The extent to which Iran has developed a substantial weapons industry based on Western technology and the manner in which Russia is utilizing that technology to attack Ukrainian cities have been revealed by new research.
Struggle Combat hardware Exploration (Vehicle), a UK-based association which examines weapons’ parts, has laid out that the Shahed-136 robots offered to Russia by Iran are controlled by a motor in light of German innovation – innovation illegally obtained by Iran very nearly a long time back.
Iran’s ability to imitate and fine-tune military technology that it has obtained illegally is highlighted by the finding, which was made through an in-depth examination of components recovered in Ukraine.
Western authorities are likewise worried that Russia might share Western-made weapons and gear recuperated on the Ukrainian combat zone with the Iranians. There is currently no solid evidence that this has taken place.
However, relations between Moscow and Tehran have improved significantly. Ballistic missiles and drones from Iran are wanted by Russia; Iran desires Russian trade and investment. Iranian officials claim that Russia has emerged as the largest foreign investor in Iran over the past year.
Additionally, Western officials claim that Iranian drones are a cost-effective alternative to much more expensive missiles whose stocks are decreasing for the Russians. A Shahed-186, for instance, is estimated to cost approximately $20,000, which is a pittance in comparison to the price of a Kalibr cruise missile.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, said in October that Russia had ordered approximately 1,700 different kinds of Iranian drones. The Shahed-136 has been successfully destroyed by Ukraine, but this reduces the country’s already limited anti-aircraft defenses. Even though the Shahed-136 has a relatively low explosive charge, it can still do a lot of damage with an accurate hit that can reach up to 40 kilograms (88 pounds).
CAR was able to examine components in 20 Iranian-made drones and munitions, approximately half of which were Shahed-136s, in Ukraine between November of last year and March of 2023.
It was able to confirm that an Iranian company known as Oje Parvaz Mado Nafar, or Mado, based in the town of Shokuhieh in Qom province reverse-engineered the Shahed-136’s motor. In December of last year, the UK, the US, and the European Union issued sanctions against the company.
Vehicle analysts found Mado’s markings on flash plug covers in the robot’s motors, as well as chronic number successions utilized by Mado.
According to Western governments and the United Nations, Mado is a crucial player in Iran’s expanding drone industry. A similar chronic number example was likewise noted by UN specialists looking at drone assaults on Saudi Arabia supposedly did by Iran’s Houthi partners in Yemen – as well as rocket goes after last year against Abu Dhabi, one of the Assembled Middle Easterner Emirates.
Taimur Khan, Bay expert at Vehicle, told CNN that Iran’s UAV frameworks are continually being refined and modernized and “have shown to be progressively exact regarding their focusing on and direction frameworks as well as the counter-sticking abilities.”
The plan of Mado’s motor addresses a serious Iranian exertion extending back exactly 20 years to gain Western innovation for its robots and rockets notwithstanding far and wide global assents.
Iran illegally acquired German-made Limbach Flugmotoren drone engines in 2006. A UAV engine was developed by an Iranian engineer named Yousef Aboutalebi three years later.
According to CAR, the company appears to have attempted to conceal its involvement in the Shaheds’ construction. Its investigators discovered that drone components discovered in Ukraine had had their original serial numbers erased in an apparent effort to conceal their origin.
According to CAR, “these modifications have prevented investigators from identifying the acquisition networks that facilitate the international supply of key components into Iran.”
Czech-made missile components are among the other Western components that Iran has acquired and copied. An UN specialists’ report in 2020 said that the motor in Iran’s Quds-1 rockets utilized in assaults on Saudi petroleum treatment facilities the earlier year “was “an unlicensed duplicate of the TJ-100 stream motor produced by PBS Velka Bítes” in the Czech Republic.
Iran has become an expert at evading controls on sensitive technology, sometimes through the use of front companies, despite the fact that the company claimed that it had never supplied the engine to Iran or Yemen. Parts exported by the Czech manufacturer to a Hong Kong company in 2010 ended up in Iranian missiles used in 2019, according to a UN panel.
According to Taimur Khan at CAR, Iran “acquired Western components and technologies for its UAV programme by taking advantage of the lack of supply chain visibility.” As a result, identifying components is an essential strategy for enhancing export control and sanction mechanisms.
The sales of drones have strengthened Iran’s ties with Russia, which were already getting stronger as the two countries lost more and more access to international trade and the financial system.
Last month, Finance Minister Ehsan Khandouzi told the Financial Times, “We define our relations with Russia as strategic, and we are working together in many aspects, especially economic relations.”
The incomes from the offer of many Shahed-136 robots to Russia will probably be reinvested in additional working on the business. Additionally, the partnership might begin to venture into new areas.
Khan is of the opinion that, “given the fact that Russia is capturing sophisticated Western weapons on the battlefield – such as the Javelin anti-tank missile – and that there is increasing military cooperation between the two countries, and Iran has proven capabilities in this regard,” “I think it’s likely that they will collaborate on copying these types of systems,” and so on. “This is because Iran has proven capabilities in this regard.”
There is likewise the likelihood that Russia will use its participation with Iran to foster its own tactical robot abilities.
However, Russia’s military will likely continue to be a fervent purchaser of hundreds of additional drones from Iran, a nation that has perfected the art of evading sanctions to establish an indigenous weapons industry.
