Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian sits next to the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and the IRGC’s Quds Force commander, Esmail Qaani, during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of Major General Qassem Soleimani’s death at the Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in downtown Tehran, Iran, on January 2, 2025. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
BEIRUT — Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has unveiled a new loitering munition dubbed Rezvan, which it says has a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) range, according to Iranian media.
The new suicide drone reportedly has a flight time of 20 minutes and features a camera on the front that allows it to be controlled from a first-person view. It was revealed by the IRGC during the Payambar-e Azam (The Great Prophet) 19 military exercise, Iran’s semi-official PressTV said.
Photos in Iranian press appear to show the munition as being launched from a likely man-portable tube, after which its four wings expand for flight.
“This drone enhances the rapid response units of the IRGC’s ground forces, providing them with new capabilities to counter terrorist groups, particularly in complex mountainous terrains,” Iran’s Tasmin News Agency said.
The unveiling of the Rezvan came around the same time as separate reports in Iranian media said the military planned to acquire 1,000 “strategic” drones in “coming days.”
Reportedly the unmanned aerial vehicles to be delivered include Ababil-4 and Ababil 5, which serve multipurpose missions from reconnaissance, patrolling and combat operations. The delivery will also include Arash suicide drones.
According to a report from the United States Institute of Peace, the Ababil-5 has a flight distance of 300 miles and can carry four guided anti-tank missiles with a range of five miles or six precision-guided 5.3-pound bombs with a range of 3.7 miles. (The USIP report does not include stats for the Ababil-4.)
Interest in unmanned vehicles, especially loitering munitions, has skyrocketed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where they’ve proved lethal and difficult to stop on the battlefield. Iran emerged as a loitering munition supplier to Moscow, and analysts have told Breaking Defense their capabilities have drawn attention from countries the world over with tighter military budgets and less cordial relationships with the West — even if Iran was less successful using drones and missiles in two attempts to strike Israel last year.
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But in early 2025 Tehran may be more concerned about shoring up its own capabilities, after its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, was greatly weakened by Israeli operations and its strongest ally in the region, the Assad regime in Syria, was toppled by rebels there.
