What's new

Iranian UAVs | News and Discussions

As always, what's NOT seen is of more significance than what is.
yes, but can Russia pleaaaaaseeeee use some Arash- 2s in Ukraine already?????????????? Shahed-136 must be effective enough for Russia to not deploy Arash-2s actively atm.
 
Super unreliable Kuwaiti media "Aljarida" says China has doubled it's 15000 drone order to a total of 30000, now including unmanned maritime products.

it also says Iran is reluctant to sell some of it's models cause they are being kept as a surprise for Americans.

الصين تشتري من إيران 30 ألف مسيّرة
I believe this is the same media that claimed with anonymous sources that Israeli F-35 stood 2 hours above Tehran throwing bombs at some warehouse without being detected
 

Iran’s Drone Industry Is Harder to Sanction Amid Sales to Russia

Tehran is relying more on domestic companies for drones it is sending to Russia​

By Dion Nissenbaum/July 13, 2023 7:00 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-drone-industry-is-getting-harder-to-sanction-500839d7
F06KriuX0AAE1LB

8b1e3eb8-c912bc66e6f8232acb0533dcd0d60234.jpg

Japanese original (left) and iranian reengineered version

Iran is now replicating parts for deadly drones being used by Russia in Ukraine, helping its military evade international sanctions with domestically made components that it once sourced from overseas,according to a new analysis.An Iranian company appears to have developed the ability to copy two parts used in suicide drones that used to come from Japanese electronics manufacturers, according to new findings from Conflict Armament Research, a U.K.-based investigative group that has been examining the drones in Ukraine. Iran gets most of its drone parts from U.S., European and Japanese companies that sell commercially available components. Conflict Armament Research’s findings illustrate how Iran is relying more on domestic companies to produce parts for its unmanned aerial vehicles,making it harder for the U.S. and its allies to disrupt it with sanctions. This is the first time weapons investigators in Ukraine have found parts made by the small, private Iranian electronics firm Sarmad Electronics Sepahan in downed drones, the group said. The company,which didn’t respond to requests for comment, isn’t sanctioned by the U.S. or its allies for its alleged role in producing drones being used in Ukraine.“As sanctions clamp down on foreign supplies, they certainly feel the need to produce as much domestically as they can,” said Damien Spleeters, Conflict Armament Research’s deputy director of operations, who has been examining the drones.The U.S. and its allies say Tehran provides Moscow with hundreds of so-called suicide drones that Russian forces have used—with limited success—to target Ukraine’s power plants, major cities and civilian neighborhoods. Iran says that it isn’t supplying Russia with military aid for the war in Ukraine, though it admits it sold Moscow drones before the war started. In a letter last month to the United Nations Security Council, Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., criticized Conflict Armament Research and said its conclusions about the drones in Ukraine had no credibility.Ukraine says Russia has launched more than 1,000 Iranian drones in scores of attacks over the past year. On some days in May, Russia used more than 100 drones to attack Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine has been able to largely neutralize the Iranian-drone threat, but the persistent attacks put a strain on the country’s air defense systems.The U.S. and its allies have been searching for ways to restrict Iran’s ability to build drones. The Biden administration and European nations have imposed sanctions on dozens of companies and individuals allegedly involved in Iran’s drone industry.But the effort appears to so far have had a limited impact. Many drone parts—such as microchips, camera lenses, motors and GPS systems—are widely available on the commercial market, making ithard for the U.S. and its allies to choke off the supplies heading to Iran.The findings from Conflict Armament Research offer new insights into the evolution of Iran’s drone industry.For years, U.N. weapons inspectors examining Iranian drones used by Houthi militants in Yemen documented the use of American, European and Japanese parts in the weapons. Earlier this year, Spleeters discovered two pieces in Iranian drones used to target Ukraine that appeared to be copies of Japanese parts once used by Tehran for drones supplied to Houthi militants in Yemen.Spleeters noticed that the parts he examined bore striking similarities to those advertised for sale on the Iranian company’s website. One piece found in the drone bore the company’s pyramid-shaped logo, he said.Conflict Armament Research traced the copycat parts to Sarmad Electronics, which says on its website that it has the ability to reverse engineer components for customers. Sarmad Electronics appears to have been founded in the mid-1990s by men who have no clear connection to Iran’s military or intelligence community, said John Caves, a senior research associate at the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a research group funded bythe State and Defense Departments and major U.S. philanthropic groups. “This is becoming a lucrative field that smaller, private companies want to get into,” Caves said. “And the Iranian drone program is so resilient because it is so diverse.”Iran’s need to produce one of the parts inside the country may have been spurred by Japan’s efforts to clamp down on the export of sensitive equipment in drones. In 2021, Japanese officials accused Tonegawa Seiko, a company in Tokyo, of trying to illegally export to China 150 small servomotors widely used to make drones. Prosecutors declined to pursue the charges, but the case put a spotlight on the company’s business practices. Tonegawa Seiko first came to the attention of U.N. weapons inspectors in 2018, when the United Arab Emirates seized a shipment of the company’s servomotors heading for parts of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces. Two years later, the U.S. Navy seized similar motors from a ship in the Gulf of Aden that appeared to be destined for Houthi forces. The servomotor in one Mohajer-6 surveillance drone seized by Ukraine appeared to be an Iranian copy of a Tonegawa Seiko part, said Spleeters. Iran may have had to turn to a domestic company to produce the part after Tonegawa Seiko faced increased scrutiny in Japan, he said.Haruo Bando, the president of Tonegawa Seiko, declined to comment on allegations that Iran used the company’s parts to build drones.Bando said he had no idea that copies of his company’s servomotor had apparently been found in drones used in Ukraine.Spleeters made a similar discovery in debris from one of Iran’s Shahed-131 attack drones brought down in Ukraine. The Shahed drone contained a flow meter—a small part that regulates the flow of fluid to parts of the drone—made by Iran’s Sarmad Electronics that looked like one made by a second Japanese company called Oval. The part found in Ukraine included the Iranian company’s pyramid-shaped logo, Spleeters said.In 2019, U.N. weapons inspectors found the Japanese company’s flow meters in debris from drones used by Iran to attack Saudi Arabia’s oil industry. Oval declined to comment on Iran’s alleged use of its parts to build drones and said it was unaware that copies of its flow meter had apparently been found in drones used in Ukraine.The parts made by the Iranian business are fairly simple to copy, and Iran will still have to rely on American, Asian, and European companies for more sophisticated electronic components, said John Krzyzaniak, a research associate at the Wisconsin Project.—​
Chieko Tsuneoka and Aresu Eqbali contributed to this article.
Write to Dion Nissenbaum at dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com
 
