Iran claims that earlier this week, it used a new air defense system to destroy an American MQ-9 Reaper drone close to the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iran's state-sponsored media, a domestically built technology known as Arash-e-Kamangir was used to bring down the American drone, which costs between $16 million and $30 million per unit, close to Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has stated that earlier this week, it used a new air defense system to destroy an American MQ-9 Reaper drone close to the Strait of Hormuz. According to Iran's state-sponsored media, a domestically built technology known as Arash-e-Kamangir was used to bring down the American drone, which costs between $16 million and $30 million per unit, close to Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.

According to Iranian media, the drone was brought down over regional waters as part of an effort to defend the nation's maritime boundaries and airspace. "This operation, which was carried out using a system with hidden capabilities, is a clear and decisive message from Iran," unidentified officials were quoted by Iran's Fars news agency.
Nevertheless, the Iranian allegation of a new interception technology has not yet been verified by any independent source.
How True Is The Iranian allegation According to experts, the Iranian allegation needs to be handled with caution.

They pointed out that although Iranian officials have a long history of announcing military developments that are hard to independently verify, the general idea behind the claim is tenable because Tehran is making significant investments in less expensive, mobile, and homegrown defense systems that are intended to pose a threat to drones and aircraft without depending on large, fixed radar sites that are more difficult to detect.
According to Mark Hilborne, a senior lecturer at King's College London's faculty of security studies, Iran has grown fairly self-sufficient in the construction of missiles and, like Ukraine, has been astute in altering the economics of warfare, he told Al Jazeera.

"Cheap, simple systems can hold much more complex systems at risk," he stated.
Tehran's ongoing deployment of relatively inexpensive Shahed drones, which could provide Iran with a longer-term economic advantage in any protracted confrontation, is one example of this.
What Could Arash-e Kamangir Be?
The new interceptor system bears the name of a Persian mythological figure who is said to have drawn the border between Iran and Central Asia with an arrow.
Analysts told Al Jazeera that the Arash-e Kamangir interception might not be a brand-new, revolutionary weapon but rather a further development in Iran's broader use of mobile, less expensive air defense.

This is significant because the less expensive and smaller alternatives may be transported, concealed, launched swiftly, and replaced more readily than classic air defense networks, which rely on radars and launch batteries and are much simpler to spot.
The system may be connected to Iran's other short-range or loitering surface-to-air weapons, according to Alex Almeida, a security analyst with the New York-based strategic information platform Horizon Engage.It's probably an extension of one of those systems. It is independent of fixed guidance from a conventional air defense radar location. In essence, it's a pop-up SAM [surface-to-air missile] system that is simple to set up and launch, and it's likely employing some form of electro-optical or heat-seeking guidance," he stated.

The article claims that some of Iran's smaller defense systems are built such that the interceptor can wait in the air, circling the sky until a target aircraft or drone shows up. Additionally, there are short-range anti-drone or anti-aircraft weapons that are less expensive and sophisticated than large air defense batteries, but they are also simpler to produce and replace.
The Iranian defense system finds it easier to target drones like the MQ-9 Reaper, which are made to move slowly because their main function is surveillance.
But Nicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at Sciences Po University in Paris, told Al Jazeera that Tehran might still require more robust medium- and long-range air defenses. However, she maintained that there is a definite advantage to the mobile systems.

"These are mobile launch systems, sometimes man-portable, and their utility lies in their ability to be moved swiftly. The Reaper's altitude is unknown to us. It may have been rather simple for them to shoot down based on the video that was made public, but it still shows that they have some air defense capabilities left," she stated.