Shahed-129
Iranian MALE UCAV conceptually similar to the MQ-1 Predator: the first long-range armed platform of the Islamic Republic.
Community
Data trust
- Reliability
- Unverified
- Sources
- Sources pending review
Identity
- Designation
- Shahed-129
- Manufacturer
- Shahed Aviation Industries
- Country
- Iran
- Year
- 2012
- Category
- UCAV (Combat UAV)
- Class
- MALE (Medium-altitude / long-endurance)
- Status
- In service
Performance
- Range
- 1700 km
- Endurance
- 24 h
- Top speed
- 150 km/h
- Service ceiling
- 7,300 m
- Propulsion
- Pistone Rotax 914 (≈ 115 hp), elica spintore
Physical characteristics
- MTOW
- 900 kg
- Payload
- 400 kg
- Hardpoints
- 4
- Weapons
- 4× missili Sadid-1 / bombe Qaem
Onboard systems
- Sensors
- Gimbal EO/IR con designatore laser
- Datalink / control
- Datalink LOS, varianti SATCOM
- Launch
- Decollo da pista
- Recovery
- Atterraggio su pista
Combat use
- ▸Syrian civil war
- ▸IRGC operations in Iraq
Tags
Main operators
History
Unveiled in 2012, it was used by the IRGC in Syria against the Islamic State from 2014.
Several airframes have been shot down by U.S. F-15Es and Saudi/Israeli air defences between 2017 and 2023.
The Shahed-129 is the first operational Iranian MALE drone, unveiled in 2012 and openly inspired by the US MQ-1 Predator, whose aerodynamics and overall dimensions it replicates.
The drone has been operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria in support of Assad's forces and was the first Iranian UAV armed with Sadid-1 missiles to strike real targets in combat.
In 2017 a Shahed-129 was shot down in Syria by a US Navy F/A-18 near At-Tanf, marking the first kill of an Iranian drone by US forces.