Saegheh

Saegheh from Iran, produced by Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center

Introduce:

The Saegheh (English: “Thunderbolt”) is an Iranian turbofan/piston-powered flying wing unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) produced by Shahed Aviation Industries.It is based on, but smaller than and substantially different from, a Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel UAV that was captured by Iran in 2011 and then reverse-engineered. It is one of two Iranian flying wing UAVs based on the RQ-170, along with the Shahed 171 Simorgh, a larger version.

The Saegheh was revealed in October 2016. A number of western sources have expressed doubt that the Saegheh is weapons-capable, and say it is solely an ISR platform.

Saegheh has two variants.

Saegheh-1

The Saegheh-1 was first presented at an Iranian arms expo in 2016.

Iranian state news claimed the Saegheh-1 could carry four Sadid-1 precision-guided anti-tank guided missiles. The Iranian Government did not provide a demonstration of the UAV flying, or state what its range was.The Saegheh-1 had no apparent targeting/optical system.

The first models of Saegheh lacked the frontal air intake of the Simorgh/RQ-170.

Saegheh-2

This model is also known as the Shahed 191. Later shown models have frontal air intake. The probability is that only piston engined models do not have frontal intakes. The UAV takes off from specialized racks mounted on a vehicle speeding down a runway (probably Toyota Hilux trucks) and is recovered on a runway with retractable landing skids. According to Tasnim News, the Shahed 191 is 60% of the size of the RQ-170.

The Shahed 191 carries two Sadid-1 missiles internally and lands on retractable landing skids.The Shahed 191 has a cruising speed of 300 km/h, an endurance of 4.5 hours, a range of 450 km, and a payload of 50 kg. The ceiling is 25,000 ft.The wing span is 7.31 meters, the length 2.7 meters, the max takeoff weight 500 kg, and the max speed 350 km/h.