Iran announces deployment of new UAV fleet

Published 14 February 2007

Unverified claims come as Iran prepares for a showdown with the United States; Iran says new drone cannot be detected by radar; new model may be based on the Ababil first seen in 1997

It is always difficult to know what to believe when Iran starts boasting about its military capabilities, especially as the government is currently incentivized to oversell itself as a deterrent to the United States and Israel. Nevertheless, it is interesting to learn that the country now claims it has succesfully tested, manufactured, and deployed a UAV. “We have built a drone with a more than 700-kilometre range which can collect information and shoot films,” said General Yahya Rahim Safavi of the Revolutionary Guards. “The material and the shape of this drone make it undetectable for radars, so it can not be targeted.” Although no details were released, it is likely that the UAVs in question are modified versions of the indigenously-manufactured Ababil, which were first introduced in 1997 as part of an effort to shadow U.S. Navy operations in the Persian Gulf.

-read more in this Focus Infornation Agency report