By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-08-23

Iran on Tuesday (August 22) displayed its latest unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), with state media reporting the new drone has enhanced weapons capabilities and can fly at a higher altitude and for a longer duration than its predecessors.

The domestically-built Mohajer-10 drone was unveiled at a ceremony in Tehran to showcase what the Iranian government described as the latest achievements of Iran's defense industry.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi attended the ceremony alongside senior officials from the army and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The new drone is an upgraded version of the Mohajer-6, which Iran has been accused of selling to Russia for use in its war on Ukraine.

It "can fly up to a maximum duration of 24 hours at an altitude of 7,000 meters, with an operational range of 2,000km," according to a report published by Iran's official news outlet, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Mohajer-10 can travel at speeds of up to 210km per hour and is equipped with updated electronic and intelligence systems. It has a payload of up to 300kg of cargo allowing it to carry "all kinds of bombs and ammunitions," IRNA said.

The new drone is double the weight and flight duration capacity of Mohajer-6 which can hold 150kg of weapons and fly for 12 hours. Mohajer-6 also has a lower flight altitude of 5,400 metres, and speed of 200km per hour.

Two long-range ballistic missiles also were displayed at the ceremony and are "ready to be handed over to the IRGC," Iranian and regional media reported.

They are named Khorramshahr and Haj-Ghassem, the latter after the late IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq in a US air strike in January 2020.

Hailing Iran's military advances on state television, Raisi said they had changed perceptions about Iran, which is now seen as a "producer" of such weapons.

He warned that Iran would not hesitate to "cut off the hand" of any aggressor.

Iran's drone industry

Western governments have expanded sanctions on military procurement networks and individuals associated with Iran's UAV and ballistic missile programs and on IRGC operatives over international terror and assassination plots.

Though Iran has attempted to hide its role in the manufacture and export of drones that its proxies and allies have used to stage attacks in the Middle East and Ukraine, forensic evidence reveals the Islamic Republic's fingerprints.

In a January 13 report, the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a UK defence and security think-tank, linked Iran to drone attacks in the region and beyond.

The report notes that debris from the September 2019 drone attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais oil installations in Saudi Arabia first brought to light an aircraft the Saudis described as an "unknown delta wing UAV".

Iran typically displays its drones in military parades and exhibitions, RUSI observed, but this particular model was not exhibited prior to the attack, "nor did it appear for some considerable time after that attack."

Iran later acknowledged that the drone was an Iranian-made Shahed-136.

The vast majority of Iranian drones are manufactured domestically, according to Iran Primer, although new evidence indicates components "may have been acquired in the gray market or were acquired covertly".

Most Iranian drones are designed by the Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center near Esfahan, per RUSI, and are produced by the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Co. (HESA), headquartered in Tehran.

HESA is controlled by Iran's defense ministry and is under US sanctions, according to the US Treasury.