Iran displayed images of the Shahed 149 drone during drills last month. The system, known as the “Gaza” drone, is nearly identical to the US Reaper drone and boasts remarkable capabilities like a camera that can magnify images 100 times and fly 1,000 kilometres or more in 35-hour missions.
It adds to a lengthy list of Iranian drones that seem to be exact replicas of US models, including the Saeqeh, a close replica of the US RQ-170, and the Yasir, a clone of the US ScanEagle.
Therefore, how might the systems be comparable? Although much information regarding drones like the Reaper and the Shahed 149 is still classified, The National spoke with aerospace experts who gave an overview of the capabilities of the Iranian systems.
The Reaper drone, which evolved from the Predator drone, which was initially used as an unarmed reconnaissance drone during NATO’s 1995 involvement in Bosnia, came to represent the United States’ so-called Global War on Terror.
It carried out thousands of airstrikes in Yemen, Afghanistan, and Iraq, among other places, and was coveted for its ability to persistently monitor small groups of insurgents for at least 30 hours at a time. Eventually, reapers would be equipped with a Wide Area Motion Imaging (Wami) sensor, a network of cameras and image processors connected by a data link that would allow them to capture “super-resolution” footage of entire cities.
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