November 22-2013
The Islamic Republic has unveiled yet another military drone aircraft, boasting that it is the largest produced in Iran to date. Size is actually not very relevant, however. A drone is just an aircraft without a pilot, and a 747 could be flown that way. The new drone is called Fotros (Petros or Peter), a reference to the figure who is a saint in Christianity and an angel in Shiism. While boasting of its size, the military did not give its dimensions or release a photo with people standing beside it. The announcement said the drone has a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), can fly up to 25,000 feet and remain aloft as long as 30 hours, putting it in the category of the US Predator, which is 19 years old. Fotros can monitor the ground with cameras, or it can be equipped with air-to-ground missiles and used to attack enemy points, the announcement said. Videos released by the Defense Ministry showed the drone in flight, so it is not a mere model, as has been suspected of some other aircraft previously unveiled by the military.