Why did Iran choose drones as method of attack? - analysis

• Published date: 14 April 2024
• Author: SETH J. FRANTZMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The US used the Predator drone, first for surveillance in the 1990s and then for targeted strikes in the early 2000s. China became a drone superpower, primarily in the commercial field with sales of DJI drones. Now the Iranian drone era is here. It is an era of Iran's drone wars and Israel is now an increasing target

The Iranian drone war has come to Israel is a surreal war. Reports over the last week and a half suggested Iran would want to strike at Israel to "punish" Israel for an airstrike that Iran blamed on Israel. The airstrike in question took place in Damascus on April 1 and killed an IRGC commander.

Iran has blamed Israel. Since that time there have been increasing reports that Iran would want to strike at Israel. Iran sent its foreign minister around the region, including to Damascus to drum up support. Iran's top diplomat also called most of the Gulf countries and also spoke with his Iraqi counterpart. This is how Iran's plan unfolded.

Over the last several days reports indicated that Iran might resort to using drones. Iran also has ballistic missiles. It has used those missiles to attack US forces in Iraq in 2020 in response to the killing of IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani. Iran also used drones and cruise missiles to attack Saudi Arabia in 2019.

Iran recently used ballistic missiles in January to target Syria and Pakistan, claiming to target terrorists. It appears Iran was testing the precision of the missiles. Iran has increased the precision of various types of its solid and liquid filled missiles. These include the Fatah family of missiles, such as the Fatah 110s it used to target Kurdish dissidents in Koya in northern Iraq in 2018.

Iran also has cruise missiles. It has used cruise missiles against Saudi Arabia in 2019. In addition the Iran-backed Houthis have used cruise missiles to target Israel over the last six months. However, it is not clear how large the arsenal of Iranian cruise missiles is.

Iran has chosen drones for its opening salvo to threaten Israel because drones have many qualities that appeal to the Iranian regime. The Iranian drones are not very large, only several meters long and two meters in width with a warhead of around 40kg. They are cheap and expendable. They can fly a route using waypoints and they can fly relatively low. They also have a long range. They are relatively slow, but slow is not always a bad thing for the Iranians. It is true that their slow pace means they can be detected, but they can also...