Iranian UAVs | News and Discussions

[Persian Gulf]

This was actually good and from Iranian military aspect this what they wanted the aircraft to become not going to debate if it ever did become more than what they wanted but I will say again I’d rather read something like this so like I said this was a great reply

we are comparing a small drone with 7m wingspan and 50kg max payload and 450km range with a B-2 with a 52m wingspan and 18,000kg payload and 9,600km range

anyone can build a hobby toy drone with fixed wing design and claim it 'shares some design features' with a B-2 but that doesn't mean it actually is in the same league or at all comparable with the real deal

 

[Shags101]

we are comparing a small drone with 7m wingspan and 50kg max payload and 450km range with a B-2 with a 52m wingspan and 18,000kg payload and 9,600km range

anyone can build a hobby toy drone with fixed wing design and claim it 'shares some design features' with a B-2 but that doesn't mean it actually is in the same league or at all comparable with the real deal

Yeah but like he said not technically wrong either don’t disagree with you either all you asked was to compare I just gave accolades for his thought out response

 

[ToddE]

Why Shahed 171/191 were never developed further is a mystery to me. Iranian local industry had all the ingredients at the table.

Air frame for stealthy RCS, came from RQ-170
Tolue Turbojets, Owj Turbojet, Jahesh Turbofan all built locally
Nav-Comm/avionics for UCAVs/fighters built inside Iran
Inner bay design (in Shahed wings + Shahed 149)
PGMs/ALCM/Sidwinder/onboard radar (variety)

Ideally a stealth bomber/intruder UCAV could have been built out of Shahed-171/191 to serve both IRIAF and IRGCAF but project seems abandoned. Remains a mystery what stopped its development.

 

[Shags101]

Why Shahed 171/191 were never developed further is a mystery to me. Iranian local industry had all the ingredients at the table.

Air frame for stealthy RCS, came from RQ-170
Tolue Turbojets, Owj Turbojet, Jahesh Turbofan all built locally
Nav-Comm/avionics for UCAVs/fighters built inside Iran
Inner bay design (in Shahed wings + Shahed 149)
PGMs/ALCM/Sidwinder/onboard radar (variety)

Ideally a stealth bomber/intruder UCAV could have been built out of Shahed-171/191 to serve both IRIAF and IRGCAF but project seems abandoned. Remains a mystery what stopped its development.

Yeah unless they really couldn’t reverse engineer any of the actually tech and was just an overhyped rc toy like @Persian Gulf was saying

 

[ToddE]

Yeah unless they really couldn’t reverse engineer any of the actually tech and was just an overhyped rc toy like @Persian Gulf was saying

Who said anything about replicating every screw on RQ-170. They got the low RCS airframe right, rest of the systems were entirely present locally, why was project not pursued further then that could have resulted into a stealth attack/intruder UCAV.

 

[Shags101]

Who said anything about replicating every screw on RQ-170. They got the low RCS airframe right, rest of the systems were entirely present locally, why was project not pursued further then that could have resulted into a stealth attack/intruder UCAV.

I don’t disagree with that at all I actually liked it no matter how advanced the inside was the design itself was solid put a turbofan on it and you have fast mobile ucav

 

[Hack-Hook]

Why Shahed 171/191 were never developed further is a mystery to me. Iranian local industry had all the ingredients at the table.

Air frame for stealthy RCS, came from RQ-170
Tolue Turbojets, Owj Turbojet, Jahesh Turbofan all built locally
Nav-Comm/avionics for UCAVs/fighters built inside Iran
Inner bay design (in Shahed wings + Shahed 149)
PGMs/ALCM/Sidwinder/onboard radar (variety)

Ideally a stealth bomber/intruder UCAV could have been built out of Shahed-171/191 to serve both IRIAF and IRGCAF but project seems abandoned. Remains a mystery what stopped its development.

Engine

 

[Immortals]

Engine

Engine + Lack of SATCOM.

No point in long 2000KM drones when you cannot communicate or receive data back from it securely and timely. Ground based receivers are just unreliable and only work small distances.

I doubt that Russia or China is providing us their military SATCOM capabilities.

 

[ToddE]

Engine

Toloue and Owj turbojets are both produced inside Iran by TEM and have seen production.

