Mystery UAV emerges from the sea near Iran, page 1

Iranian forces have released pictures of an unknown UAV that was fished from the sea near Jask, Iran. It doesn't appear to belong to any allied military, and doesn't quite match up to any known Iranian UAV. The closest match is the Pahpad (which is the short form of parandeye hedayat pazire az rahe door, which is Farsi for "remotely piloted aircraft"). The nose section matches up to a Pahpad (which is used by Iran and Syria), but the tail section doesn't match up, or come even close to the tail section of the Pahpad.

UAV fished out:


Pahpad:


It does seem to be similar to a UAS that is a near clone of the Hermes used by Israel called the Shahed 129:

The following image shows a drone reportedly recovered by the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution from the sea in the Gulf of Oman, near the port of Jask, Iran.

The mysterious UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) appears to be covered by mud and seaweeds and it does not look like any known type at first glance.

Although the quality of the photo does not help identifying it, the drone, seemingly painted in a desert color scheme, has something in common with the somehow famous “Pahpad” drone, made in Iran and used by Syria to spy on the clashes in Homs: similar nose section and, possibly fin (the one in the image could be displaced and the only surviving the impact).

Still, the drone recovered from the sea seems to lack the typical tail boom that in the “Pahpad” (image below) is connected to the vertical stabilizers in the middle of the fins.

theaviationist.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58

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It looks real enough. As an observation, I would say that the whole thing was submerged except the rear fin. Like it was found among the rocks close to shore (seaweed) and first spotted by the fin sticking up?

Almost made it back to the carrier? Because the Iranians would have a hard time operating a drone in that area without it being detected. As to which kind, I don't see any resemblance to the suggestion / photo offered by the article. The main wing is too narrow and the rear "stabilizer" is not part of a "twin boom" config. More like a vertical V with one fin missing.

Didn't I hear about some of those gone down in the gulf?

reply to post by intrptr

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It looks more like it's one of the newer Iranian ones. The only other one that I could see it being is a Hermes 450, which the Shaheb 129 is a copy of. But the only ones in that region that use them is Israel, and it doesn't have the range to operate from Israel and reach near Iran.

reply to post by Zaphod58

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Which one is this? caption in link identifies this as a VMU-2...

i2.cdn.turner.com...

www.cnn.com...

Doesn't look right...?

reply to post by ManBehindTheMask

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How about a Scan Eagle? They have a "jet" on the rear...

www.cbsnews.com...

reply to post by intrptr

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That is the RQ-7 Shadow, operated by Marine Squadron VMU-2 (Marine Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Squadron 2).

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by intrptr

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That's too big. The Scan Eagle can be picked up and carried on your shoulder.

reply to post by Neocrusader

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I'm leaning towards either a target drone (probably Iranian), or a Shahed 129. It's really hard to piece together from that one pic though. I'm going to sit down tonight and see if I can't find something better than just that to try to figure it out.

reply to post by Zaphod58

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Post back with your conclusion please

reply to post by Zaphod58

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Looking at your link, since there is not a horizontal stabilizer, at one point there must have two (for lack of a better term) Vertical stablizers. In the pic the stablizer that is shown appears to be on the far side of the uav. If it did have twin stablizers would it match up better to any UAV's you know of?

reply to post by rockymcgilicutty

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If it had twin vertical stabilizers, on either side, then it probably would have a horizontal stabilizer between them. That would put it as possibly an Iranian Pahpad, although the placement of the vertical stabilizer is wrong. There are a couple that would be closer, but I'd have to sit down and find a better pic of this, and compare them.

reply to post by Zaphod58

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Ok, I was thinking ( i doubt I described it well ) of a tail like on this UAV.

reply to post by rockymcgilicutty

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There are still a few that fit that. The best is the Shahed 129, which looks a lot like the Hermes 450.

reply to post by Zaphod58

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Gotcha, thanks fro the info.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by rockymcgilicutty

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There are still a few that fit that. The best is the Shahed 129, which looks a lot like the Hermes 450.

If this is a shahed 129, the nose looks to long...

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