Shahed 121 is an Iranian

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

(UAV), part of the drone family that includes the Shahed 125 and

Shahed 129 The Shahed 129 ( fa, شاهد ۱۲۹, English: "witness"; sometimes S129) is an Iranian single-engine medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed by Shahed Aviation Industries for the Islamic Revolutionary Guar ...

. Shahed translates in the Arabic and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

languages to ''witness''. It was noticed in 2016 when it flew over the

USS Harry S. Truman USS ''Harry S. Truman'' (CVN-75) is the eighth of the United States Navy, named after the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. She is currently homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. ''Harry S. Truman'' was launched ...

, a nuclear-power aircraft carrier, in international airspace. The US Navy regarded this as a security breach which had not happened since 2014. The incident occurred after a nuclear deal that Iran signed with

world powers A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...

, including the US. A US Navy Seahawk helicopter filmed the incident. The flight of Shahed 121 was considered by Iranian authorities to be safe as its wings were all "clean", implying that the drone did not carry weapons and was not dangerous to ships but the high command of the US Navy described it as "abnormal" and "unprofessional".

References

149 Military equipment of Iran Unmanned aerial vehicles of Iran Aircraft manufactured in Iran Iranian military aircraft {{Iran-mil-stub