Last edited:
Super unreliable Kuwaiti media "Aljarida" says China has doubled it's 15000 drone order to a total of 30000, now including unmanned maritime products.

it also says Iran is reluctant to sell some of it's models cause they are being kept as a surprise for Americans.

الصين تشتري من إيران 30 ألف مسيّرة
Well, but these numbers are going to the hight i estimated some weeks (edit: or was it month?) ago what China needs to take on Taiwan. Japan is an other level. But for Taiwan me estimated around 50000

Edit:

Mh, i am getting old. Only 5 month ago and i cant remember the real numbers i said. Time to retire? Sitting in parks having a young nurse at my side and a nice tasting cup of tee in my hand? Mh, no, to early...


Ich said:
I dont believe. For Taiwan they would need around 80000 and for Japan around 400000.
 
Last edited:

Iran’s Drone Industry Is Harder to Sanction Amid Sales to Russia

Tehran is relying more on domestic companies for drones it is sending to Russia​

By Dion Nissenbaum/July 13, 2023 7:00 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/irans-drone-industry-is-getting-harder-to-sanction-500839d7
F06KriuX0AAE1LB


Iran is now replicating parts for deadly drones being used by Russia in Ukraine, helping its military evade international sanctions with domestically made components that it once sourced from overseas,according to a new analysis.An Iranian company appears to have developed the ability to copy two parts used in suicide drones that used to come from Japanese electronics manufacturers, according to new findings from Conflict Armament Research, a U.K.-based investigative group that has been examining the drones in Ukraine. Iran gets most of its drone parts from U.S., European and Japanese companies that sell commercially available components. Conflict Armament Research’s findings illustrate how Iran is relying more on domestic companies to produce parts for its unmanned aerial vehicles,making it harder for the U.S. and its allies to disrupt it with sanctions. This is the first time weapons investigators in Ukraine have found parts made by the small, private Iranian electronics firm Sarmad Electronics Sepahan in downed drones, the group said. The company,which didn’t respond to requests for comment, isn’t sanctioned by the U.S. or its allies for its alleged role in producing drones being used in Ukraine.“As sanctions clamp down on foreign supplies, they certainly feel the need to produce as much domestically as they can,” said Damien Spleeters, Conflict Armament Research’s deputy director of operations, who has been examining the drones.The U.S. and its allies say Tehran provides Moscow with hundreds of so-called suicide drones that Russian forces have used—with limited success—to target Ukraine’s power plants, major cities and civilian neighborhoods. Iran says that it isn’t supplying Russia with military aid for the war in Ukraine, though it admits it sold Moscow drones before the war started. In a letter last month to the United Nations Security Council, Amir Saeid Iravani, Iran’s ambassador to the U.N., criticized Conflict Armament Research and said its conclusions about the drones in Ukraine had no credibility.Ukraine says Russia has launched more than 1,000 Iranian drones in scores of attacks over the past year. On some days in May, Russia used more than 100 drones to attack Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials. Ukraine has been able to largely neutralize the Iranian-drone threat, but the persistent attacks put a strain on the country’s air defense systems.The U.S. and its allies have been searching for ways to restrict Iran’s ability to build drones. The Biden administration and European nations have imposed sanctions on dozens of companies and individuals allegedly involved in Iran’s drone industry.But the effort appears to so far have had a limited impact. Many drone parts—such as microchips, camera lenses, motors and GPS systems—are widely available on the commercial market, making ithard for the U.S. and its allies to choke off the supplies heading to Iran.The findings from Conflict Armament Research offer new insights into the evolution of Iran’s drone industry.For years, U.N. weapons inspectors examining Iranian drones used by Houthi militants in Yemen documented the use of American, European and Japanese parts in the weapons. Earlier this year, Spleeters discovered two pieces