With the Iranian drones entering the Ukrainian battlefield and the EU launching sanctions on Iranian drone manufacturers, it can be confirmed that Russia not only has Iranian drones, but also has a large number of them.
Most of the drones sold to Russia by Iran are Shahd-136 drones. In addition, it is reported that Russia is also stepping up the procurement of suicide drones with larger ranges and ground-to-ground ballistic missiles Conqueror-110.
As a world-renowned military power, Russia suddenly purchased a large number of military equipment from Iran, which is unbearable. Is Russia's ammunition database so "stretched"? At least one thing can be confirmed. Russia is currently conducting long-range strikes on Ukraine, and it still values the role of the missile .
For a long time, Russia has been considered to have a huge missile inventory and should not show insufficient ammunition in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in low-intensity combat. However, the fact is that after Russia's military operations against Ukraine lasted for more than 240 days, there was no certain number of drones filling the gap. In addition to the restrictions of the INF Treaty for many years, the Russian army obviously had a significant increase in demand for medium- and short-range missiles. You should know that Ukraine has a span of more than 1,000 kilometers east-west. Even missiles with a range of 500 kilometers can not be launched in western Russia. The missile strike against Lviv may rely on air-launched cruise missiles and caliber cruise missiles to complete.
In recent years, the development of Russian surface ship has been slow. The launching caliber cruise missile of ships are mostly frigate . These ships generally have small tonnage and small ammunition load. If you want to maintain high-intensity bombing, the cost is not low. Therefore, Russia naturally tends to buy weapons with low prices and can cover about 1,000 kilometers of attack range.
Because of the low cost of using this range missile and suicide drone, it will not cause casualties on your own. In order to avoid excessive casualties, Russia's long-range strike is definitely the first choice. Even air strikes may concessions to drones and missiles, because the Russian Aerospace Forces have suffered huge damage in this Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
When Iran's weapons entered Russia, the arms trade between Russia and Iran took a 180-degree turn. In the past, other countries were advertising Russian weapons. is now Russia's turn to advertise Iran's weapons.
So, why is it said that it was Russia's turn to advertise Iranian weapons this time? Iran's weapons are really advanced? Who are the potential customers of Iranian weapons?
First, Russia has purchased a considerable amount of weapons and equipment from Iran in recent months, and is developing towards diversification of types. Since Russia, a big player in the international weapons and equipment export market, suddenly became a big customer, Iranian weapons and equipment, which have always been silent in the international military trade market, seemed to have become the focus overnight, but this does not mean that Iran has the ability to compete with the major exporting countries of traditional weapons and equipment.
Second, the Russian army's large-scale procurement of Iranian weapons and equipment is a certain degree of accident. The main reason is that Russia exposed some shortcomings in some equipment fields during its military operations against Ukraine, shortage of quantity or basically does not have equipment in certain fields, and consumes too much in actual combat, and lacks channels for obtaining domestic and foreign weapons and equipment. The domestic technology or production capacity in some equipment fields is insufficient, and foreign procurement is subject to Western sanctions. The Iranian weapons and equipment purchased are not leading in the technical level, and the emergency color is very obvious.
What is certain is that even for a long time after the war between Russia and Ukraine, Iran did not regard Russia as a priority potential customer for weapons exports, and it was a pure surprise to be able to obtain orders from Russia.
Third, from the level of weapons and equipment that Iran can provide to the international market, it can still be considered medium-to-middle in terms of ballistic missile , long-range air defense system, anti-ship missile , and ground equipment. Most of the other domestic weapons and equipment are in the technical level between the second and third generation equipment after the war. Overall, the competitiveness is average. Even if international political factors are not taken into account, it can only take the low-price route. It has certain attractiveness in countries and regions with limited budgets and certain demands for technical equipment, and is not outstanding for countries and regions with abundant funds.
It can be believed that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has a significant driving effect on Iran's entry into the international military trade market, but if Iran cannot launch some "hot" products in recent years, it can only continue to deepen its efforts in the low-end market in the future.
Iran's low-priced weapons shine in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Who will be the most nervous?
is naturally the Middle East Saudi and Israel and the United States in North America, because these countries have been confronting Iran for a long time. In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the use of Iranian weapons, especially after playing a certain role, is a deterrent to these countries.
First, for Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia is very close to Iran. Although Saudi Arabia deploys US Patriot missiles, judging from the previous bombing of the Aramco oil field, if it was launched from Iran, Saudi Arabia would not be able to intercept all of them, and it would cause large-scale drones to penetrate the Saudi air defense network.
So this will force Saudi Arabia to consider how to deal with Iran's drone strikes in the future, and even release some kindness to Iran at the diplomatic level. After all, if it is too close, it will not cause little damage if it really fights.
Second, for Israel, although Israel has an Iron Dome air defense system, Israel has faced mostly low-tech light weapon strikes for a long time. Once it faces Iran's heavy weapons, even if Israel can successfully intercept them, its collateral damage will probably not be small. Moreover, it is unknown whether Iran will target Israel's air defense network to improve its long-range strike weapons.
Third, for the United States, this time I finally saw the power of large-scale use of Iranian drones. Just imagine if these drones are sold to Venezuela . Will selling them to some Middle East countries pose a threat to the security of the United States? Even if Iran will not sell a large number of weapons to the international market for the time being, and only sells these weapons to Russia continuously, it will probably cause great consumption to Ukraine supported by the West.
weapons sold to Russia caused tension in the West, and it can also explain another problem from the side. After Iran's weapons were used by Russia, Ukraine did not have many ways to deal with them. This shows that the West’s weapons support to Ukraine has not yet been systematic, and it is obvious that the cost of arming Ukraine to the teeth will be higher.
In the future, the United States may provide Ukraine with advanced NASAMS air defense system, but to deploy these air defense missiles throughout Ukraine, the amount required is huge. Will the Americans agree? What will happen to the actual combat effect? Who can laugh to the end, wait and see.
