I did not say anywhere that they can't have radars. For 27-28 feet in length, and assuming it flies on OWJ Turbojet (difficult but not impossible), it can ideally carry a compact air-cooled AESA/PESA radar running on onboard hybrid power (20-40 KW). Iranian Bayenaat series airborne radars (II and V) are based upon such compact Grifo-346, APQ-159 family which are designed to be housed in small noses of light fighters. So yes it can happen, but the mission utility will be gone, I will explain why.
- PESA are no longer relevant in modern air combat, they are jammed easily, esp for a wingman who without SAT link or full autonomy, can't escape a jamming envoironment with speed as it is inherently low on KE. SAIRAN head talked about airborne AESA for fighters but no evidence of its existence exists. Instead, they recently showed Kowsar with "Baaz" or "Bayenaat-5" obsolete PESA radar based upon APQ-159 (F-5) or Sy-80/KLJ-6E/F (Chinese J-7N/E origin) that was originally intended for Saegheh some 15-18 years ago. That's a step back from Kowsar's originally shown fairly modern Grifo-346 based Bayenaat-II but for a wingmen like Qaher, thats enough with a search-track range of 120-80 km. Another solution is hybridism of radar and Datalink i.e. switch to datalink when radar is jammed, in that case the datalink between every surface vessel and shore batteries and fighter jets will be needed, a naval IADS. Not out of question considering how rapid progression is seen in Air defence inside Iran.
- Enemy naval fighters have long-ranged AESA radars, Jammers, IRST/LRFs both integrated and pod based, and a long-range BVRs. Even if we assume Iranian wingman has a low RCS and is borderline stealth, they can still track it through IR and lob BVR missiles at it while jamming its PESA radar. To fight back drone will need to mount external BVR missiles which means it no longer has the low RCS factor. This is the dilemma of wingmen all over the world. Kratos Valkyrie itself was being marketed with AIM-120Ds mounted externally but idea was criticised because what purpose such a UCAV serve when it has to sacrifice its RCS?
Being a serious follower of Iranian defence I will welcome the development of this drone when the actual size one gets airborne and we get to see it carry weapons. For now its just another cash pit project to me like Saeghe, Kowsar, Azaraksh, Flying wing UCAVs, Karrar MBTs. Promising prototypes but no actual production.