What is special about these drones?

This Friday, the leaders of the European Union “strongly” condemned the support for Iran in the war in Ukraine. For its part, the United States said on Thursday that the Iranian military is on the ground in Crimea providing technical assistance to Russian troops to launch Iranian-made drones.

Two announcements that come in a week in which Moscow has intensified its attacks with the so-called Shahed-136, also known as “kamikaze” drones. Despite denials by the Kremlin, there are multiple accusations that these are supplied by Iran and named in Russia as Geran-2.

Ukraine, for its part, has raised alarm bells. Due to recurrent drone attacks, more than 1,000 Ukrainian towns experienced power outages due to Russian bombing this week. Despite this, the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, assured that “the fact that Russia asks Iran for help is the recognition by the Kremlin of its military and political failure.”

Although these drones are not the most sophisticated, they have the advantages of being inexpensive and being able to be launched in large groups. In addition, Ukraine lacks fully effective anti-aircraft protection against attacks with this equipment.

The Shahed-136, the “kamikaze” drones

They are known as “kamikaze” drones because they are not expected to return unscathed from their mission and their name “Shahed-136” means “martyr” in Persian. They measure 3.5 meters long, have a wingspan, the distance between their two wings, of 2.5 meters and weigh almost 200 kilos.

They are arrow-shaped and, as shown in ‘The Washington Post’, they have propeller motors that allow them to fly “for hours before locking onto a target and attacking.”

According to the UK Ministry of Defence, they have a range of between 2,000 and 2,500 kilometers on low-flying routes and can fly up to 180 kilometers per hour.

As stated ‘Foreign Policy’, these are not the most technological drones. “They are not particularly fast and are powered by an unsophisticated two-stroke engine similar to a lawnmower. They’re also not going to sneak up on anyone: Russian troops have nicknamed them ‘mopeds’ because of the whine the engine makes.”

However, these can cost around $20,000 per unit or so, as indicated by RFYowhich is much cheaper than other weapons such as tactical or ballistic missiles.

Additionally, the Shahed-136s carry an 80+ pound warhead in the front. This can be thrown from different types of vehicles quite easily.

‘Forbes’ assures that these could have an infrared camera that could make their reach more difficult due to not only having a GPS system.

“This would explain how they have been able to destroy targets like armored vehicles – the Shahed’s small warhead requires a direct hit to destroy a difficult target and GPS alone would probably not get it close enough, even if the vehicle could locate itself with high precision. ”, states the article.

As stated by Manuel de Moya, historian and contributor to the analysis portal Deciphering the war, for RFI, this drone is part of the family of drones that the Shahed-129 is part of.

Why has Russia opted for the use of these drones?

There are several reasons that analysts point to the use of these drones by Russia. First, there is the change in strategy, one that started out being devised for a few short months of war.

“They calculated that, in a couple of weeks or a month and a half, what would be the main battles could be over. This has not happened, so there has been a miscalculation on the part of the Russian strategy. They have had to dip into a lot of ammunition,” says De Moya for RFI.

Second, it would be explained by the sanctions to which Russia has been implicated. As the Washington Post puts it: “As Russia depletes its stockpile of precision-guided missiles and struggles to purchase or make replacements while under sanctions, Iran’s drones offer a precise, medium-range alternative.”

In addition, its price allows to compensate that its impact is not the same as missiles that Russia has used during the war. This, to the extent that you can buy in quantity and ship multiple drones at the same time.

As Samuel Bendett, an adviser to the CNA think tank for Foreign Policy, put it: “The point of using those Shaheds is that they fly in large groups and can overwhelm air defenses… All it takes is one or two of them to slip away.” .

On the other hand, it has a strategic point and that is that its flight is not so high and they become difficult to shoot down due to the systems that Ukraine has been using during the months of war.

A use that is not unprecedented

Despite the fact that drone attacks were at the center of the debate last week, it is not the first time that Russia has used this type of weaponry. In fact, the United States has reported that at the end of August Moscow received nearly 1,000 drones from Iran, several of which were used to attack the city of Odessa, in the south of the country.

In addition, drones with these characteristics have been used in the clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia two years ago with Turkish drones, according to De Moya.

For its part, Ukraine has also used both US and Turkish drones. They launched attacks with a smaller drone, the Switchblade 300, made in Virginia. And at the same time they did it with the Bayraktar drone, which the ‘Washington Post’ lists as “armed and reusable”.

Ukraine’s incomplete defense against drones

Ukrainian authorities have been optimistic about their ability to defend against drone attacks. However, many experts point out that its anti-aircraft protection is insufficient.

First of all, the difficulty lies in the vast territory to be covered. “The difficulty, in a country larger than France, lies in deciding where to place limited reserves of air defenses,” notes the ‘Washington Post’.

For his part, Moya assures that sufficient equipment is lacking. “Probably because the Americans and NATO allies who have supplied them with equipment have not considered the possibility that Russia would receive this type of weaponry in large quantities.”

Given this scenario, the Ukrainian authorities have tried to approach Israel, which has an effective and sophisticated system of protection against this type of attack. However, it remains unlikely that this country will become directly involved in the war.

with local media