This Shahed-129 in Syria:
https://theaviationist.com/2014/04/11/shahed-modified-version/
That bulb in the nose is clearly a satcom bulb. Why the hell would Iran/IRGC put a satcom bulb in a drone, if not to communicate with a satellite?!?!
Translation for non-versed:
Iran has launched many more "things"
to space than officially declared. There may be a stealth space program, with some not-known iranian satellites orbiting Earth since years ago... and surely increasing.
@yavar
NOTAMs?? jajaja, NOTAMs are bullshit!!
1st off for SAT communications you either need a large network of Sat's in LEO OR a Sat in GEO orbit!
2ndly NASA tracks all sat in space & there is no way for Iran to have a stealth sat!
Yes Iran has the option of buying old Russian or Chinese sats but such sats would NOT be secure for Iran to use as SATCOM for it's UAV's and it would be absolutely unnecessary in Syria
Iran has NO need for a SATCOM type UAV in Syria! Iran has forces in Syria, and Syria has internet which could potentially be more secure then a 2nd hand SAT so if they wanted the image to go almost instantly back to Tehran they can do it "without" SAT communication in Syria where Iran is there via request & permission of the Syria Government.
The fact that the dome is bigger could be because they wanted to add some other type of equipment on the UAV It's not necessarily SAT communication!
These UAV's usually operate within a 300km radius of where the UAV is launched from and in Syria operating Shahed-129's out of 2 bases with a 300km combat radius (for com's) would cover all of Syria and Lebanon! So there is NO NEED for SATCOM!
Iran can also easily install 2 ground based communication sites & launch the UAV's out of one base if they wanted!
Only issue with that would be the UAV's lack of speed!
These UAV's fly at ~150kph and it could take up to 2 hours for these UAV's to reach 300km away where Air Support may be needed
And due to the UAV's lack of Speed, if I was Iran, I'd want to operate Shahed-129's out of at least 5 Syrian Air Bases but 2 ground based com's would be more than enough to cover all of Syria & Lebanon without the need of Sat communication and in such a scenario even if Iran has SATCOM type sat's why the hell would they send them into Syria where they are NOT needed?
If Iran had that tech, they would keep in their back pocket for when it is needed!
It is possible that Russia & Turkey wanted access to live imagery of targets being taken out by Shahed-129 UAV's & Russian's offered use of one of their sat's & Iran offered to modify some of it's UAV's to carry them but that's NOT very likely!
