Know Your Enemy: the Shahed-136

The Drone at the Center of the Iranian-Russian Axis and Tehran's Attacks on Israel

The Iranian military has launched a wave of drones at Israel. While the total amount of drones and the intended targets of this attack are unknown, all available evidence suggests that this swarm is composed of Shahed loitering munitions. For nearly two years, these drones have been a fixture of Moscow’s air raids on Ukrainian cities. These drones should viewed as a symbol of the shared threats seen among the United States’ allies abroad and the increased technical cooperation within the axis of authoritarian powers.

After months of importing Shahed-136 drones, the Russian Federation began producing its own clone of the UAV formally known as the “Geran-2”. On April 2nd, the Ukrainian military destroyed a Shahed factory in Tatarstan, Russia. The strike was achieved using a Cessna aircraft modified for unmanned flight and carrying an explosive payload. A…