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Iran’s Shahid Bahman Bagheri drone carrier, which was delivered to the navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on February 5, represents a promising concept, despite several drawbacks.
The ship, a former container vessel, is equipped with a 180-meter runway and is able to operate without refueling for up to one year. It was described by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as the “largest naval military project” in the history of the Islamic Republic.
According to the official Islamic Republic News Agency, the ship can carry up to 60 drones. It can also hold fast-attack craft and unmanned submarines, in addition to short-range anti-ship cruise missiles.
In addition, video footage aired by Iran’s state TV revealed that Shahid Bahman Bagheri can launch and retrieve larger drones, including a miniaturized drone version of the country’s planned Qaher stealth aircraft.
The delivery of the ship came amid a series of large-scale military exercises in Iran. The exercises began last January and are set to end next March.
The Islamic Republic has been facing increasing pressure from the United States since President Donlad Trump assumed office. In addition, the threat of an Israeli attack on the Iranian nuclear program is today more serious than ever.
Converting a container vessel into a drone carrier shows the creativity of Iran’s military industrial complex, which is known for cutting corners to save time and cost. Aside from Iran, very few countries have been considering the concept, including Russia and Turkey.
Still, it is unclear if Shahid Bahman Bagheri would be of much use for Iran. The country’s main enemies, the U.S. and Israel, both possess advanced ISTAR [intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance] capabilities, which means that the movement of the fairly large vessel will likely be exposed at all times.
Furthermore, both the U.S. and Israel maintain advanced offensive means, including submarines and anti-ship cruise missiles. This means that Shahid Bahman Bagheri will be under a real threat even while operating within Iran’s territorial waters.
In a realistic combat situation, the ship will be detected while on its way to launch its drones. And even if a launch was conducted, it will likely be targeted soon after. All in all, it is hard to imagine the ship surviving in an all-out conflict with the U.S. and Israel. Still, it may perform just well in less intense scenarios, for example in a counter-terrorism operation away from Iran’s waters.
It is more realistic to look at Shahid Bahman Bagheri as a proof of concept, an idea that Iran could continue to develop until it reaches a design that is more realistic in a few years.
A scaled-down, faster ship with the capability to carry as much drone, even if smaller models, will likely be of more use for Iran. The country’s navy has already coverted some of its smaller vessels to launch suicide drones. This means that the Islamic Republic has the means to design a more combat drone carrier.
Dozens of such ships under the cover of air defense and electronic warfare, accompanying a squadron of fast missile boats, could allow Iran to dominate the Persian Gulf and launch drone attacks against targets possibly thousands of kilometers away.
While Shahid Bahman Bagheri does not pose a serious threat to U.S. and Israeli forces in the Middle East, it does serve as a warning of Iran’s ability to adapt and create new military solutions with very limited resources.
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lmao 🤣🤣🤣
does anyone still remember the us action “operation eagle claw” in 1979? the whole world broke into a laugh 🇺🇸 = 🤡 🖕😆🖕
give it rest adolf inc.
find that bridge and jump off it. you.re an uneducated bore that should leave southfront asap!
in amerika nothing promising–only ugliness mental illness crime and transgenders
predictable as. it’s likes pavlovs dog here. press the button.
iran deve fare il corridoio nord sud india iran russia è dare la libertà alle donne se vogliono portare il fazzoletto come libera scelta e mandarle all’università.
deported from tel aviv for gay perversions humiliated by russian superiority i now senile gay naiz beg tacos in new amerikunt state of kantaduh
q. was this the “mother ship” for the drones in the us drone hysteria? a. no.
it’s dumb. all ships will be sunk pretty soon in a full scale war. they’re wasting resources. and the larger the ship the bigger and easier the target.
stick with hundreds of small boats. the cheaper the better. autonomous ones still even better.
to be fair, this is literally a repurposed cargo ship. unlike a proper carrier, i imagine this thing would probably be fairly cheap to replace.
and what does fairly cheap mean to you? how much is your yacht?
boring just plain friggin’ boring! no wit no knowledge! find that bridge!
cheap from the point of view of a government budget.
it’s a drone and helicopter carrier. it’s not meant for a conflict against a nation state like the us. it’s meant to be used against their proxies like “isis” and “al qaida” who don’t have anti ship missiles (not yet anyway).
ships that have proper defenses or are properly defended dont get sunk. also in modern warfare i think one would perfer many more smaller and faster vassels then a few very expansive big ones. since smaller more numerous fleet is harder to hit and easier to avoid strikes. platforms dont need to be as large as ww2 with big cannons to deal the same amount of damage and power projetion.
i wonder what the cost to build was. i’m surprised more countries haven’t done this. though they should remember that it’ll need support ships. namely ships with aa and missile defense systems. carriers, even cheap ones like this, are really big and juicy targets for enemy cruise missiles, and aircraft.
also, what’s going on at the back of the ship? that looks like wasted space.
there is space allocated for two helicopters its in the design i don’t know the actual cost as iran has kept it a secret but its an ex commercial vessel and a majority opinion over many military/naval/engineering websites is that it was cheap to build in relation to a purpose built one-your intuition is right several countries are looking at the design.but vietnam is right.
i think they’re likely a bit ahead of you in their occupation.
i think drone ships are the future. you need alot less people and resources to maintain such vassels. small vassels that can. launch drones. small vassels that are drones. especially for nations that dont have as much resources drones are the anwser.
any surface ship will be vulnerable including all us ships. all us ships provide rich targets for iran missiles.
cool concept development, good for learning the ropes. even if it’s not a match for us or israel systems, it can certainly boost maritime search and rescue operations, and provide high tech anti-piracy capabilities for iran. all on a tight budget.
who made it? where did they really purchase it? specifically who owned it prior and who arranged the deal? personalised. good luck.
it’s a converted cargo ship. it’s meant to carry drones and some helicopters.
iran is getting ready, they know they cannot trust anyone. the zionist indoctrinated group think cattle may find out thier plan wont work.
iran should send this to cruise up and down the us coast and the “gulf of america” in “freedom of navigation” exercises.
toy drone from toys r us..😂
a drone carrier has more value then a aircraft carrier for iran. its alot cheaper and easier to maintain yet it can give decent power projection in other areas far away from its borders. for example againat saudi arabia. drones are also more the future then the most expansive jets what matters is having a delivery system to carry out the strikes not the platform its self. not having the human factor to deal with drones can be far smaller and yet more difficult to shoot down.