New long range bomber UAV unveiled by Iran at Defence Industry Day celebration

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled the new unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in front of an audience of military officials at a ceremony in Tehran on Sunday.

The UAV is named Karar—or ‘striker’ in Farsi— and is described as a deterrent to “keep the enemy paralyzed in his bases," according to President Ahmadinejad.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told Arabian Aerospace that Karar has a flight radius of 1000 km, adding Iran has other unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) which can fly the same distance.    

"They can not only record and transmit images, but possess operational capabilities as well", he said. "The Karar bomber drone has numerous capabilities, mostly having a long operational radius", he said.

"The Karar is jet-propelled and is able to work at high altitude", he said

It is understood the UAV will have a payload potential to carry two 250-pound bombs, or a precision bomb of 500 pounds.
On Friday Iran test-fired a new surface-to-surface missile called the Qiam – which means “rising” in Farsi.

In the Defence Industry Day event President Ahmadinejad said, "This jet is a messenger of honour and human generosity and a saviour of mankind, before being a messenger of death for enemies of mankind.

‘The key message is friendship," he added. "We must make efforts to render all the enemy's weapons useless with our defense potential."

Sources in the region say that Iran's defence industries have made significant progress in the last year, launching numerous domestically-built armaments, including aerial and sea-borne military vehicles such as submarines, combat frigates and various types of missiles.

Last month the Deputy Lieutenant Commander of Army's Air Force for Operations General Majid Pirhadi told Arabian Aerospace that UAVs will cover all the country's border regions in the near future.

"We are seeking to equip all the country's central air bases with long-range UAVs but for now equipping bases along borders sets a priority," Pirhadi said.

Previously, the Lieutenant Commander of Iran's Air Force, Mohsen Darrebaqi, was reported as saying that the Iranian Air Force plans to form a battalion of UAVs in all its bases across the country.  "These UAV battalions have already been formed in four bases,"  he said.

Arabian Aerospace reported in February that Iran had inaugurated the production line of two home-made UAVs with bombing and reconnaissance capabilities. The two hi-tech drones named 'Ra'd' (Thunder) and 'Nazir' (Harbinger) both of which are capable of conducting long-range reconnaissance, patrolling, assault and bombing missions with high precision.

Ra'd is planned for assault and bombing missions and has the capability to destroy specified targets with high pinpoint precision.

Iran successfully tested a home-made radar-evading UAV with bombing capabilities last June. Also in 2008, the country's defence Industries launched production lines of two  home-made fighter jets, namely Saeqeh (Thunderbolt) and Azarakhsh (Lightening). Analysts in the region have said that once Iran's UAV enters the scene of aerial missions, it will enhance the reconnaissance, patrolling and defensive power of the republic's armed force. The defence force has built a plant in the northern province of Mazandaran  to mass produce UAVs for different civilian and military missions.

Iran has also had a massive aerial exercise in operation over the past three weeks.

43 fighter jets and warplanes, including F-4, F-5, F-7 and Sukhoi SU-24 fighter-bombers,   took part in the exercises. Air bases in Mehrabad (Tehran), Tabriz, Hamedan, Dezfoul, Bushehr, Bandar Abbas, Shiraz and Isfahan were among the bases that taking part in the drills. All aircraft test-fired different air-to-surface ammunitions during the exercises. During these exercises, night bombing operations were also carried out by F-7 and Sukhoi 24 aircraft for the first time, practicing refueling operations in a bid to exercise long-distance flights.