According to Iran, it has more than a hundred "combat, reconnaissance and attack drones" stationed in a secret base. Now state television is showing footage of the system. The base is said to be hundreds of meters underground.
Iran says it has an underground air force base for drones. Iranian state television showed footage of the base for the first time on Saturday: More than a hundred "combat, reconnaissance and attack drones" are stationed at the base under the Sagros Mountains in the west of the country, it said.
State television reported on a visit by Iranian chief of staff Mohammed Bagheri and army chief Abdolrahim Musawi to the underground facility. The exact location of the drone base was not mentioned. The reporter said he flew there blindfolded from the city of Kermanshah by helicopter for almost 40 minutes. The base is "several hundred meters underground," Musawi said. According to state television, the flagship of the drone fleet is the "Kaman-22", a missile-equipped drone that can fly at least 2,000 kilometers. As drones are increasingly being used in the region, Iran must be vigilant and keep its equipment up to date, Bagheri said in a speech to the commanders and engineers present, according to Iran International.
The US and Israel have accused Iran of supplying drones to its Middle East allies, including the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, the government of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad and Yemen's Houthi rebels. The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Iran's Revolutionary Guards drone program in October. Washington accused the elite force of being behind drone strikes on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia in September 2019 and on a merchant ship off the coast of Oman, killing two crew members. Iran denied the allegations.
