Iran’s largest drone

November 19, 2013 - Iran has unveiled a new reconnaissance and combat drone that it says is the biggest drone yet to be developed in the Islamic Republic, capable of staying aloft for up to 30 hours. Fotros has a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) and could cover much of the Middle East including Israel.

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Context: Iran is eager to play up its defence capabilities for propaganda reasons. Tehran unveiled its first indigenous long-range drone, Karrar, in August 2010.

• In December 2011, Iran captured a U.S. Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel stealth UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).

• In September 2012, Tehran announced that it had equipped its air defence units with Haazem drones. This was followed a year later with the Shahed-129 UCAV (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle), an armed drone based on the Israeli Hermes 450.

• On December 18, Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan unveiled the Fotros, a UCAV capable of staying aloft for up to 30 hours.