Why Russia Is Using Iranian-Made Drones in Ukraine

Despite decades of sanctions, the Islamic Republic has developed a relatively sophisticated military drone program.

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Reports emerged over the past few months that Iran had shipped drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine, and we now have photographic evidence that Russia is deploying them. The images, posted on Twitter by a Ukrainian explosive ordnance disposal specialist, show fragments of a Shahed-136 attack drone, a model that has already been used several times in the Middle East by Iran and its proxies.

Last month, open source flight data showed that up to 42 Iranian cargo flights had landed in Moscow since Putin expanded his invasion of Ukraine in February, up from three cargo flights in 2021. According to other press reporting, Iran has sold several kinds of drones to Russia, the Shahed 171, 129, and even the 191. Russia is one of only a few spacefaring nations. It has an aerospace industry that produces high-performance jet fighters and ICBMs. So what is it doing buying drones from a second-rate power like Iran? It has a lot to do with the complexity of modern drones as well as sanctions. 

Russia has bought foreign military drones in the past, starting with its purchase of Hermes 450 drones from Israel after facing this drone in battle with the Georgian military in 2008. Russia continues to operate Israeli drones built under license as the “Forepost” system, and some of these Israeli-designed Russian drones have shown up in combat over Ukraine. The Russian arms industry has worked hard to produce its own domestic modern military drones. But the showpiece of Russia’s modern drone production—the ORAN-10 surveillance drone—might be domestically assembled, but the guts are from all over the place. In July a CNN report on the ORAN-10 showed a thermal camera from France, a Japanese engine, and a sophisticated American circuit board that the Ukrainian technician disassembling the drone says is used to track cell phones. Producing a one-off Russian military drone prototype is one thing, mass producing them is another, and based on this ORAN-10 breakdown, Russia needs foreign help for mass drone production.

Every modern drone needs gyroscopes, tilt sensors, electrical motors, microchips, and sophisticated payloads used for surveillance. Russian industry may be able to master making aluminum wings and fuselages for modern drones, but the guts seem to still be heavily dependent on foreign imports. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    George.Skinner

    One interesting thing about autocratic regimes like Russia and Iran is that they’re technological parasites on the West. It’s incredibly rare that they contribute anything new to science and technology, instead needing to source even commonplace technology from Western sources. Even states like China with significant capacity tend to turn to espionage, and it was less than a decade ago that they finally mastered the technology to indigenously produce the tip for ball-point pens.

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    Cthocas

    It's heartwarming the way murderous rogue states will, in the hour of one another's need to slaughter civilians, open their arms to one another. It almost brings a tear to my eye.

    Pretty sad commentary on Russia, though—for the longest time Iran was the one relying on Russian hardware (or Chinese knockoffs of Russian hardware, anyway).

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    George.Skinner

    Iranian drones may appear to be advanced, but that’s not to say that they actually work particularly well. There have been reports that Russia isn’t pleased with what they’ve actually received: https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-has-faced-failures-with-iranian-made-drones-says-us-official-2022-08-30/
    The Iranian regime has a long history of exaggerated claims about their weapons systems, including a fake stealth fighter (the Qaher-313) where it was doubtful that the canopy could even close all the way with a pilot sitting in it. That said, they’ve become very resourceful at dodging Western sanctions and embargoes to keep their aging military equipment going.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Cthocas

      The horrible quality of Iranian hardware is almost meme level. I recall that stealth fighter. Laugh out loud funny how bad it was.

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    MatthewRobin

    The drone to look out for is the Shahad 136. This is built for Suppression of Enemy Air Defense (SEAD). Whomever takes out their opponents air defense and open up the skies for their aircraft can end the conflict on their terms.

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    EricRemcon@gmail

    👏 Nice detail on a timely topic, Andrew!

    What a crazy world. Russia can buy military capable drones from a state sponsor of terror and use them in an unlawful invasion of a sovereign country all while avoiding any labels of “state sponsor of terrorism”.

    I’m not that smart, especially in issues of foreign policy and war, but if invading another country, bombing civilians, is not at least as bad as terrorism, I think its time for some rule changes.

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    1. tla

      It’s clear that Russia is not state sponsor of terrorism. It’s just state terrorist….

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    Pat @ Tavi Hall

    Ummm, I think the headline may need repair.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Pat @ Tavi Hall

      Thanks folks

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