Friday, May 10, 2013
Iran unveils new drone Hemaseh 'Epic' radar-evading, Stealth, May 2013
Iran says it has built new, radar-evading drone
Much has been said already of the vast US military drone program, but Iran has just unveiled the latest of its own autonomous aircraft in a bid to highlight recent advances in the drive to build its own drone fleet.
The Iranian military on Thursday unveiled a new long-range drone capable of evading radar detecting as the country marks the Army Day.
The drone, named Sarir (Throne) H110, carries cameras and air- to-air missiles, said Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili.
He added tens have so far been produced and Iran has started mass production of this model, according to semi- official Fars news agency.
In a ceremony held to mark the Army Day, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed the "might" and achievements of the army in the past few years.
Designated as the Hemaseh in Farsi, meaning 'epic' in English, Iran's latest reconnaissance-combat drone was unveiled on Thursday during a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi.
Brightly painted in the colors of Iran's national flag and sporting what looked to be two dummy missiles under its wings, the domestically built drone is said to possess stealth capabilities that would allow it to evade enemy radar.
"This drone has been built by defense industry experts and is simultaneously capable of surveillance, reconnaissance and missile and rocket attacks," Vahidi said during the unveiling.
"This aircraft with its stealth quality can avoid detection by the enemy," he added.
In an earlier report produced by Iran's official Fars News Agency (FNA) the country claims to be building "tens of different types" of unmanned aerial vehicles, and touts this latest model as the country's most advanced. According to the FNA, 30 of a total of 40 types of drone models are already in the production phase.
On February 2, Iran also unveiled to much fanfare another domestically produced aircraft, that time a manned "stealth" jet named Qaher 313, at a ceremony presided over by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Analysts within the US were generally suspicious of the unusual-looking aircraft, suspecting that it was a mock-up model rather than a flight-worthy prototype.
A picture released by Iranian news agency ISNA shows the new Iranian made drone "Epic" during a ceremony in Tehran on May 9, 2013.(AFP Photo / Hemmat Khahi)
In recent years Iran has unveiled several drone models, such as the long-range Karrar in August 2010, and more recently the Shahed 129 model publicly disclosed in September 2012.
The Shahed 129 has been described as similar in appearance to Israel's own Hermes 450 UAV, and according to Iran is capable of carrying out combat and reconnaissance missions for up to 24 hours. Shahed also represented the country's second weapons-capable drone after Karrar.
To what extent Iran has developed its own technology and applied it to its domestic drone program is unclear. In December of 2011, the country was evidently able to bring down a US Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel drone 420 kilometers from its Afghanistan border, and subsequently declared it intended to reverse engineer the stealth aircraft. American officials speculated at the time that an internal technical issue could have brought down the craft.
In February, Iran released video footage allegedly decoded from the downed RQ-170, and images of the drone in Iranian possession seemed to indicate the craft had sustained only minimal damage.
US analysts have expressed doubts that Iran could have reverse engineered key components, such as the drone's stealth coating, though they worried that the technology would be shared with other countries, such as China.
Iran announced the unveiling of four drone types during an April military parade, designated as Azem 2, Mohajer B, Hazem 3 and the allegedly radar-evading Sarir.
The country has consistently demonstrated a desire to develop a robust domestic drone program. Iran has repeatedly been named in Israeli reports of drones launched from Lebanon, the latest of which was intercepted by the Israeli air force in late April near the coastal city of Haifa.
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BREAKING NEWS Iran unveils advanced UAV drone Hamaseh Epic
Iran has unveiled its latest indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a reconnaissance and combat drone dubbed Hamaseh.
The drone was unveiled on Thursday during a ceremony attended by Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi.
"This drone has been built by defense industry experts and is simultaneously capable of surveillance, reconnaissance and missile and rocket attacks," Vahidi said on the sidelines of the ceremony.
"This aircraft with its stealth quality can avoid detection by the enemy," he added.
High altitude and long flight range are two other distinguishing features of the new Iranian UAV.
Iran has made important breakthroughs in its defense sector in recent years and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems.
In August 2010, Iran unveiled its first indigenous long-range drone, Karrar, which is capable of carrying out bombing missions against ground targets, flying long distances at a high speed, and gathering information.
Shahed 129, characterized by a 24-hour nonstop flight capability, was another indigenously produced drone introduced in September 2012.
On December 17, 2012, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said Iran had launched the production line of the ScanEagle drones, adding that the IRGC naval and aerospace divisions were employing the UAVs.
MRS/HMV
Iran (Listeni/ɪˈrɑːn/[7] or /aɪˈræn/;[8] Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)) or Persia (pron.: /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/),[8][9] officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in Western Asia.[10][11][12] The country is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 77 million.[10][13] It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in three spheres of Asia. Tehran is the capital, the country's most populous city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power,[14][15] and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.[16]
The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in native use since the Sassanian era, in antiquity. The country is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations.[17] The first dynasty in Iran formed during the Elamite kingdom in 2800 BC. The Iranian Medes unified Iran into an empire in 625 BC.[1] They were succeeded by the Iranian Achaemenid Empire, the Hellenic Seleucid Empire and two subsequent Iranian empires, the Parthians and the Sassanids, before the Muslim conquest in 651 AD. Iranian post-Islamic dynasties and empires expanded the Persian language and culture throughout the Iranian plateau. Early Iranian dynasties which re-asserted Iranian independence included the Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids and Buyids.
Top scientist boycotts Israel
British scientist Stephen Hawking has joined the boycott of Israel by cancelling his plans to attend a major conference in Tel Aviv.
The world famous physicist had previously booked to attend and speak at the Israeli presidential conference hosted by Israeli president Shimon Perez.
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