 

[Khorasan Black Flags]

Toloue and Owj turbojets are both produced inside Iran by TEM and have seen production.

Overall, an 85% cut in the military budget by our pro-West Rouhani government:

The same person who called for the dissolution of the army

The same person who made hijab mandatory

بودجه دفاعی سال ۹۸ نصف شد +جدول

بر اساس لایحه پیشنهادی دولت برای بودجه سال ۹۸، بودجه دفاعی کشور تقریبا ۵۰ درصد کاهش پیدا کرده است.

www.mashreghnews.ir

مستندات کاهش بودجه دفاعی در دولت روحانی - روزنامه چارسوق روزنامه چارسوق

در روزهای اخیر اظهارات سید احسان خاندوزی وزیر اقتصاد دولت شهید رئیسی درباره عدم تخصیص بودجه دفاعی در دولت حسن روحانی، بار دیگر این موضوع را بر سر زبان‌ها انداخته است. خاندوزی افشا کرد که در دولت روحانی، سپاه برای ساخت موشک مجبور به فروش زمین‌هایش شده بود. هرچند افراد وابسته به حسن روحانی تلاش...

charsoghnewspaper.com

کاهش 85درصدی بودجه دفاعی کشور در دولت روحانی/ آقای روحانی! صحبت هایتان علیه شهرهای موشکی را باور کنیم یا ادعای ساخت موشک تان را؟

رئیس جمهور مدعی است نه ساخت موشک را شهیدحسن تهرانی مقدم انجام داده است و نه فعالیت های هسته ای را دانشمندان شهیدهسته ای انجام داده اند بلکه تمام این فعالیت ها کار دولت بوده است.

www.rajanews.com

 

[Hack-Hook]

Toloue and Owj turbojets are both produced inside Iran by TEM and have seen production.

One to fuel hungry , the other too weak

 

[Immortals]

Toloue and Owj turbojets are both produced inside Iran by TEM and have seen production.

Toloue is probably the only [micro] jet engine being mass produced in Iran and a rare success in the field of engines for Iran after numerous failures and setbacks. But it cannot be relied on powering the next gen of Iran’s UAVs or CMs.

OWJ there is no proof it’s being mass produced. And given that Kowsar is another dead in water F-5 upgrade wannabe project, I doubt that is being mass produced either. Mostly another tech project for engineers to gain experience.

Still no news on the supersonic CM project.

 

[ToddE]

Toloue is probably the only [micro] jet engine being mass produced in Iran and a rare success in the field of engines for Iran after numerous failures and setbacks. But it cannot be relied on powering the next gen of Iran’s UAVs or CMs.

Shahed Stealth Wings are not next gen UCAVs they are decade old projects now. Despite having the promise (low RCS) and all the subsystems available inside Iran, they never saw serious mass production outside smaller variants, which is mind boggling. IRGCAF or IRIAF could have gotten themselves a stealth attack UCAV out of Shahed 171 if they wanted.

OWJ there is no proof it’s being mass produced. And given that Kowsar is another dead in water F-5 upgrade wannabe project, I doubt that is being mass produced either. Mostly another tech project for engineers to gain experience.

It can be produced locally that was my point, its not being produced because Kowsar is abandoned and there is just no other platform that needs it.

Still no news on the supersonic CM project.

Engine

 

[Persian Gulf]

in October 2025 Russia fired 5000 Shahed drones at Ukraine

almost 1000 of them successfully hit their target

noticeable that the rate of success was almost 0 for the first 6000 drones, and steadily increased since then

Iran only fired c. 1500 drones at Israel, with a very low rate of success (< 5 impacts)

 

[Shags101]

View attachment 157555

in October 2025 Russia fired 5000 Shahed drones at Ukraine

almost 1000 of them successfully hit their target

noticeable that the rate of success was almost 0 for the first 6000 drones, and steadily increased since then

Iran only fired c. 1500 drones at Israel, with a very low rate of success (< 5 impacts)

To be fair Iran was dealing with about a dozen or so countries intercepting them from the air land and sea using many more interceptors missiles fighter and naval assets so it was Iran against I don’t want to say this to loudly for fear of upsetting people but a few Arab states European countries America and Israel