Click to see full-size image. (SR2Vector)
A joint venture between a United States defense startup and a Saudi firm is building a factory near the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, to produce one-way attack drones based on Iran’s Shahed-type system, Semafor reported on May 25.
The facility is being developed by SR2Vector, a partnership between Utah-based Vector Defense and Saudi startup SR2 Defense Systems, according to the report.
The factory will produce SKYWASP. The drone, developed by Vector, is capable of striking targets up to 1,500 kilometers away — roughly the distance from Saudi Arabia’s northeast coast to Tehran.
The design of SKYWASP is very much identical to that of Shahed-136. It has tailless cropped delta-wing shape with a central, blended fuselage and small stabilizing rudders at the wingtips. A photo shared by SR2Vector does not show any visible guidance systems, like optical seekers or data-link antennas, which suggest that the drone only uses a satellite-aided inertial navigation system.
“SKYWASP is a program that can level the playing field and boost Saudi Arabia’s deterrence capabilities,” Lucien Zeigler, SR2’s chief strategy officer and co-founder, told Semafor.
Zeigler did not disclose expected production figures, but said the factory would produce “operationally relevant volumes consistent with the kingdom’s strategic deterrence requirements.”
SR2Vector plans to manufacture the drones both for the Saudi domestic market and for export to allied countries, according to the report.
Shahed-type drones proved their worth during multiple conflicts in the Middle East, most recently during the American-Israeli war on Iran. Many countries have already copied these drones. In fact, the U.S. military is already operating its own copy of the system.
The new joint American-Saudi drone project is clearly meant to boost the kingdom’s offensive capabilities in the face of Iran.
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sounds like forever war. iran may have prematurely agreed to cease fire . the same one israel violates daily
ceasefires are not the solution we need to free ourselves from the zionist jew occupation in our governments the reason we continue to loose is that we all fight eachother left right woke far right instead of the real culprit the jews. and no one is aligned and united assad didnt help saddam iran opposed saddam and now they are suffering because of it. they didnt help lybia either fighting off the jewish attack on them. we need to unite and fight as a single entity if we want to defeat the jews.
maduro did not get the help he needed to repel trumps operation. cuba has more chance to survive longer. our problem is that no one is fighing the jews directly and doing what has to be done to.make them loose their grip over the united states and make europe free themselves from jewsa vassal status.
without jews controlling europe or the united states their colonial entity is over its time we all realize that and what has to be done to end the arming and aid to israel. our politicians are the enemy and they are shabbosgoy.
entitiys like isreal exist in multiple places of the world. its just that they are the most successfull of the lot.
saddam offered his country to wage war on iran for the west why would iran or syria help him when the west descided to get rid of his dog? its like when inevitably hts-syria will be betrayed as well. no one will shed a tear.
i partner with incel jew cuz i americunt derp likes to swallow hebrew jizz
soon a shahed drone up your anuz on your telaviv gay bar🏃🏃🏃🏃🍑🌶
its funny how at the beginning every one bas belitteling the cheap iranian drones and now everyone wants to build them. and yes i know they are based on a german prototype. but thats the problem in the west they may be able to engeneer stuff but its build somewhere else. mostly in china but in that one case in iran.
china tends to copy, or at best innovate more then invent.
you mean shahed copy
saudi dogs once again showing their true colours.
if the saudi’s are as good at flying drones as they are at flying planes, no one has anything to worry about.