Mystery drone emerges from the sea in the Gulf of Oman. American, Israeli or …. Iranian? March 11, 2013
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Drones, Iran , 7commentsThe following image shows a drone reportedly recovered by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution from the sea in the Gulf of Oman, near the port of Jask, Iran.
The mysterious UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) appears to be covered by mud and seaweeds and it does not look like any known type at first glance.
Although the quality of the photo does not help identifying it, the drone, seemingly painted in a desert color scheme, has something in common with the somehow famous “Pahpad” drone, made in Iran and used by Syria to spy on the clashes in Homs: similar nose section and, possibly fin (the one in the image could be displaced and the only surviving the impact).
Still, the drone recovered from the sea seems to lack the typical tail boom that in the “Pahpad” (image below) is connected to the vertical stabilizers in the middle of the fins.
Furthermore, after capturing an RQ-170 and some ScanEagle drones, the fact that Tehran has not claimed any new downing of enemy UAVs could be the sign that the one depicted in the above image is a domestic “Pahpad”.
Rather than the name of the drone, Pahpad (پهپاد) is actually the short form of “parandeye hedayat pazire az rahe door” (“پرنده هدایت پذیر از راه دور”), the Farsi for “remotely piloted aircraft”.
What’s your opinion? Which kind of drone is that?
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New videos show Syrian made-in-Iran drone taking off from Hamah airbase, Syria March 25, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Drones, Syria , 1 comment so farUploaded on Mar. 24, 2012, these videos show the made-in-Iran drone, known as “Pahpad”, taking off and operating from Hamah airbase in the city of Hama, in the west part of Syria, north of Damascus.
Hamah seems to be one of the most active regime’s airbases: a Syrian Air Il-76 offloading some “goods” and several Mig-21 and helos were recently filmed there.
Here’s the video of the departure
The drone flying at low level
Here below some screen dumps which confirm that the drone used by the Syrian regime over Hama, is the same spotted in Homs.
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Syrian drones spying on rebels: made in Iran UAVs or amateur radio controlled models? March 13, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Drones, Syria , add a commentOne of the most interesting things of the Syrian uprising, from the military analyst perspective, is the use of drones by the Syrian regime.
Syria had its drone fleet when the uprising started. According to some sources they are manufactured domestically, at the Syria’s Scientific Research Center, even if, according to the images surfaced so far, all of them are a copy of those produced by Iran.
Among the types believed to be operated by Bashar al-Assad forces: the Mohajer 4, the Ababil, (most probably) the Mirsad-1 that Hezbollah terror group has used to violate the Israeli airspace in the past, and, the only one filmed over Homs that could be clearly identified as the “Pahpad” (that is not the actual name of the robot but the short form in Persian for “remotely piloted aircraft”).
There’s another interesting drone that was spotted recently and still has to be identified. It is particularly interesting because it does not look like any of the above mentioned drones (even if a correct identification is impossible because of the extremely low quality of the footage). At first glance, its shape, color etc, recalls those of Israeli or U.S. drones. However, it is quite unlikely that it was not Syrian considered the amount of air defense and anti-aircraft systems believed to be active in Syria: U.S Joint Chief Dempsey recently said that Syrian air defense is 5 times more sophisticated than Libya, 10 times more than in former Jugoslavia (1999) and covers one fifth of the terrain.
Actually there’s also a video of seemingly solid flying object orbiting into a smoke cloud of a burning oil pipe, that someone still considers a drone.
What are these drones doing over Homs?
Depending on the payload they are carrying they can could be eavesdropping into “enemy” communications or helping ground forces to pinpoint rebels by locating the oppositors’ firing positions and directing the shelling accordingly. Noteworthy, such furing support flights do not take place at night suggesting that the loyalist robots can only carry a color/monochrome daylight TV camera.
Rebels have affirmed that they were able to shot down and recover some of these Syria’s made-in-Iran drones. However, even if the shape of the recovered drone recall that of the “Pahpad” or “Mohajer 4″, based on the below video, the downed robot seem to be much smaller that the typical UAVs (whose wingspan exceeds 5 mt).
Here below you can find a screen dump, published by Ynet of another drone recovered by rebels.
Image credit: Ynet
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Another unidentified drone filmed over Homs, Syria. Syrian, American or Israeli? March 7, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Drones, Syria , add a commentThe one barely visible in the following video is a drone flying over Homs, Syria.
Although, at first glance, its color, shape, etc. reminded me those of the U.S. Global Hawk, believed to be operating over Syria, its sound is the one of a propeller-driven engine. Unless some Israeli Herons, or U.S. Predators or Reapers are already operating well inside the Syrian airspace, this could be another (unidentified) drone belonging to the Assad forces.
Footage in this case is extremely low on quality and, unlike the “Pahpad” spying on the clashes, identification in this case is almost impossible. It could be another “Pahpad” or a “Mohajer 4″ even if it seems to be white/light grey in color, sensibly bigger and it is flying higher (although this could be a distortion of the camera) than the ‘bots spotted so far.
Even if what was flying in the smoke in a previous video still remains a mystery (I suggest you reading all the comments to the post to find some interesting theories) someone has explained that smoke is intentionally created to prevent UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) from targeting activities on the ground.
Thanks to Bjørn Holst Jespersen for the heads-up.
Mysterious drone overflying clashes in Syria could be a new type rarely seen outside Iran. And here's a new picture (maybe). February 27, 2012
Posted by David Cenciotti in : Drones, Syria , add a commentThe drone silently spying on the clashes on a suburb of Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 14, could be a much rarer UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) than the Mohajer 4 model initially believed to be depicted in the amateur video uploaded on Youtube.
Another image published by the Open Source GEOINT (OSGEOINT) blog shows the same robot from a different angle providing details that could not be visible from below.
The most evident one is that the drone has a tail boom that appears to be connected to the vertical stabilizers in the middle of the fins rather than at the top, as in the Mohajer 4.
This particular shape fits the one of a new “made in Iran” drone that, according to the members of the interesting Iran military forum, that is thought to be called “Pahpad” (پهپاد), the short form of “parandeye hedayat pazire az rahe door” (“پرنده هدایت پذیر از راه دور”) that is the Persian for “remotely piloted aircraft”.
Few images of this drone can be found on the Internet. The only one available are those published by Mashregnews.ir website (posted below) and a couple more showing a camouflaged “Pahpad” flying over Sudan.
Image credit: Mashregnews.ir
Noteworthy, the shape and livery of this plane is much similar to the one shown in a picture used in an article published FARS news agency in 2007; an article about a drone capable to perform both reconnaissance and attack missions on enemy targets, designed and manufactured by two Iranian students.
If you compare the image below and the ones above you’ll notice that the two drones are extremely similar (the main difference seems to be the landing gear).
Is this the same drone? Did FARS use an image of the so-called “Pahpad” for the article or is the drone currently flying over Syria a development of that once amateur robot designed by two students?
Image credit: FARS news agency
Anyway, although the type of drone was eventually identified, whether the “Pahpad” drone belongs to the Syrian regime or it is a Hezbollah-operated UAV remains a mystery. However, since it was filmed overflying Kafr Batna, a suburb of Damascus, the first hypothesis (Syrian UAV) seems to be more likely.
Bjoern Holst Jespersen has contributed to this article.
