IRAN has unveiled its biggest ever drone dubbed “The Gaza” that can carry a deadly 13-bomb load.
The drone was revealed to the world by Iran‘s military air force during a huge weapons drill.
YouTube @ Times Of IndiaThe Gaza is Iran’s biggest-ever unmanned war drone, and is now fully operational[/caption]
YouTube @ Times Of IndiaThe lethal drone successfully took out eight targets during a weapons drill[/caption]
YouTube @ Times Of IndiaThe aircraft can carry up to 13 bombs[/caption]
The enormous unmanned machine has a vast 22-metre wingspan and weighs more than 3,000kg.
Footage flaunting the new weapon shows the drone cruising through the skies and blasting the earth with bombs.
Fireballs explode hundreds of metres below as bombs plummet from the drone.
The Gaza itself is shaped like a small aircraft with two flat wings and a propeller at the back.
The video demonstrates the drone seamlessly going through the motions – including taxiing, take-off, operation of the landing gear and touch-down.
Other footage shows the bomber’s scope as it strikes targets in the cross hairs with pinpoint accuracy.
According to The Aerospace Force of Iran‘s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), the drone can cruise around non-stop for 35 hours and hit speeds of 350kmph.
It can support a payload of at least 500kg, meaning it can be stocked with 13 deadly bombs kitted out with AI capabilities.
The drone, with a sprawling range of 1,000km, was first announced in May 2021, but has now been declared fully operational.
During the weapons exhibition, Iran obliterated eight targets using the drone’s precision bombing system.
Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the IRGC, said that his force’s drone had launched AI-enabled missiles during the major drill in the Persian Gulf, code-named the Great Prophet Authority.
The nickname is to acknowledge Iran‘s Palestinian ally, but the drone’s technical name is the Shahed-149.
The weapon is similar to America’s Reaper drone, which has been used in numerous combat operations including in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen.
It is thought the Iranian creation uses either a Chinese or a Russian navigation system after Iran made deals with the two countries in 2021 and 2022.
YouTube @ Times Of IndiaThe drone has a huge wingspan of 22m, and is shaped like a small plane[/caption]
YouTube @ Times Of IndiaThe bombing system is able to take out targets with pinpoint accuracy[/caption]
The Gaza drone under construction
This means it does not need to reply on the commonly-used GPS system.
Iran has a history of ripping-off US technology – particularly drones.
The most famous example is the Shahed 171 Simorgh, or which was a copycat of the stealthy US RQ-170.
One of these machines was brought down in Iran in 2011, supposedly using electronic warfare, which allowed the Islamic nation to “reverse engineer” the drone.
A number of Reaper drones have also been captured by Iran, which they could have mimicked to build the Gaza.
YouTube @ Times Of IndiaIran’s new drone is a rip-off of the American Reaper model[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
