A low-cost drone in wide use

Designed for mass saturation, Iran's Shahed-136 overwhelms defences by making quantity count, creationg an unaffordable cost asymmetry for adversaries.

3 min read

Updated On: Apr 13 2026 | 4:04 PM IST

Martand Mishra

A low-cost drone in wide use. (Photo: Reuters)

Iran’s Shahed-136, a low-cost long-range loitering munition drone, has been widely used in recent conflicts, including the Islamic Republic’s retaliatory action against the United States (US) and Israel.

It is designed by Shahed Aviation Industries and developed by Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), an aerospace company under the country’s Ministry of Defence. Shahed-136, the most widely used variant in the Shahed series of loitering munitions, is designed as a long-range kamikaze or one-way attack drone intended to loiter in the air before striking targets and detonating its warhead.

It measures around 3.5 metres (m) in length with a wingspan of about 2.5 m and features a distinctive delta-wing configuration with wingtip stabilisers and a rear-mounted propeller, with an overall weight of approximately 200 kilograms (kg). It carries a high-explosive warhead weighing between 30 kg and 50 kg.

Powered by a small piston engine similar to those used in motorcycles, the drone flies at a speed of around 185 kilometres (km) per hour and can operate at altitudes ranging from 50 m to nearly 4,000 m during flight. It has an estimated range of more than 1,000 km, allowing it to strike deep inside enemy territory.

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It is built for low-cost mass deployment and launches using a rocket-assisted take-off system from truck-mounted racks, allowing deployment without a runway. This mobility makes the drone difficult for enemies to track and strike critical infrastructure, radar stations, ammunition depots and other high-value targets.

Equipped with an inertial navigation system combined with satellite navigation such as the global positioning system and the Russian GLONASS, it follows a pre-programmed route and strikes fixed targets with accuracy.

The design has inspired similar models internationally. Russia has made a modified version called Geran 2, upgrading payload, navigation and electronic warfare. The US has made a similar low-cost loitering munition system known as LUCAS.

Explaining the operational logic behind such loitering munitions, Brigadier Anshuman Narang (retired) said the series reflects a shift toward low-cost, high-volume strike systems.

“The whole design philosophy is simple — make the system so cheap that even if you lose many of them, it doesn’t matter. You have to saturate air defences, where quantity has a quality of its own,” he said.

According to Narang, their primary advantage lies in overwhelming air defences. “The first advantage of these drones is saturation. You fire more drones than the air defence system can intercept, and whatever gets through opens the door for missiles.”

He also pointed to the economic imbalance such attacks create. “Shahed drone may cost under $50,000, while the interceptor missile used to shoot it down can cost over $1 million. That cost imbalance is the real challenge for air defence systems.”

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Written By :

Martand Mishra

Martand Mishra has started his reporting career with defence coverage. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. He enjoys reading books on defence, history and biographies.