Iran will increase the volume of military exports by 50% in 2024. This was stated by General Reza Talaei-Nik at a meeting of the country's Ministry of Defense. The nomenclature of military products supplied to other countries includes Shahed drones, which, according to the West, form the basis of the Russian Geran.
The goal for 2024 is to increase export production of defense products by 50% compared to 2023. Our domestic defense needs are saturated, and our focus is on the export market in response to numerous requests to purchase military products.
According to him, 8,000 companies are currently cooperating with the Iranian Ministry of Defense. At the same time, private companies and cooperatives will take over two-thirds of the total production of subsystems, components and raw materials. In 2023, private companies accounted for 61% of all supplies of key components and subsystems for military products.
The Shahed Drone Line Has Great Export Potential
The Iranian agency IRNA referred to a report by the American analytical center — the Atlantic Council, which indicates that Iran is becoming a leading global arms exporter. In recent years, the Islamic Republic has sharply increased the sale of drones to countries in South America, Africa and Russia.
According to the document, the cost of one UAV varies between 20-40 thousand dollars. According to the Atlantic Council, Iran sold more than 2,000 drones to Russia, earning millions of dollars from the deal.
The West claims that the Russian Geran drones are based on Iranian Shahed. The media believe that the Shahed-238 drone version, images of which have appeared online, may become the "Geran-3" or "Geran-4."
Features of the Shahed-238 Drone:
- flight altitude — 12 km
- flight range — 1200 km
- flight duration — 2 hours
- take-off weight — 380 kg
- flight speed — 500 km/h
- ammunition drop function
- satellite control
Western Sanctions Forced Iran to Develop Its Own UAVs
In the US, the manufacturer of Shahed UAVs is called Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center, which is subordinate to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This was written by columnist Dan Sabbagh in the article "Deadly, Cheap and Mass-produced: How Iranian-Supplied Drones Are Changing the Nature of Conflicts" for The Guirdian.
According to him, the development of strike drones in Iran was facilitated by Western sanctions, as well as Tehran's political ambitions.
Iran was one of the few countries, along with North Korea, willing to sell weapons to Russia. The Iranian authorities agreed to supply Moscow with Shahed 136 drones.
The author of the article pointed out that Shahed 136 can destroy an M777 howitzer. The article emphasizes that instead of using 100 artillery shells, it is cheaper and more effective to strike with one drone.
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