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Iran Unveils Advanced Mohajer Drone, Guided Bomb

By Nigar Bayramli August 23, 2023

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Iran unveiled the "Mohajer-10" drone at an exhibition marking Iran's Defence Industry Day with the participation of top military officials in Tehran, on August 22, 2023. / Mashregh News

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi unveiled the latest version of the Mohajer drone and a guided air-launched bomb on August 22.

Raisi unveiled the new Mohajer-10 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) at an exhibition to mark Iran's Defence Industry Day with the participation of top military officials in Tehran, the Tasnim News Agency reported.

The new drone has a fuel capacity of 450 litres, a payload delivery capacity of 300 kg, and can reach a top speed of 210 km/h. The drone has an operational range of 2,000 km.

A new guided air-launched bomb called Arman-1, developed by the Defence Ministry, was also unveiled at the same ceremony.

The Iranian president also ordered the delivery of "large shipments" of Khorramshahr and Haj Qasem ballistic missiles to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force.

Speaking at a meeting with senior managers and experts from the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics, Raisi said that despite the “insecure presence of foreign forces” in the region, the Iranian armed forces’ have maintained security.

Praising the Defence Ministry’s achievements, the president said that despite the “harshest sanctions”, Iran's nuclear and defence industries have experienced "optimal progress”.

“Iran pursues interactions with all the countries of the world, and we warmly welcome any hand of cooperation and friendship extended towards us. However, our capable armed forces will cut any hand that is extended towards Iran to carry out any act of aggression and oppression,” Raisi added.

The Mohajer is used by the Iranian Army and the IRGC, and has been exported to Iranian allies in the Middle East. It was also used in the Syrian and Iraqi civil wars.

The Mohajer-1 was used during the Iran–Iraq War for battlefield surveillance. The Mohajer-2 was developed in the 1990s with improved avionics and range, and remains in service today. In addition, the Mohajer-2 is license-built in Venezuela as the Arpia.

The Mohajer-4 is another evolutionary improvement with again improved range, endurance, and surveillance. These drones have been used in the civil wars in Iraq and Syria, and there are also reports that Iran sold dozens of Mohajer-4s to Hezbollah.

The last major variant, the Mohajer-6 (UAV), is an unmanned combat aerial vehicle that carries two munitions. The Mohajer-6 was reportedly used against the Salafist-jihadist terrorist group Jaish ul-Adl in the country’s southern regions, and Iran used the Mohajer-6 against PJAK militants in July 2019.

Russia uses a Mohajer-6 to guide Geran-2 suicide drones to hit targets in its war against Ukraine, but Tehran denies this fact.

On August 5, IRGC’s Navy received new strategic systems and weapons including missiles with a range of 300 to 1000 km, drones and electronic warfare systems.

Various types of reconnaissance, intelligence, offensive and combat drones, different types of support and command vehicles, offensive and defensive systems in the field of electromagnetic warfare were among the new products that were unveiled.