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Iran Developed Shahed-136 Loitering Munition at Low Cost
The Shahed-136 is a low-cost Iranian loitering munition estimated at $20,000 to $50,000 per unit. It has been used by Russia in Ukraine and by Iran-aligned groups in prior incidents.
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The Shahed-136 loitering munition, also called a suicide or kamikaze drone, is produced by Iran and costs between $20,000 and $50,000 per unit. Iranian engineers developed the system from earlier designs, including the Shahed-131, by replacing a radiation seeker with satellite navigation guidance and increasing engine power for longer range.
The Shahed-136 traces its design roots to a 1980s West German project called Drohne Anti-Radar and to Israel's Harpy drone. Iran obtained Harpy samples and upgraded them, according to Ali Bagheri Dolatabadi of Yasouj University. The weapon is manufactured by the state-owned Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation.
Russia received about 2,400 Shahed-136 units from Iran in 2022 and later produced its own version called Geran. The drones have also been used by Iran-aligned groups, including in a 2021 strike on an oil tanker and suspected 2019 attacks on Saudi oil facilities.
"The Shahed's effectiveness isn't technological sophistication; it's the opposite," Akram Kharief told Newsweek. Steven Feldstein of the Carnegie Endowment said the system combines destructive power and relative precision with favorable cost advantages.
James Patton Rogers of the Brooks Tech Policy Institute noted that mass attacks with such drones can overwhelm air defenses whose interceptors cost millions each.
