Countering Iran’s UAS swarms ‘requires compressing the kill chain’

Iran has supplied drones to allied militias in Iraq and Lebanon (Hezbollah) with devices that help counter satellite navigation jamming of drones,” Tollast said. “Russia widely uses these CRPA (controlled reception pattern antenna) devices, which are mostly assembled in Russia, but critical electronics are from China.” Since Iran does not have an advanced microelectronics industry, he added, “you can probably deduce who is helping it.” This isn’t to say Iranians aren’t excellent at reverse engineering and in some cases innovating, he added, but Russia “has really taken Iranian drone technology to another level.” Its modifications have included incorporating Chinese modems for radio mesh networking to bypass electronic warfare with more resilient radio links that extend over very long ranges. “Iran is almost certainly copying or more likely benefiting from Russian advisors,” he said. “So, this cooperation, which began with Russia requesting Iran’s help in late 2022 [in Ukraine], is now a rather toxic two-way partnership.”