“We are one of the five leading countries in the world in the area of drone technology”, beamed Iranian General Sharam Hassanejad of the Vali-e Asr drone force in an interview with Iranian state media last October.
The general’s words were not an empty boast. Iran has amassed a significant arsenal of drones an arsenal which satellite imagery can reveal in hitherto unseen detail.
On January 4, 2021, a WorldView-2 satellite captured a part of Iran’s drone fleet on a remote airstrip in the desert near Semnan in the country’s North. The image it took was exclusively provided to Bellingcat by European Space Imaging, showing over 154 drones of various types lined up for a large exercise by the Iranian armed forces on January 6.