At the end of November, Iran released a video of the U.S. USS Eisenhower carrier strike group entering the Persian Gulf with a drone, which showed a lot of detail.
[Footage taken by Iranian drone]
It stands to reason that the United States could not have failed to detect the Iranian drone, and with the temper of the United States, it should not allow it to continue flying.
Here's what happened,
Many people have expressed curiosity: Iran's drones are so powerful, and they have directly frightened US aircraft carriers? Where can such powerful drone technology be inherited?
Let the American aircraft carrier feel "scared"
It should be noted that it is not only Iranian drones that make the US aircraft carrier retreat, but also the country's control of the Middle East.
First of all, the geographical location of this country is very special, from Iran you can go to Europe, Central Asia, the Indian Ocean, Africa and other regions.
In particular, the southern part of the country extends to the Gulf of Oman,
Many Middle Eastern countries that want to ship oil around the world by ship almost all have to pass through the Gulf of Oman.
When it comes to oil transportation, cheap sea transportation is often the most cost-effective, so the country that controls the Gulf of Oman often has a big say.
Although the Gulf of Oman is not under Iranian jurisdiction, it is located here, and it is easy to control it militarily.
Once Iran "flapps" with the United States and directly starts to control the Gulf of Oman and disrupt global oil supply, it is likely to be another energy crisis.
The energy crisis has brought about and affected the development of countries around the world.
Of course, the United States can also choose to directly wage war against Iran, as it did in the Gulf War in the last century, in order to seize control of important gorges, and even get a lot of oil.
But this is not a wise choice for the United States, on the one hand, the United States currently has two "proxy wars" in the world, namely the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
These two wars alone have already left the United States scrambling, not to mention that they will personally fight Iran.
On the other hand, Iran is also not a fuel-efficient lamp, and after years of development, its defense strength has reached a fairly high level.
In addition, Iran has a vast land area, and the plateau and mountain terrain are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and unless the United States is "stupid," it will not easily start a war with Iran.
Therefore, after the start of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, US military bases in the Middle East have been attacked one after another, and everyone understands who is behind the ghost, how can the United States not know?
The United States must now hold back and wait for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to pass before slowly thinking of Iran.
Second, Iran's foreign strategy is tough, which cannot be simply solved by the United States by military means.
Iranian drones
Of course, in the deterrence of American aircraft carriers, Iranian drones also play a rather important role.
[Resembling an American Reaper drone]
Although the country's development is not optimistic, and it has been blocked by Western countries led by the United States for a long time, people's drone technology is good.
For example, Iran announced a new drone called the Mirage-10 in August 2023.
This drone is somewhat similar to the American MQ-9 Reaper drone, the Iranian news agency notes that the Mirage-10 has a combat range of up to 2,000 kilometers, is equipped with advanced reconnaissance and strike systems, and can carry up to 300 kg of explosives.
At the same time, the "Mirage"-10 can also fly at an altitude of 7,000 kilometers, stay in the air for up to 24 hours, and the strike range can cover the Israeli mainland.
Iran not only has advanced mid-to-high-end drones, but also low-end suicide drones, which have also been tested in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
For example, the "Witness"-136 provided by Iran to Russia is very good, it costs only about 20,000 US dollars, and can carry a large amount of high explosives.
The cost of a single anti-aircraft missile supported by the United States to Ukraine is as high as $500,000 to $1 million, and Russia will not lose money whether it can hit the "Witness"-136 or not.
On the basis of this drone, Iran has also launched an upgraded version of the "Witness"-238, which increases the ability to track and strike targets.
Where did you learn from?
It is worth mentioning that this is still the various types of UAVs that Iran has announced, and there may be more advanced UAV types hidden in their inventory, and if they are equipped with various types of missiles, Iran's overall UAV combat power level can be called world-class.
So the question is, why does a country that is obviously unable to independently produce even fourth-generation fighters have such advanced technology in the field of UAVs? Is there help from "mysterious forces from the East"?
It is clear that China may have had some exchanges with Iran in the field of civilian drones, but it has played little role in their technological development.
Iran's drone technology has been developed step by step entirely on its own.
First of all, they got small military drones from some small countries that can be studied, and coincidentally, these drones just helped them break through the core technology.
Secondly, Iran itself has leveraged drone technology from the United States, after all, the United States and Iran have been-for-tat for so long, although Iran has always been at a disadvantage, but the United States will always fall into the hands of others.
For example, Iran has captured advanced drones such as the American RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-9 Reaper, and even more advanced secret-class models.
[RQ-4 Global Hawk]
The United States is a living research object, and after thoroughly understanding these drone technologies, it is difficult to develop them in related fields.
Finally, thanks to the rapid development of Iran's missile technology over the years, including considerable progress.
These technologies have further fed back into Iran's drone field, prompting the country to become a "drone powerhouse".
It can be seen from this that the development of national defense forces cannot be completely dependent on foreign countries, and only by mastering technology can we have a real right to speak.
Resources:
[1] China Youth Daily: "Iran's New Drone Brings Variables to the Russia-Ukraine Conflict"
[2] China Military Network: "Civilian Technology Empowers Weapons of War - Iran's "Swallow" Series UAVs