Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder says Iranian drones and troops operating in Ukraine.

On October 20, 2022, Dave Vergun, of the U.S. Department of Defense, wrote that the Defense Department assesses that Iranians have been in Ukraine to assist Russia with the drone operation there, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a media briefing at the Pentagon on the same day.
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Wreckage of an Iranian-made suicide drone Shahed-136 used by the Russian armed forces to strike the Ukrainian army (Picture source : Ukrainian army)

The U.S. Department of Defense's understanding is that Iranian military personnel are on the ground in Crimea assisting Russian military personnel to conduct these drone operations in Ukraine, he said. Ryder noted that the department knows the drones are from Iran. However, the Iranians reportedly have denied shipping drones to be used against Ukraine. "It's just indicative of the kinds of rhetoric that you hear coming from Iran and from Russia, trying to say that these are not Iranian drones when they clearly are," Ryder said. "In many ways, these drones are used to, as psychological weapons used to create fear. But from an operational, from a strategic standpoint, it still doesn't change the fact that Russian forces on the ground continue to lose territory or at best hold ground," he said.

The member states of the European Union (EU) on Thursday approved sanctions against an Iranian state-owned company and three Iranian generals who they believe played a crucial role in the supply of hundreds of drones to the Russian army for its war against Ukraine. These kamikaze drones were used massively in strikes on October 10 on kyiv and the country's electricity infrastructure - and continue to be used. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia received nearly 2,400 Iranian drones. These very noisy and slow drones can be destroyed by the Ukrainian army, but when there are several of them at the same time, the operation is difficult.

The entity targeted by the European Union's sanctions is Shahed Aviation Industrials, a company linked to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). It designed and developed the Shahed series drones that were sold to Russia last summer and then renamed by the Russians to disguise their provenance, Christophe Lamfalussy reports in La Libre Belgique. The three generals are Chief of Staff Mohammad Hossein Bagheri who, according to the EU, plays "a fundamental role in Iran's defense cooperation with the Russian Federation"; General Sayed Hojatollah Qureishi, "responsible for negotiating the agreement with the Russian Federation regarding the supply of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)", and General Saeed Aghajani, commander of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force. Both Iran and Russia deny that drones were delivered by the former to the latter, even if the Europeans claim to have gathered pieces of evidence.

On September 18, Army Recognition published that, citing a source from CNN, in recent weeks, Russia has reportedly shown its intention to acquire Iranian-made drones and is busy training on this type of drone. US Government has also said that over the past few weeks, Russian representatives have conducted training in Iran as part of an agreement to transfer unmanned aerial vehicles from Iran to Russia. The U.S. Government added that Iran could supply Shahed-191 and Shahed-129 drones that can carry guided missiles. The Ukrainian armed forces have published a picture showing the wreckage of an Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone after a strike on September 15, 2022.

In July 2022, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan announced that Iran planned to deliver drones to Russia which are able to carry weapons including guided missiles.

According to Russian sources, mainly from the Russian military-industrial complex, as claimed by Military Monitoring, GLONASS navigation modules have already been integrated into Shahed-129 and Shahed-136 UAVs delivered by Tehran to Moscow. Such a claim strongly contradicts initial statements from Moscow and Tehran that Russia is not using Iranian weapons systems. The same sources claim that the reason for the integration of the navigation system is to improve the efficiency of drones by increasing their efficient range. Initially, drones were used in real combat conditions in Ukraine. Then they showed a flaw – the very original inertial system of the aircraft: the Shahed-136s had a limited strike radius of nearly 550 km, while its potential range could average 2,500 km. As Military Monitoring writes, with a similar radius and limited range, the Russian armed forces cannot use drones to hit targets at a long distance, but only at close range.

The Shahed-136 is currently used by two countries: Iran and Russia, as well as by the Houthi movement in Yemen. This drone is manufactured by Iran’s HESA. According to unconfirmed information, the price range of one unit is between $20,000 and $50,000. Iran has not provided information on exactly how many drones of this model it has produced so far.

Iranian Shahed-136 drones are typically launched several at a time to overwhelm defenses (Picture source: Iranian MoD)

The Shahed-136 is a loitering ammunition, or suicide drone, fully developed and manufactured by the Iranian defense industry. It was unveiled in December 2021 during a video report of Iranian TV.

Citing technical information published by the Iranian defense industry, the Shahed-136 has a length of 3.5 m, a wingspan of 2.5 m, and a weight of 200 kg. The drone is equipped with an explosive warhead and can fly at a range of up to 2,500 km at a maximum speed of 185 km/h.ccording to a picture released by the Strategic Communications Directorate of the Ukrainian armed forces on September 13, 2022, Russian forces deployed in Ukraine use Iranian-made suicide drones Shahed-136 to conduct combat operations against the Ukrainian army.