Iran has unveiled its Kaman-22 drone able to reach Israel with a range of over 3,000 kilometers to the public during an army parade in Tehran on Monday.
The Kaman-22 is a long-range and strategic multi-functional combat drone with an operational range of over 3,000 kilometers, capable of flying up to an altitude of eight thousand meters and has a flight duration of more than 24 hours.
According to Iran’s Fars News, the drone is capable of carrying several types of cargo as well as four guided missiles, two unguided bombs and other munitions. It can be used for a range of missions including patrol, reconnaissance, data gathering, imaging, and aerial combat with a payload of smart weapons.
The drone is similar to the American Predator MQ-1 and Reaper MQ-9 and was first unveiled last February. It’s an upgrade to Iran’s Kaman-12 drone that was first introduced in September 2020.
The upgraded drone has new combat, optical and electronic warfare systems.
The Islamic Republic’s defense industry is robust, and Tehran is constantly working to improve and manufacture systems and platforms that can threaten Israel and other countries in the region.
It’s been building its fleet of homegrown armed and unarmed unmanned aircraft since 1984 and has 48 different models with very advanced operational capabilities.
Iran’s drone army was built to compensate for its loss of aerial strength in order to counter Israel’s air superiority and senior officials have admitted that the drones are challenging the country’s air defenses in terms of identifying and intercepting them.
Iran has been launching drones and other unmanned aerial systems to Israel since 2018 and the increase of attempts by Tehran has placed the threats posed by such systems in the top five threats facing the Israel Air Force.
Last year Israeli F-35s downed two Iranian Shahed 197 drones that were heading towards the Jewish State. The drones, that were downed outside of Israel’s borders were collected by the armed forces of a regional country and delivered to Israel for further inspection.
Israel’s war-between-wars campaign has recently been specifically targeting Iran’s drones hitting the Kermanshah airbase in a strike carried out by six Israeli drones. Hundreds of Iranian UAVs were destroyed in the strike.
In November Defense Minister Benny Gantz said that the threat posed by the Islamic Republic is not only facing Israel but the entire world.
“One of the key tools is UAVs and precision weapons, which can reach strategic targets within thousands of kilometers, and thus this capability is already endangering Sunni countries, international troops in the Middle East and also countries in Europe and Africa,” the defense minister said.
Due to the threat posed by Iranian drones, senior Israel Air Force officers confirmed that Israel is working with regional countries to counter such threats coming from the Islamic Republic.
The officers said that “regional partnership is unprecedented” and there has already been cooperation with countries in the region, including aerial drills and even operations.
Source » jpost