Every Move You Make: Watch Iranian Long-range Drone Keep Tabs on US Warship

Iran’s advanced drone program has proven a key pillar of deterrence against both Washington and Tehran’s regional adversaries, with the Islamic Republic developing and fielding dozens of varieties of sophisticated, home-grown reconnaissance and strike unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past four decades.

Iranian media has shown off footage of a long-range, high endurance reconnaissance and strike drone keeping track of a US warship sailing in international waters in the northern Indian Ocean.

The footage, shot by the Ababil-5 UAV’s onboard day and nighttime cameras, shows the drone loitering near the US warship – which appears to be an Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer, as it traverses local waters.

The Ababil-5 reportedly took off for its mission from an Iranian military base situated at Jask, a small port town in Hormozgan province, southeastern Iran. According to local media, the drone managed to keep tabs on the American vessel over a period of roughly 24 hours.

The Ababil-5 (lit. ‘Flock of Birds’ in Farsi) was first unveiled in April 2022 in a military parade in Tehran. It is the fifth iteration of the Ababil-1 - one of Iran’s first-ever drone designs, which the country developed and used during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.

Produced by the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA), the Ababil-5 has a reported range of nearly 500 km, and can be used for long-range reconnaissance or strike missions with four onboard guided Qaem-9 anti-tank missiles, or six precision-guided bombs. The UAV is fitted with radar-absorbing materials, making it difficult to spot by enemy radar.

The advanced drones took part in large-scale drills this week spanning the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman and involving hundreds of UAVs, including the never-before-seen Kaman-19 electronic warfare drone and the Arash long-range suicide drone, which has a reported range of up to 2,000 km.

Iran boasts the ability to keep tabs on all foreign warships operating near its Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean coastlines using domestically-developed radars, drones, submarines, a mosquito fleet of missile boats and increasingly sophisticated surveillance satellites.

In 2021, then-United Central Command (USCENTCOM) chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie warned in testimony to Congress that Iran’s advanced surveillance and attack drone capabilities had deprived the US of complete theater air superiority for the first time since the Korean War of 1950-1953.

Iran sees drones as a major pillar of its defensive capabilities, alongside its modern air defenses and short, medium and long-range missiles – with the latter seen as an effective deterrent against foreign aggression, including by nuclear weapons-armed enemies.

The nation’s increasingly sophisticated military-industrial complex, which includes the ability to research and produce components such as defense electronics from scratch, has enabled Iran to become one of the top 20 military powers in the world, while spending just a fraction of what its potential adversaries do on defense.