A thread on this: The #dronewars are increasing; why would Russia want Iranian drones? edition.cnn.com/2022/08/29/pol…
Russia supposedly sent a delegation to check out the drones recently. "Iran began showcasing the Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones, also known as UAVs or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, to Russia at Kashan Airfield" edition.cnn.com/2022/07/15/pol…
Israel's Defense Minister Gantz had mentioned this base last year; ynetnews.com/article/rkx2gb…
Iran has increased its drone abilities and improved some of its line of drones, such as the Mohajer 6. It has also exported drones to Venezuela, Ethiopia and established a drone factory in Tajikistan. This shows Iran's drones have improved from the past.
In the past Iran pioneered numerous types of drones going back to the 1980s, but not all of them work as well as Iran says. it also exported the technology to Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, as well as Gaza; to aid its proxies and militias.
Iran has used drones in Syria; it has threatened Israel with drones in 2018 from T-4 base and again from Iraq in May 2021; and from Iran itself; Hezbollah has threatened Israel's maritime waters and flown drones into Israeli airspace.
Iran has showcased drones more often at events, showing it can create a kind of "instant air force." Under sanctions Iran can't develop new warplanes, but it can build lots of drones; it used kamikaze drones against Saudi Arabia in 2019.
This is the context under which Russia met with Iran about drones. The deal could be part of a quid pro-quo related to Russia-Iran ties that are also related to the Iran deal talks.
Russia also could use Iran drones as decoys or as expendable air frames. Azerbaijan used some drones as decoys against Armenian forces in 2020. But Russia would also want the drones to be able to do surveillance and carry out strikes.
Russia could use the drones instead of wasting its own pilots because Moscow has been reticent to commit its air force to the fight in Ukraine. It could thus use drones to try to find HIMARs and other targets; because it can afford to lose the drones.
This shows the Iran-Russia alliance is growing. But it also shows that Russia didn't develop enough of its own drones. Drones are a weapon of the future and many countries like Israel, Turkey, the US, China know that drones are important.
I covered the global drone arms race and development of drones in my recent book Drone Wars; amazon.com/Drone-Wars-Pio…
It remains to be seen how Russia may use the drones, if it indeed acquired them; nytimes.com/2022/08/29/wor…
It is worth noting that Ukraine's Defense Express discussed the Mohajer 6 drone capabilities recently defence-ua.com/news/mohajer_6…
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