Why Iran's killer Shahed drones have moped-like sound
India Today
The Shahed-136 drone has emerged as Tehran's weapon of choice in the ongoing war in the Middle East. It was used by Russia in the Ukraine war. The Ukrainians call the Shahed-136 "a moped" because of the sound it makes. Here's more about Shahed-136's unique journey and the reason behind the distinctive sound.
"Mopeds," said the Ukrainians, when they heard and saw a new kind of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)'s buzzing over their skies. That was mid-2022. Others in Kyiv compared the sound to a lawnmower. Some called it a scooter. By 2023, Western media picked up the term while describing the drone swarms attacking Ukraine. These drones were actually the Iranian Shahed-136 drones, which senior journalist and defence expert Sandeep Unnithan says, "appeared over a decade ago". The Shahed-136 drones were procured by Russia for its war on Ukraine. Since then, the sound of the "moped" has stayed the same. The theatre of its flights has shifted to another war zone, the Middle East.
Four years later, the same Iranian Shahed-136 drones are raining fire and death in the Middle East, with the Islamic Republic locked in an intense war with the US and Israel. Tehran is also launching the long-range "kamikaze" loitering drones on its neighbours in the Gulf. In fact, Iran's opening salvo in the war comprised thousands of Shahed-136 drones that it fired on Israel following the killing of its Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, on February 28.
Shahed-136's distinctive buzzing sound, which became common in downtown Kyiv, is also being in the ongoing war in the Middle East. But why do the Shahed-136 drones sound like mopeds, or lawnmowers or scooters? Why don't they have a clean whoosh sound? Are the low-cost drones really fitted with moped engines, as many on social media claim?
The reality is a little different. The answer lies in the technology Iran uses to mass-produce these drones. It is an engine which traces its roots back to West Germany during the Cold War era, and is the root cause of the buzzing sound, earning the moniker "moped". It came from a platform that was developed to target Russian missiles, which Unnithan calls an "irony".
He calls the Shahed-136 an aerial equivalent of the AK-47. But why?
In the ongoing war, Shahed-136 and the drones of the family have become Iran's weapon of choice.
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