IRGC Launches Cloud-Seeding UAV Squadron

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force in cooperation with Iran’s Energy Ministry have formed a special fleet of drones for cloud-seeding, the news was broke out at meeting in Tehran.

A special meeting was held at the Water Research Institute in Tehran with representatives of Energy Ministry and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Department, as well as representatives from Iran Meteorological Organization and some other institutes in attendance.

The attendees at the specialized meeting focused on water-related issues in Iran, including drought and water shortages and exploring ways to tackle the existing problems.

In the meeting, the IRGC Aerospace Force representative Shahab Jamshidi said that a team of 20 experts was initially formed comprised of university professors and students, who majored in aerospace, to cooperate with Energy Ministry in a project on cloud-seeding.

Jamshidi expressed the readiness of the IRGC Aerospace to help the Energy Ministry to tackle water-related issues.

He said that the IRGC Aerospace has increased the number of aircraft assigned to fertilize clouds from one aircraft to three.

According to the IRGC Aerospace representative, in the past, a flight team used to come from Tajikistan to Iran for cloud-seeding operations, while now, the whole operational team are from the IRGC Aerospace.

He went on to add that a UAVs fleet with cloud-seeding missions has been formed at IRGC Aerospace Department. He added that this UAVs fleet are stationed and ready for operations in five regions across the country.

Jamshidi also said that while there had not been an agreement signed between the IRGC Aerospace Department and the Energy Ministry as of today, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace had ordered them to continue the project and should not wait for share of budget from the Energy Ministry.

The IRGC Aerospace representative in the meeting further noted that the IRGC had saved a large amount of money by working on the project, adding that the project had the potentials to be exported to neighboring countries.

Iran has made great achievements in developing drones and missiles after the Islamic Revolution.

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh underlined in November Iran’s major advances in designing and manufacturing different state-of-the-art drones.

“We are even ahead of the top world powers in the drones sector and we are way ahead of them,” General Hajizadeh said, addressing a ceremony in the Northern city of Qazvin.

He described Iran as the top regional power in the sector, saying that the country had been able to develop different types of home-made missiles as well.

“The young Iranian people have managed to put the country at the peak of power with their excellent ideas in the radar, missile and drone sectors,” General Hajizadeh said.