in Iranian drones used to target Ukraine that appeared to be copies of Japanese parts once used by Tehran for drones supplied to Houthi militants in Yemen.Spleeters noticed that the parts he examined bore striking similarities to those advertised for sale on the Iranian company’s website. One piece found in the drone bore the company’s pyramid-shaped logo, he said.Conflict Armament Research traced the copycat parts to Sarmad Electronics, which says on its website that it has the ability to reverse engineer components for customers. Sarmad Electronics appears to have been founded in the mid-1990s by men who have no clear connection to Iran’s military or intelligence community, said John Caves, a senior research associate at the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, a research group funded bythe State and Defense Departments and major U.S. philanthropic groups. “This is becoming a lucrative field that smaller, private companies want to get into,” Caves said. “And the Iranian drone program is so resilient because it is so diverse.”Iran’s need to produce one of the parts inside the country may have been spurred by Japan’s efforts to clamp down on the export of sensitive equipment in drones. In 2021, Japanese officials accused Tonegawa Seiko, a company in Tokyo, of trying to illegally export to China 150 small servomotors widely used to make drones. Prosecutors declined to pursue the charges, but the case put a spotlight on the company’s business practices. Tonegawa Seiko first came to the attention of U.N. weapons inspectors in 2018, when the United Arab Emirates seized a shipment of the company’s servomotors heading for parts of Yemen controlled by Iran-backed Houthi forces. Two years later, the U.S. Navy seized similar motors from a ship in the Gulf of Aden that appeared to be destined for Houthi forces. The servomotor in one Mohajer-6 surveillance drone seized by Ukraine appeared to be an Iranian copy of a Tonegawa Seiko part, said Spleeters. Iran may have had to turn to a domestic company to produce the part after Tonegawa Seiko faced increased scrutiny in Japan, he said.Haruo Bando, the president of Tonegawa Seiko, declined to comment on allegations that Iran used the company’s parts to build drones.Bando said he had no idea that copies of his company’s servomotor had apparently been found in drones used in Ukraine.Spleeters made a similar discovery in debris from one of Iran’s Shahed-131 attack drones brought down in Ukraine. The Shahed drone contained a flow meter—a small part that regulates the flow of fluid to parts of the drone—made by Iran’s Sarmad Electronics that looked like one made by a second Japanese company called Oval. The part found in Ukraine included the Iranian company’s pyramid-shaped logo, Spleeters said.In 2019, U.N. weapons inspectors found the Japanese company’s flow meters in debris from drones used by Iran to attack Saudi Arabia’s oil industry. Oval declined to comment on Iran’s alleged use of its parts to build drones and said it was unaware that copies of its flow meter had apparently been found in drones used in Ukraine.The parts made by the Iranian business are fairly simple to copy, and Iran will still have to rely on American, Asian, and European companies for more sophisticated electronic components, said John Krzyzaniak, a research associate at the Wisconsin Project.—
Chieko Tsuneoka and Aresu Eqbali contributed to this article.
Write to Dion Nissenbaum at dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com
What westerners,seems dont understand,is fact that Iran used foreign parts mostly in exported weapons or weapons used by allies,more because at that way,no one can proove(even everyone knows)that weapons are produced in Iran. Iran has capability to produce nost of these parts in country
 
What westerners,seems dont understand,is fact that Iran used foreign parts mostly in exported weapons or weapons used by allies,more because at that way,no one can proove(even everyone knows)that weapons are produced in Iran. Iran has capability to produce nost of these parts in country
we can't produce chips
 
we can't produce chips

I dont think so. If you look at the development of Iran laser, then you can see that Iran is easily able to produce a UV light source needed for UV Lithography in the 195 nm, what then could make chips in 40 nm if some additional processtechnics are also used.
 
Back
Top Bottom