The HESA Karrar ( fa, کرار) is an Iranian jet-powered

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operational ...

manufactured by

Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), ( fa, شرکت صنایع هواپیماسازی ایران — هسا) or Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Corporation, is an Iranian aircraft production company. Established in 1976 ...

(HESA) since 2010. The Karrar is a derivative of the American 1970s-era

Beechcraft MQM-107 Streaker The Beechcraft MQM-107 Streaker is a reusable, turbojet powered, target towing drone primarily used by the United States Army and the United States Air Force for testing and training. The US Army uses the drone for testing various surface-to ...

target drone, probably incorporating elements from the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Skua The skuas are a group of predatory seabirds with seven species forming the genus ''Stercorarius'', the only genus in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas, the long-tailed skua, the Arctic skua, and the pomarine skua are called ...

, with hardpoints added for munitions. The Karrar was developed during the

Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),

presidency. As a target drone, the Karrar is used to train air-defense crews by simulating an aerial target. The Karrar is regularly spotted at Iranian air-defense drills, and is believed to be the replacement for Iran's aging American-built MQM-107 target drones. Karrar jet unmanned-aerial-vehicles are recently equipped with Shahab-e-Saqeb (missile) in order to hit air targets.

Design

The Karrar has a small, clipped delta wing mounted low to a cylindrical, blunt-nosed fuselage. It has a dorsal air intake for the engine and twin arrowhead-shaped endplate tailfins mounted high on the fuselage. HESA Karrar 2010

The Karrar uses a rocket assist system to take off and is recovered by parachute. It is also claimed to be capable of air launch. Iranian officials have said the aircraft has surveillance capabilities, but the Karrar has no visible EO/IR sensors. The Karrar is believed to have an autopilot system with

INS INS or Ins or ''variant'', may refer to: Places * Ins, Switzerland, a municipality * Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS) * Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS Biology *'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flies * INS, the gene for the insul ...

and/or

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

guidance, and may have terrain following capability as well. The Karrar is capable of both high and low altitude flight, and of day and night flight. It can follow a pre-programmed flight path, which can also be updated in flight. The Karrar can carry one 500 lb

Mk 82 The Mark 82 (Mk 82) is an unguided, low- drag general-purpose bomb, part of the United States Mark 80 series. The explosive filling is usually tritonal, though other compositions have sometimes been used. Development and deployment W ...

general-purpose bomb, with claimed precision guidance, on its centerline hardpoint. Alternatively, it can carry two Nasr-1 anti-ship missiles, two Kowsar anti-ship missiles, or two 250 pound Mk 81 general-purpose bombs on the underwing stations, or (since 2019) a Balaban satellite-guided glide bomb. It is believed that carrying weapons substantially reduces the Karrar's operating range. Military experts quickly noted that Karrar bears an obvious resemblance to the US

target drone designed in the 1970s and exported to Iran before the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

. According to a report from

Denel Dynamics Denel Dynamics, formerly Kentron, is a division of Denel SOC Ltd, a South African armaments development and manufacturing company wholly owned by the South African Government. It underwent a name change from Kentron to Denel Aerospace Systems dur ...

, however, the Karrar is not an exact clone of the MQM-107 Streaker as some design elements have been copied from the

Denel Dynamics Skua The Denel Dynamics Skua is a turbojet-engined target drone used to simulate fast-moving attack aircraft during surface-to-air and air-to-air training exercises and weapons tests. It is manufactured by the Denel Dynamics division of the South Afri ...

as well. Technical data on the Skua was reportedly sold by one of the Skua's export customers to Iran. Overall, the Karrar is not an exact copy of the MQM-107, and multiple design changes have been made.

Operational history

Development of the Karrar was underway as of 2002, possibly under the name "Hadaf-1". A subscale model of the Karrar was also seen around 2004. The Karrar is also known as the "Ababil Jet"; the Ababil is an unrelated UAV also offered by the same manufacturer, HESA. Iran said the Karrar took "500,000 hours" to develop, but independent analysts say this is unlikely. The Karrar was unveiled on August 23, 2010, one day after the activation of a nuclear reactor in Bushehr, by Iranian president

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),

. It was framed as a "long-range bomber drone," and is the first long-range UAV manufactured in Iran. Multiple sources report that the Karrar has been exported to Hezbollah. The Karrar has supposedly been used in the Syrian Civil War. ''Defense Update'' suggests in particular that the Karrar could be useful for using cruise missiles to target ground-based radars and naval ships. In 2018,

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

reporter Adam Rawnsley said that the Karrar, despite Iranian claims, does not possess the capacity to deploy weapons and is merely a target drone. Today, Karrar is regularly used by Iran's air defense force for training. Karrar target drones have been used to test

Mersad Mersad ( Persian: مرصاد, meaning 'Ambush') is an Iranian low- to mid-range air defense system developed in 2010. It fires Shahin (Falcon) missiles which are reverse-engineered, domestically upgraded versions of the American MIM-23 Hawk sur ...

SAM systems, S-300PMU-2 SAM systems,

Sayyad-2 Sayyad ( fa, صیاد, Hunter) is a serie of solid fuel surface-to-air missiles (SAM) manufactured by Iran. Sayyad-1 Sayyad-1 is the Iranian upgraded version of the Chinese HQ-2 SAM, however it differs from the Chinese versions in guidance an ...

SAM systems, Fakour-90 air-to-air missiles, and Sayyad-3 SAM systems. Iran reportedly used the Karrar to deploy munitions for the first time in a 2020 exercise.

Operators

* **

Islamic Republic of Iran Air Defense Force "And You Did Not Throw When You Threw, But God Did Throw" , start_date = 1933–1954 (Part of Ground Force)1954–2008 (Part of Air Force)2008–Present (As Separate Force) , branch = , type = Air defence , command_structure=Artesh , country ...

Non-state user

* Hezbollah

Specifications

References