Iran announces unpiloted warplane

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have revealed an Iranian-made unpiloted warplane that is able to reach Israel, Iranian news agency Fars reported on Friday.

The plane’s model is Shahed 129 and it can fly 1,700 km in 24 hours. It is reportedly able to carry eight smart rockets used for military and scientific purposes.

The commander of the Air Force of the Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier-General Amir Ali Haji Zada, said that launching this plane has greatly increased Iran’s military abilities to monitor the central desert and the borders with the Gulf States and the Oman Sea.

Speaking to Iran’s Al-Alam TV, Zada said that while the neighbouring countries do not directly pose any danger to his country, American bases in these countries would be targeted if the US were to launch any attack on Iran.

Zada said that this plane would also be used in monitoring American ships passing through its waters. “This is our right,” he explained. Until now, “we have been using normal planes for this mission.”

It is worth mentioning that Iran announced in December 2011 that it had downed an American RQ 170 unpiloted plane and refused to return it to the US.

At the time, the US administration claimed that the plane was on a reconnaissance mission in Afghanistan and mistakenly entered Iranian skies, falling in the east of the country.