karrar drone undergoing finishing before applying the Target-typical red paint. Derived from an aerial target platform, the Karrar offers quite a few advantages as a recce or attack platform. Photo: FARS News agency

According to Iranian reports, on reconnaissance missions the Karrar can record images flying over targets of interest and transmit them back to the ground control as it re-establishes communications. The drone can also carry weapons, two configurations were displayed – carrying a unitary bomb (what seemed to be a 500 lb weapon) on the centerline, or carrying two smaller weapons (assessed by their shape and size, these weapons could be the Kowsar (C-701) anti-ship missiles).

The origin? BQM-126A

While the origins of new drone could bear upon the U.S. original, the Iranian designers invested significant effort in modifying and shaping it to their demands. The podded turbojet was moved inside the fuselage, with the air intake emplaced in a dorsal fairing, feeding the turbojet through a curved duct, assisting in absorbing some of the radar reflections from the turbine surface. The dorsal intake position cleared the belly for the carriage of stores or weapons on the centerline. To enable aerial carriage, the dorsal fairing behind the air duct has been strengthened, providing attachments for aerial pylons, with ample space for avionics and support systems,while also accommodating the recovery parachute. The center fuselage and forward section provides space for payloads, flight control sensors and, possibly, an internally carried warhead. The swept wings are designed for high speed flight, at relatively high altitude, but videos released by the Iranians also indicate the Karrar is also capable of flying low-level flights.

For what missions is the Karrar designed for? The first question to be asked would be – whether it is an unmanned aerial vehicle (operated as a reusable asset) or is it a 'one way only' cruise missile? As it is based on a target drone, Karrar could perform both missions successfully and affordably. Unlike conventional UAVs, it is not designed to operate with real-time, man-in-the-loop, but most likely to fly a pre-programmed mission, however – with more advanced flight controls already available to the Iranians with their UAVs and anti-ship missiles, it could 'improvise' with evasive maneuvering to evade potential threats, typically being the characteristics of a cruise missile. The Iranians already gained access to cruise missile knowhow, with the acquisition of Kh55 missiles from the Ukraine. Karrar could be the first manifestation of what they have learned from the Russian Kh55 technology.

The Iranian jet powered drone Karrar launched by Rocket Assist Take-Off (RATO) booster, acceleratingh the vehicle from a stationary ground launcher. Karrar can also be launched from an aerial platform. Photos: FARS News by Vahid Reza Alael.

Target drones like the Karrar can be launched from the ground or from an airborne transport plane such as this U.S. Navy DC-130, carrying 1970 vintage Firebee aerial targets, supporting U.S. Navy exercises. Photo: U.S. Navy

Unlike other cruise missiles, Karrar seems to have the unique capability for carrying relatively heavy weapons slung under the wings, or on the centerline. However, it must be assumed that carrying such weapons should dramatically reduce its operational radius. Beyond deep recce missions, two offensive missions, that the drone might be used for, could be extended range anti-ship or missile-defense-suppression. The drone's range could be further extended by aerial delivery,using transport aircraft, such as the C-130 or P-3 or Il-76 launching Karrars from strengthened underwing pylons. Typically, a C-130 carries two aerial targets.

In a naval attack role, the Karrar equipped with two or four Kowsar missiles could extend the Iranian reach well beyond their coast, without being detected by maritime patrols. Similarly, the drone could be used as an anti-radar 'missile bus', or employ 'suicide attack' mode, in an attempt to blind the 'eyes' of ballistic-missile defense systems – systems such as the THAAD, Patriot PAC-3 that rely on early warning and fire control radars for their operation, being deployed in several Gulf states which are well within Karrar's combat radius. As the counter ABM mission employs radar homing missiles, the Karrar can be flown without active sensors, engaging fixed targets at known positions. To mask its approach the drone could employ some radar deception techniques to close-in for a quick shot - including mimicking and magnifying the radar signature of the drone to look like a commercial aircraft – such techniques are widely used with aerial targets, enabling a small target to simulate larger aircraft. According to Iranian sources the drone can carry up to four weapons on external stores. Another advantage of the autonomous operation is the communications silence maintained by the drone throughout its operation, minimizing early warning and detection by the defender's electronic surveillance.

Another question is – could such a platform be used for carrying a nuclear warhead? The commonly agreed threshold for nuclear capable missile delivery is the ability to carry at least 1,000 kg warhead. At its current configuration, Karrar does not seem to be able to lift this kind of payload – yet.


Karrar - Iran's New Jet-Powered Recce and Attack Drone

 

[U-571]

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