The Drive:

The Iranian Navy has announced the introduction of what it’s calling its inaugural “drone-carrier” division. A corresponding unveiling ceremony aired on Iranian state TV showing the navy launching drones from various ships and even a submarine. The display points to Iran’s ongoing push to not only acquire more weaponized drone capabilities and capacity, but to deploy those systems via a diversified set of vectors — including from the sea. The new division was revealed while President Joe Biden was visiting Saudi Arabia in an effort to foster local support as tensions with Iran continue to rise just days after reports began to surface citing that Iran had offered to supply Russia with a significant amount of both armed and unarmed drones on an expedited timeline to bolster its invasion of Ukraine.

PressTV, which is also an Iranian state media outlet, claims that the division’s primary operations will consist of transporting and operating these various unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which are said to be made up of combat, surveillance, and kamikaze types, although the Iranian state TV broadcast was seemingly focused on highlighting how a lot of these UAVs are kamikaze drones designed for carrying out strikes. As to the actual type of drones to be employed by the division, reports indicate that UAVs such as Pelican, Homa, Arash, Chamroosh, Jubin, Ababil-4, and Bavar-5 were all utilized during the unveiling ceremony.

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