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New pictures by @Reuters from US report to @UN Security Council on the UAV used for Aramco attack in Abqaiq. Shows its engine & vertical gyro compared to the ones from Iranian Shahed-123 UAV and a far picture of that delta wing UAV in an IRGC exhibition.
@Reuters @UN @fab_hinz @AlexLuck9 @Aviation_Intel @TheDEWLine 1. Based on all the #OSINT analyses done on Aramco Abqaiq attack UAV so far and US government data, I guess the Iranians obtained the ASN-301 Chinese UAV (export version of the Chinese copy of the Israeli Harpy UAV) & copied it with their own equipment. I will show why #Thread.
2. ASN-301 has a wing span of 2.2 m close to the UAV shown by @modgovksa. Picture analyzed by @SnakeDocTop.
3. The engine shown by the US is the Serat-01 Iranian engine (copy of Chinese MDR208 Single rotor Wankel-type spark ignition engine) with power of 35 hp close to ASN-301 engine (38 hp).
4. ASN-301 is launched in trucks having 6 or 9 canisters which is consistent with 18 UAVs shot to Abqaiq.
5. This thread shows a dark spot and tire marks appearing near Omidiyeh Air Base, Iran between Sept 13th and 15th. The burn scar radius points going towards NNE i.e. launch toward SSW (toward Abqaiq). Consistent with launch of ASN-301 type UAV from trucks.
6. There remains one problem. ASN-301 is a downgraded copy of Harpy with 280 km range. However, considering they didn't need much of 32 kg warhead and anti-radiation seeker for attack on an oil facility, it was easy to replace those with additional fuel thus increasing its range.
7. Serat-01 has a fuel consumption of 0.42 kg/hr. Replacing just the 32 kg warhead with fuel will increase the range enough to reach maximum of 900 km claimed by the US which easily helps them reach Abqaiq from Omidiyeh (direct~540 km, ~900 from Kuwait).
8. It's finally worth mentioning that use of Chinese UAVs has become normal in Iranian armed forces. Just recently #NEDAJA claimed design and build of a UAV which was very close to the Griflion M8 by Chinese MMCAV and Tiger Shark by Chinese Sparkle Tech.
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