Exclusive: at least 18
long-range armed drones were delivered to Putin’s navy after Russians visit
Tehran in November
A Shahed 129
drone, one of the models smuggled into Russia, displayed in the Iranian capital
Tehran in 2013. Photograph:
Sepah News/AFP/Getty Images
Martin Chulov in Beirut, Dan Sabbagh in Kyiv and Nechirvan Mando
Sun 12 Feb 2023 15.31
GMT
Iran
has used boats and a state-owned airline to smuggle new types of advanced
long-range armed drones to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine, sources inside the Middle Eastern country have revealed.
At least 18 of the drones
were delivered to Vladimir Putin’s navy after Russian officers and technicians
made a special visit to Tehran in November, where they were shown a full range
of Iran’s technologies.
On
that occasion, the 10-man Russian delegation selected six Mohajer-6 drones,
which have a range of around 200km and carry two missiles under each wing,
along with 12 Shahed 191 and 129 drones, which also have an air-to-ground strike capability.
Unlike the better-known
Shahed 131 and 136 drones, which have been heavily used by Russia in kamikaze
raids against Ukrainian targets, the higher-flying drones are designed to
deliver bombs and return to base intact.
The
disclosures demonstrate the increasing closeness between Iran and Russia, which share a hostility towards the US, since
Moscow launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine a year ago.
Last
August, US officials said that Iran had begun
showcasing the Shahed 191 and 129 drones in June to Russia, and said they
expected Tehran to sell them to Moscow. Mohajer-6 drones have been downed in
Ukraine since September, with officials displaying one in November to the
Guardian in Kyiv.
Increasingly short of
missiles to sustain its brutal bombing campaign of Ukraine’s towns and cities,
Russia has turned to Iran and also North Korea to replenish its stocks. Many in
Ukraine fear Russia plans to launch a major attack around the time of the
one-year anniversary of the war in less than two weeks.
Meanwhile,
the US, the UK and other western governments have been monitoring the arms
cooperation keenly, partly in an effort to prevent it from escalating. Moscow
has also sought to buy ballistic missiles, although there is not any public
evidence that Tehran has agreed to send them.
Russia may have been keen to
obtain the more advanced drones, loosely comparable with the Turkish Bayraktar
TB2, because Ukraine has become increasingly effective in stopping the smaller
suicide drones, which have to fly in low before striking.
In October, Kyiv was hit by a
Shahed 136 drone attack, which killed five when one got through and exploded on
a house near the city’s railway station. But in January, Ukraine’s air force
said it knocked out 45 of 45 drones after a mass attack timed to coincide with
the new year.
Most of the drones sent to
Russia were secretly picked up by an Iranian vessel from a base on the coast of
the Caspian Sea and then transferred at sea to a Russian navy boat, sources
said. Others were sent on a state-owned Iranian airline, they added.
Iran sits on the southern
border and Russia on the north-west border of the Caspian Sea, the world’s
largest inland body of water, making the physical transfer between the allied
nations relatively straightforward.
Iran has also sent
technicians to Moscow to help get the drones into service. The sources revealed
that three Iranian officials a drone – 54 officials in all – helped integrate
the smuggled craft into the Russian military.
The drones were produced in
the same military factory in the central city of Isfahan that was targeted on
28 January by what was believed to have been an Israeli drone. US officials
have indicated they believe Israel was motivated by its own national security
concerns, and was not trying to intervene in the Ukraine war.
The latest drone delivery was
believed to have been put into service over Ukraine on 20 November. More orders
were expected before the suspected Israeli strike, which is understood to have
caused significant damage to the manufacturing of Iran’s most advanced weapons
systems, including precision-guided missiles and drones.
The Iranian Revolutionary
Guards Corps (IRGC) has been at the forefront of the growing bond, with senior
leaders, Khalil Mohammadzadeh, Suleiman Hamidi and Ali Shamkhani, playing
central roles in the drone exports to Russia.
The
Guardian’s sources include those who have direct knowledge of the sale of
drones, their capabilities and manufacturing specifics. More than four months
into the uprising in Iran, cracks have emerged in the
country’s tightly monitored command and control systems, allowing rare glimpses
into deals that would otherwise have taken place away from public exposure.
The Mohajer-6 drones received
by Russia in November can remain in the air for six hours and operate on
electric power. They can carry 40kg bombs and contain high-precision imaging
and targeting systems.
The Shahed 129 carries a
heavier 60kg payload, but can remain airborne for only four hours, while the
Shahed 191 can fly for five hours, carrying 70kg. Both are said to fly using a
modified engine, originally made in Germany. The sources said the Iranian
craft’s ability to beat jamming systems is much valued by Russia.
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