The new version of the Iranian Shahed-136 loitering munition received a jet engine and its own optical sensor for targeting.

Videos of drone engagement were featured in the recently released Iranian documentary Parchamdar (Flagship).

In the published footage, a pickup truck with a launcher installed in the cargo compartment can be seen carrying one kamikaze drone.

To launch a jet drone, the car reaches a high speed, for which it needs a straight, flat road of appropriate length. Judging by the frames of the speedometer of the car, the drone is launched at a speed of 190 kilometers per hour.

A bullet-shaped superstructure can be seen under the front part of the fuselage. That’s a drone’s optical sensor, due to which it conducts the targeting.

The documentary also shows an image received from the optical sensor. It was taken from the drone control panel. Evidently, the drone locks-on the target and flies on it, or it is controlled directly by the operator in the terminal flight stage.

The film authors state that the new drone will be a more technological and expensive addition to the existing Shahed-136 which currently has a conventional piston engine and a ‘blind’ guidance system.

At the same time, the technical characteristics of the ‘Shaheds’ with a jet engine remain unknown. This innovation is supposed to significantly increase the speed of the drone, with a reduced operational range instead.

The claimed range of the standard Shahed-136 is 2,000 kilometers, and according to the experience of the Russian-Ukrainian war, it is at least 1,000 kilometers. Missions at such ranges are carried out autonomously according to the programmable data downloaded before the flight and without communication with the control station.

The updated drone with operator communication functions at the first hundred kilometers will require the use of ground repeaters or other aircraft/drones that will perform this role. It is not known whether such systems exist in Iran’s service.

It is worth noting that with the new jet engine, the new ‘Shahed’ is approaching the niche of cruise missiles and is unlikely to become the same means of terror as its piston analog. This is due to both the cost of the product and the complexity of its production.

Presumably, the tasks of the new drone will be counter-battery warfare and the defeat of important military targets behind enemy lines, such as air defense systems, depots, and manpower locations.