Israel and Iran both countries are producing high quality modern and sophisticated kamikaze drones. In this article we will do a brief comparison of two highly advanced kamikaze drones developed by two arch rivals .Israel has developed highly advanced kamikaze drone named as IAI Harop which is manufactured by Israel Aerospace industries and on the other side Islamic republic of Iran has developed HESA Shahed-136 drone which is deadly loitering munition. Developed and manufactured by Iranian state owned corporation HESA and with the assistance of Shahed aviation industries HESA Shahed-136 achieved notorious popularity in recent armed conflicts.
Nowadays Unmanned combat aerial vehicles generally known as UCAV play vital and significant role in modern warfare. Modern combat drones have capability to perform variety of missions like precision strikes on enemy targets, suppression of enemy air defenses known as SEAD and surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Many drones are also used as kamikaze or suicide drones which have feature of guided missiles. Kamikaze is a term originated in Japan for those aviators who flew suicide missions in Second World War. These kamikaze drones are known as loitering munitions because they hover over target for extended time and then strike on target with pinpoint accuracy. Currently many countries are developing entire fleet of combat and surveillance drones because of their extensive use in modern warfare.
Combat Histrory of HESA Shahed-136 and IAI Harop:
Both Kamikaze drones Shahed-136 and IAI Harop proved credibility in recent battle conflicts.IAI Harop was widely used by Azerbaijani forces against Armenian artillery and infantry in Nargono Karabakh region.HESA Shahed-136 drone was used by Russian forces against Ukrainian ground forces and inflicted heavy damage. Russians developed a modified version of Shahed-136 drones named as Geran-2.Russia also made a formal agreement with Islamic republic of Iran for production of HESA Shahed-136 as Geran 2 .Islamic republic also used HESA Shahed-136 against Israel on 13 April 2024.Isareli missile defense system successfully intercepted missile and drone attacks of Iran
Design of IAI Harop:
Harop possess features of both UCAV and missile. With the wingspan of almost 3 m it has endurance capacity of almost 9 hours.The kamikaze drone has also canard wings on front which provide lift for heavy nose and engine is placed on rear side. The front nose part of harop is quite large and heavy because it has warhead inside and camera beneath it. The kamikaze drone has two vertical tail rudders which control the flight direction of Harop. The wings at back can be folded so drone can be place in specially designed rectangular boxes.
Electronic capacity of Harop:
IAI Harop is guided by remote human in loop control system. A system which produces combine output of human skills and machines. Harop has advanced electro optical system which gives harop an ability of detection, recognition and striking of both static and movable targets.Harop can be launched from canisters from both land and naval assets. The kamikaze drone has ability to defend itself from electronic jamming like GNSS jamming. The Kamikaze drone uses FLIR (Forward looking Infrared) camera which has ability to track targets automatically .The FLIR camera of Harop is installed under the nose and can rotate 360 degree. The camera of suicide drone has ability to operate in all weather conditions. The IAI harop is integrated with advance AI capabilities which gives it more autonomy.
Payload capacity of IAI Harop:
Harop has a capacity to carry out warhead of almost size of 51lb.The Kamikaze drone has ability to abort its mission and can return back safely by performing surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Launching mechanism :
Harop uses solid fuel booster for launch in initial stage and after reaching certain height its activates main engine. The UCAV uses launching pods mostly installed on truck .The drone unfold his wings after launching from vehicle
Engine installed on IAI Harop:
Engine of Harop is Wankel MBT ENGINE H225.The engine is connected with two blade propeller which gives drone maximum speed of almost 400 km/hr and maximum height of 4500 meters.
Operators of IAI Harop:
Harop was operated by Azerbaijan in war against Armenia .India and Singapore also imported Harop drones from Israel.
Variants:
Isarel aerospace industries also developed a smaller version of Harop named as Mini-Harop or green dragon .
HESA Shahed-136 Kamikaze UCAV:
Design:
HESA Shahed 136 has delta wing design with wingspan of almost 2.5 m with two small rudders that control the direction of kamikaze drone. The engine is located at the rear side of UCAV.
Electronic systems of HESA Shahed-136:
Unlike other kamikaze drones HESA Shahed 136 has simple inertial navigation system or simple GPS system. The only notable feature of system is ability of UCAV that prevents disturbances caused by electronic warfare systems. Shahed-136 usually flies on very low altitude to avoid radars and air defense systems. The Kamikaze drone has ability to perform missions in solo mode or with swarm drones.
Payload capacity:
HESA Shahed-136 has capacity to carry warhead of almost 30 to 50 kg.Warhead is usually carried out by nose section of UCAV.
Launching system of HESA Shahed-136:
HESA Shahed-136 uses RATO system which is rocket assistance take off with rail combined system. The rocket got separated from drone after it achieved specific altitude. Shahed 136 can be launch in multiple batches to confuse and penetrate enemy air defense systems. A railway launch technique can also be integrated with high mobility vehicles such as infantry trucks. These platform can provide ability of shoot and scoot which means fire and displace.Immeditaly leaving the place after firing in order to avoid counter attacks. So high mobility trucks were commonly used by Iranian and Russian forces for launching HESA Shahed 136 kamikaze drones.
Engine of HESA Shahed -136:
HESA Shahed 136 is integrated with a MADO MD-550 piston engine which has horse power of 50 hp .The engine is modified version of German Limbach L550E. The engine is installed at the rear of the fuselage and uses a two-bladed propeller. The engine gives Kamikaze drone maximum speed of 185 km with estimated range from 1,000 to 2,500 km. It can fly at an altitude from 60 to 4,000 m.The drawback of engine is the sound of engine which usually alert enemy.
Variants of HESA Shahed-136:
Russia manufactured the advanced and modified version of HESA Shahed 136 and named as Geran-2. Mostly electronic parts were replaced by Russians such as microprocessors and flight control unit. Russia also replaced GPS system of Shahed drone with its own GLONASS satellite navigational system. According to sources Russia is manufacturing almost 6000 Geran-2 kamikaze drones till end of 2025 .Meanwhile Russian forces are actively using modified version of Shahed drone in battle against Ukraine.
Read out our blog related to turkey UCAV known as kizilelma.
https://battletechinsider.com/aircrafts/ucav-bayraktar-kizilelma/
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