Syrian regime's drone workshop with Saeqeh UAVs (and evidence of Iranian support) captured by the rebels in Aleppo

August 15, 2012 Drones, Syria

David Cenciotti

The following video, just uploaded to Youtube, allegedly shows an Assad regime’s drone workshop in Aleppo, just captured by the rebels.
Interestingly, the type of drones depicted in the footage are not the “Pahpad“, the UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) most frequently spotted spying on the Free Syrian Army around Homs and elsewhere in Syria since the beginning of the uprising, but what looks like Iranian “Saeqeh” ones.

The Saeqeh are a family of Iranian target drones similar to the Ababil UAVs. Those in the video have some canard wings that make them different from the previous versions. This could mean that those captured in Aleppo are either improved Saeqeh UAVs or Ababil (although similar to the Ababil II, those in the workshop are not that type of drone), used for reconnaissance missions.

Along with the drones, the rebels reportedly found also the manuals of to operate/overhaul them (as well as documents whose cover depicts Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini).

H/T to @troublejee for the heads-up

Is Incirlik airbase in Turkey being used to direct military and communications aid to Syria’s rebels (theaviationist.com)
Photo: Iran’s brand new drones (including an Israeli UAV clone) exposed during recent wargames. (theaviationist.com)
Israel’s satellites, reconnaissance aircraft, drones spying on Syrian chemical weapons arsenal (theaviationist.com)
An entire Syrian Air Defense Battalion defected, (possibly) bringing some new anti-aircraft weapons in rebel hands. (theaviationist.com)

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

Smooth Operator says:

August 15, 2012 at 8:01 PM

Wouldn’t I find F14s in Iran along with American manuals on how to operate them?(evidence that the US is supporting Iran I would think) lol
David Kindalin says:

August 18, 2012 at 4:36 PM

“Along with the drones, the rebels found also the manuals of to operate/overhall them” Don’t say anything when you don’t know. The book titles are: “the way of Imam khomeini” and “lessons from islamic revolution” and both are in arabic. Iranians do not speak arabic. their language is persian!
- David Cenciotti says:
  
  August 20, 2012 at 10:09 AM
  
  Thank you David,
  
  the fact that there were manuals to operate and overhaul them was included in the message that pointed me to the video.
Somebody says:

June 28, 2014 at 5:47 PM

Just for the record;
Pahpad in Persian means UAV or drone, so this sentence ” not the type of drones depicted in the footage are not the “Pahpad“ ” is not grammatically correct. ;)