Iran unveils upgraded Shahed-136B ‘kamikaze’ UAV, with 4,000 km range: Can it attack Ukraine?

The Defense Express media and consulting company reports. 

During one of its recent parades, Iran for the first time showed the Shahed-136B 'kamikaze' drone. This is a significant modernization of the basic Shahed-136, which involves not only an increase in the size of the drone, but also changes in its configuration.

This UAV has a declared flight range of up to 4,000 kilometers and a warhead weight of 50 kilograms. At the same time, other important details, such as flight speed, launch weight, and type of propulsion system, have not yet been disclosed.

In this context, the question may already arise whether the Russian forces could use such modernized Shahed-138Bs to strike Ukraine. Especially since it is quite easy to calculate that the declared range of up to 4,000 kilometers can give a flight duration of even more than 10 hours. Accordingly, the duration of circling over the territory of Ukraine in order to deplete air defense.

On the one hand, no options should be rejected, even if they look purely hypothetical at the moment. On the other hand, one must also take into account that Iran has shown the Shahed-136B for the first time. So the status of this project is not known for certain - whether this drone is ready for mass production or has not even been flight tested yet.

“Moreover, we already have a rather specific situation when Iran handed over Fath-360 missiles to Russia without launchers, and there may be an immediate explanation, one of which is that Tehran wanted to show its readiness for negotiations with the West. Amid this, it seems that the hypothetical “transfer” of the Shahed-138B to the Russian army could also become a separate subject of bargaining,” Defense Express concludes.

Russians themselves are already trying to “upgrade” their existing Shaheds for attacks on Ukraine, and are unlikely to use external supplies from Iran. For example, the announcement of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine on September 16, that its servicemen in Sumy region had shot down a Shahed with small arms fire, which fell without detonation, went unnoticed. 

The photo shows that this vehicle has an elongated nose, which may mean an increased weight of the warhead.

Other sources have not yet published photos of the Shahed drone with elongated noses, but the fact that Russia is working to increase the power of its long-range 'kamikaze' drones is noteworthy.