That is according to a report by The Washington Post. This is the first delivery of a planned transfer of hundreds of Iranian drones of various types.
Russian transport planes are now known to have departed Iran on August 19 with at least two types of unmanned aerial vehicles on board (Shahed, likely Shahed-129 and Shahed-191, as well as Mohajer-6), both of which can carry munitions "for attacks on radars, artillery and other military targets".
Read more: Lithuania to Buy Polish Drones for Ukraine
At the same time, the transfer of Iranian UAVs to Russian troops " has been marred by technical problems," the newspaper reported, citing security officials from the United States and an allied government.
It is known that during the tests already carried out by the Russians, Iranian UAVs encountered numerous failures - it is noted that "there are a few bugs in the system " and in general the russian federation was dissatisfied with Iranian weapons.
It is also reported that according to the agreement, “Iranian technical experts traveled to Russia to help set up the systems, and Russian military officers underwent training in Iran”.
At the same time, as military expert Michael Knights points out, these Iranian drones have not previously been tested “against the kinds of sophisticated electronic jamming and antiaircraft systems used in Ukraine”.
“These Iranian drones have not operated in a sophisticated air-defense environment before,” he said. “The closest they’ve come to that is [Houthi strikes against] Saudi Arabia or against U.S. bases in Iraq, and they have generally not done well. So I wouldn’t be surprised that, in a more intense environment like Ukraine, that they would have some problems.”
At the same time, Knights says Iran has demonstrated an ability to launch “swarm” drone attacks — involving multiple suicide drones massed against a single target.
Probably, the russian federation hopes that the attack drones will help it to resist the HIMARS missile systems, which bombard the positions of the occupants with high-precision strikes every day.
The United States began in June to supply Ukraine with the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, commonly known as HIMARS, which can launch multiple rockets with precision at Russian military targets from nearly 50 miles away. The HIMARS have enabled Ukraine to destroy Russian ammunition depots and logistics supplies far behind the front lines.
Read more: Ukraine’s Armed Forces Launched a Long-Awaited Counteroffensive in the South: the Fighting is Going On in Many Directions
