The main issue with Karrar is that it's built like a cruise missile, 15 years? The core design is more like 50 years old and I don't think it is that cheap. One thing it's got going for it is speed. Which makes sense in this latest interceptor role, but it's limited to only visual range through one IR camera in the nose.
The main barrier for any UAV was always it's navigation, communication and GNSS. Sure the core is old, but so is a bomb, a gravity bomb is almost 100 years old now, it's the smartness of it that makes it modern.
So to be able to navigate to the place you want it to go accurately, to drop a munition accurately, to be able to change mission plans remotely requires tech that is only really started to be available in the early 2000s. Like GPS.
The production of the cruise missile engine is not cheap, but it's not the system itself that is the main factor when it comes to cost. An aircraft or an artillery unit, will expend so much more in ammunition that the value of the system itself. Your main cost of warfare is not the 5million$ drone but the 10,000k smart missile it uses and it's flight cost. So the Karrar having cheap flight costs and can drop a dumb bomb with a good CEP is key to the ability maintaining the ability to operate with consistent firepower.
Otherwise I think it's more appropriate to call it a reusable cruise missile than an UAV because it's just not useful in reconnaissance at all.
UAV kinda implies loitering so I agree with that. This system can't loiter for long since its engine burns fuel quite fast.
And Iran needs reconnaissance. There's already an ungodly amount of missiles to throw. They are all worthless if you don't know where the enemy is.
True, and that's why Iran also has an ungodly amount of recon assets that started production in early 2000s. I'm talking thousands of small recon UAVs. A kin to this in size.
Not particularly large, low flight time, but it is a recon asset in very large numbers. Alot of these were being produced in the early 2000s when the tech for combat UAVs wasn't available, and mastery of heavier turboprop engines wasn't available for making bigger UAVs (until Shahed-129 of course around 2012). Even commercially made engines can be use for this weight class so you can imagine producing 1000s isn't hard. I don't see why UAVs like these also cannot be upgraded with small and newer higher res cameras as well, so they will be very relevant.
Higher grade and far ranged ISR will have to be done with the other assets (and more is needed, much more in this area, starting with more satellites ), This is the main area of weakness, The long range ISR is not at a level where for example, if Iran wanted to fire at IDF forces that have built up artillery units 20km from Lebanon, it wouldn't be able to find the coordinates to target (Edit: Quickly I should say, the latest Sat available, might be sufficient but how often does it pass near Israel?). Or locate forward operating bases. Besides that front line recon is pretty well covered.
If someone has that picture of the sheet that showed production units in the 1000s of UAVs for older gen stuff, please post it. I can't remember where I found it.
