Iran Announces Fortros 30-Hour UAS – Heron Clone

Iran’s new UAS enjoys unique strategic capabilities, including 30-hour-long flight durability, and has been developed for combat and surveillance missions, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan announced on Monday.Dehqan said the new, ‘Fotros’, has been designed and built by the Iranian Airplane Manufacturing Industries Company affiliated to the Defense Ministry’s Aviation Industries in cooperation with knowledge-based companies and academic centers and on the basis of the needs of the country’s Armed Forces.

“This strategic UAS has an operational range of 2,000 kilometers, and can fly to a ceiling of 25,000 feet in altitude for 16 to 30 hours, and these specifications enable it to conduct combat missions in addition to surveillance and reconnaissance missions,” Dehqan said addressing a ceremony held in Tehran today to unveil the new aircraft.

Fortos

The minister said Fotros can be armed with various types of “air-to-surface missiles and rockets”.

He underlined that the reliability test of the UAS has been successfully conducted in the country’s laboratories and test centers, including standard international land tests at low, medium and high speed, adding that test results have been even better than what was expected.

The minister further pointed to the missions which could be done by Fotros in detail, and said the drone can be used for “protecting land and sea borders, monitoring oil pipelines, telecommunication lines and road traffic control, monitoring affected areas during earthquakes, blaze and floods, and environment protection”, adding that it can send “real-time photos and images while it is on a missions”.

He reiterated that Iran’s Defence Ministry has become self-sufficient in designing and manufacturing different kinds of defensive, offensive and unmanned surveillance aircraft.

General Dehqan underlined that Iranian researchers are currently working on various models and designs of UAS according to the country’s defensive needs.

Fotros was unveiled in a ceremony attended by General Dehqan in Tehran on Monday morning.

Israel's Heron TP

Israel’s Heron TP

Source: Fars News Agency

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