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Iran shows off underground drone base, but not its location -state media


The Iranian army has given some details - but not the exact location - of an underground base for its military drones, state media reported on Saturday, amid simmering tensions in the Gulf.

State TV said 100 drones were being kept in the heart of the Zagros mountains, including Ababil-5, which it said were fitted with Qaem-9 missiles, an Iranian-made version of air-to-surface U.S. Hellfire.

“No doubt the drones of Islamic Republic of Iran’s armed forces are the region’s most powerful,” army commander Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said. “Our capability to upgrade drones is unstoppable,” he added.

The Iranian state TV correspondent said he had made the 45-minute helicopter flight on Thursday from Kermanshah in western Iran to a secret underground drone site. He was allowed to take blindfolds off only upon arrival at the base, he said.

TV footage showed rows of drones fitted with missiles in a tunnel, which it said was several hundred metres underground.

The TV report came a day after Iranian Revolutionary Guards seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf, in apparent retaliation for the confiscation of Iranian oil by the United States from a tanker held off the Greek coast.

Greek authorities last month impounded the Iranian-flagged Pegas, with 19 Russian crew members on board, due to European Union sanctions. The United States later confiscated the Iranian oil cargo held onboard and plans to send it to the United States on another vessel.

The Pegas was later released, but the seizure inflamed tensions at a delicate time, with Iran and world powers seeking to revive a nuclear deal that former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned, reimposing sanctions on Tehran.
The Times of Israel adds:
The semi-official Mehr news agency said a cruise missile — named Heidar-1 — was also unveiled by the army. The agency said it was the first cruise missile capable of being fired from a drone.
Iranian state television said the tunnel was some 100 meters (330 feet) underground and was home to the Kaman-22 and Fotros drones, both capable of carrying cruise missiles.
More from Rudaw:
Iran started developing drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in the 1980s during its eight-year war with Iraq.

The US and Israel accuse Iran of dispatching fleets of drones to its proxies in the Middle East, including Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, the regime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Yemen's Huthi rebels.

Video aired on state television showed Iran's armed forces chief of staff General Mohammad Bagheri and army commander Abdolrahim Mousavi visiting the underground site.

"More than 100 combat, reconnaissance and attack drones belonging to the army are kept for operations in this base located in the heart of the Zagros mountains," the report said.

State TV said the flagship of the fleet was the "Kaman-22", a drone equipped with missiles and able to fly at least 2,000 kilometers (1,245 miles).

The US Treasury slapped sanctions on the drone programme of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in October last year. It accused the Guards of being behind a September 2019 drone strike on a Saudi oil refinery, as well as a July 2021 drone attack on a commercial ship off the coast of Oman that killed two crewmen. Iran denied the charges.


Posted by: badanov 2022-05-29
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=634188