Iran Unveils Short-Range Reconnaissance Drone

Iran unveiled a highly mobile propellant-powered reconnaissance drone launched from a wedge catapult on Saturday, according to local media.

The drone, named "Yasseer," can fly for eight hours with a range of 200 kilometres (124 miles) and reach an altitude of 4,500 meters (15,000 feet), the reports said.

It resembles the American ScanEagle, an unmanned short-range aerial surveillance vehicle that Iran claimed to have captured in late 2012.

Yasseer is capable of identifying targets with its very powerful camera, and reporting them back to the base, the chief of army ground forces General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan was quoted as saying at the unveiling ceremony by Fox News.

Pourdastan also spoke of another newly produced kamikaze drone -- called Raad 85 -- which he said was capable of identifying targets and attacking them.

Iran in recent years has boasted of capturing US drones it says have penetrated its airspace, vowing to reverse engineer them to make its own, according to the report.  

In December 2011 Iran claimed to have captured a large and sophisticated CIA stealth drone, a bat-winged RQ-170 Sentinel. Tehran rejected a US request for its return.

On Friday, Iran put into service a long-range drone called Shahed 129, with a range of 1,700 kilometres (or 1,050 miles). The drone is capable of flying for up to 24 hours and carrying eight missiles. The Shahed 129 was unveiled in September 2012, the report said.

Iran says it operates a large drone production programme, which is a source of concern for regional arch-foe Israel and Western nations at odds with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions, the report added.