Drones

Since 2004, Iran has provided drones, components or designs to proxies in at least four locations: Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza. Tehran’s drone exports vary in mission, range, and capabilities. The shortest range can fly only 15 km, or nine miles, while the longest can fly 1,700 km, or 1,000…
Benjamin Gedan is deputy director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is a former South America director on the National Security Council and also served at the State Department and the…
Between September 10 and 12, 2020, Iran tested cruise missiles and drones during an annual three-day war game. The Zolfaghar-99 exercise, named after Imam Ali’s sword, was held around three key waterways — the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, an area totaling 772,200…
When did Iran start building a drone fleet? Iran’s interest in drones and uninhabited vehicles really goes back to the Iran-Iraq war in the mid-1980s. The Iranians have been in the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) business for several decades. The first generation of the Ababil that was used during…
            On December 18, Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta outlined a new U.S. defense strategy that will counter “the continuing threat from Iran.” If Tehran attempts to close the Straits of Hormuz, “we must be capable of being able to respond decisively,” he said. Panetta also warned…
Ari Ratner What is the U.S.-Iran covert war? What is the United States doing? What is Iran doing? And why?              During both the Bush and Obama administrations, Iran and the United States have engaged in a shadow war that relies more on technology and human intelligence than conventional…
Ted Wynne  Iran claims it is reproducing U.S. stealth technology less than five months after capturing an RQ-170 Sentinel drone, the most advanced unmanned surveillance aircraft.  On April 22, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh told Iranian state television, “Our experts are fully dominant over sections and…