Attack on Israel: cheap, manageable and dangerous, these are the “suicide” drones used by Iran

In an unprecedented escalation in the Middle East, Iran announced its own on Saturday attack with dozens of “suicide” drones. on Israeli territory, in retaliation for the assassination of a senior general, days ago, in Damascus, the capital of Syria.

According to reports, the attack was carried out with so-called unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Shahed-136, what an important role in the war between Russia and Ukraine. These are basically guided projectiles, cheaper and easier to handle than conventional missiles.

These dangerous UAVs have a range of 2,000 kilometers, the ability to carry explosive warheads of 50 kilograms, sufficient to cause extensive damage to structures and infrastructure.

The Shahed-136 has the particularity of being launched in waves, five at a time, from a simple launcher installed on a truck. With multiple shuttles operating simultaneously, generates a “swarm” capable of saturating anti-aircraft defenses.

These drones are not flown from a control center but rather guided to their targets via GPS coordinates. For this reason they must be used against fixed and non-moving targets; Flying low and fast, they will not alter their trajectory. Their speed is quite low: they reach a maximum of 185 km/h.

Delta-wing shaped, simple, robust and economical, the characteristics of the explosive charge housed in the nose have not been reported. Radar can detect them and portable anti-aircraft rockets can shoot them down, but the most effective solution is to block their GPS navigation.

The value of the Shahed-136 about 20 thousand dollarsfar below advanced, missile-equipped, remotely piloted Iranian drones such as the Shahed-129, which cost $7.5 million per unit.

The drones and missiles launched by Iran against Israel will hit the Golan Heights – on the border between Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – and an Israeli Air Force base in the Negev desert – located in southern Israel -, according to the New York Times. Israeli intelligence has detected the launch of dozens of drones and cruise missiles from Iran and Iraq, indicates the newspaper, which was able to speak to Israeli officials.

Dubbed “Operation True Promise,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard launched an attack with dozens of missiles and drones against Israel in response to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Syria.

However, according to ABC News, the United States believes that between 400 and 500 drones and missiles will be launched from Iraq, Syria and southern Lebanon, but that the majority will be launched from Iran.