Iranian kamikaze drones Shahed-136 used by Russia pose new threat to AFU - WSJ
The Russian occupiers have begun to actively use drones in Ukraine obtained from Iran, and this poses a new threat to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Details
The Wall Street Journal reporters spoke with Colonel Rodion Kulagin, artillery commander of the 92nd mechanized brigade of the AFU, who spoke about the use of drones. According to him, Russia conducted a test last month that resulted in an Iranian UAV hitting a 155 mm M777 towed howitzer supplied by the United States. Another drone failed and was recovered. After that, russia uses drones more actively: only in the Kulagin brigade's area of operation they destroyed two 152-mm self-propelled howitzers, two 122-mm self-propelled howitzers, and two armored infantry APCs.
These are Shahed-136 delta-wing drones, repainted in Russian colors and renamed Geran-2. They mostly fly in the Kharkiv region - in areas where the occupiers do not have an artillery advantage. They are relatively small and fly at low altitudes, which makes air defense systems unable to detect them.
Russia's use of Shahed-136 drones in Ukraine represents the most sophisticated expansion of Tehran's arsenal outside the Middle East, where Iran has successfully used its drones to put pressure on America and its allies. It also highlights the shortcomings of Russia's own drone program, which has failed to match the firepower of armed UAVs deployed by Ukraine.
Scott Crino, founder and CEO of Red Six Solutions LLC, a strategic consulting firm, believes Iranian drones could provide russia with a "powerful counterweight" to high-tech weapon systems such as Himars missile launchers. The enormous length of the front line and the size of the battlefield in Ukraine make it difficult to defend against Shahed-136.
At the same time, Michael Knights, a military expert at the Washington Institute for Iraq, Iran and Gulf States Policy, predicted that Ukrainian forces could quickly counter the threat posed by Iranian kamikaze drones. Ukraine, he said, presents a serious air defense and electronic warfare environment that Iran has not encountered before. These drones, Knights added, "have an effect at first, and then the shock effect passes."
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Go Deeper:
- The Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down an Iranian kamikaze drone Shahed-136 for the first time
- Russian military strikes Iranian kamikaze drone Shahed 136 on Ukrainian infrastructure
