Seyed Reza Mirtaher, speaking in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said that UAVs, which stands for unmanned aerial vehicles, have made significant progress in the past two decades, although for the past 20-30 years those aircraft have been present in the air force of some countries, especially the United States, but in the past three decades, especially in the past decade, extraordinary progress has been made in this area.

He added: During this period, some countries were able to obtain great achievements in the field of UAV industry, and now in the world, countries such as the United States, Iran, the Zionist regime, some European countries such as France and recently Russia have gained significant achievements.

UAVs have taken their place in modern warfare

The expert on military and strategic affairs said that paying attention to the experience of wars that have occurred in the past few years at the regional level is very important to understand the role of the drones in future wars, adding: In those wars it is clear that drones have been able to open their place in the new wars and perform well different missions and duties, including exploration, reconnaissance, investigative, combat, assault on targets, surveillance missions, as well as a wide variety of civilian missions, from border patrols to highway and city patrols.

Extensive use of drones in Karabakh war

Mirtaher reminded: In the recent war that took place in Karabakh, suicide drones were widely used and they were able to prove well their ability in the battlefield.

Referring to the diversity of the drones and regarding their capabilities, he said: Drones have now expanded from the size of a human finger to the size of a passenger plane, and different types of them have been built. One type of the drone is the micro-aircraft, which is a very small insect-sized drone that can be used to fly in the desired areas, especially for photography and video surveillance purposes, eavesdropping and the like and espionage.

Mirtaher added: On a larger scale, we see drones being used in different sizes for exploration and reconnaissance missions. At the larger level, we are witnessing manufacture and operation of very large drones equipped with a variety of jet engines and turboprop, which can be called strategic drones, which are mostly used for 24-hour exploration and reconnaissance missions at high altitudes.

The analyst of international affairs, explaining the types of the drones in terms of their propulsion and engine types, as well as the missions they can perform, said: The drones can be divided into exploration, investigative, reconnaissance, communication relay, combat and strike, and espionage based on the missions; meanwhile, we have recently witnessed manufacture and operation of suicide drones, and the Zionist regime has built the “Harop” drone in this field, and other countries have also taken great steps in this regard.

Competition of big powers over manufacture, use of UAVs

Referring to the rivalry among the big powers over manufacture and use of UAVs, Mirtaher said: Countries like China have been able to take great strides in the field of UAV industry and now the Chinese are supplying UAVs in different dimensions and for various missions.

He pointed to the advantages of UAVs in carrying out missions, especially unilateral and suicide missions, and said: It seems that in future wars, UAVs will play an increasing role and can show a decisive and very successful function in this field.

Increasing importance of drones, their decisive role in future wars

The expert on international affairs said that the Zionist regime has been seeking the development of UAVs for a long time and now has a high position in the world in terms of exporting UAVs, adding: Given the increasing importance of UAVs and its decisive role in future wars, we are witnessing that specifically, the United States, China, Russia and European countries such as Britain, France and Germany are looking to build drones at the size of manned fighter jets to even replace them with pilot fighter jets in the future.

Mirtaher pointed to the combination of technologies and the use of new tactics and the ability of elements of artificial intelligence in the manufacture of UAVs and added: A lot of progress has been made in this direction, for example; to increase the capabilities of their air force, the Russians built a drone called the S-70 Okhotnik. There are many joint projects between Germany and France in this field, and Britain has independently built a jet drone in this regard.

He continued: The Americans have also tested several types of drones. It seems that from the third decade of the 21st century, we will gradually witness that jet-propelled drones will perform a variety of combat, exploration and other missions alongside the conventional fighter aircraft.

Mirtaher, referring to some military and espionage actions that have been carried out against countries and by drones so far and have not been pursued legally in the international arena, stressed: It is important to pay attention to the widespread use of drones in its modern form is new and certainly the development of any possible laws and regulations in the field of operational use of UAVs will require the passage of time and the need of countries and creation of a kind of international consensus in this field.

The expert on military and strategic affairs added: Certainly, given the set of military conditions and applications of UAVs, it can be predicted that they will not be subject to specific rules in the short or medium term; because those drones are integrated into the military units of different countries and perform different missions and it does not seem that certain restrictions will be imposed in the future, unless those restrictions apply to commercial drones sold in the markets and the possibility of their abuse.

He explained: In any case, those drones may enter the private life of citizens in the form of suicide or spy drones or endanger people’s lives and property. Of course, in this case, it will be addressed more at the level of domestic laws.