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0 pointslmm1d ago0 comments

> Every rusty trawler is a viable launch platform for Shahed type drones

And where exactly are you planning to operate that trawler out of? Or are you going to send it across the Atlantic on its own (well, with a couple of tankers accompanying it, but never mind that) and hope no-one pays attention?

> operational range ~2500 km per Wikipedia

I think you either added an extra zero or were looking at the hyped prototypes rather than the models in actual use. The Shaheds have ranges in the hundreds of miles, not thousands.

0 comments

D_Alex22h ago

>I think you either added an extra zero or were looking at the hyped prototypes

I thought I was clear where I was looking - here, you may check for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Shahed_136.

crazygringo15h ago

> Its range has been estimated to be anywhere from between 970–1,500 km (600–930 mi) to as much as 2,000–2,500 km (1,200–1,600 mi).

You presented the absolute maximum estimate as if it were the conventionally accepted value. That's incredibly misleading.

Arnt22h ago

I assume that smuggling drones into the US is easier than it was for Ukraine to smuggle them into Russia.

andriy_koval11h ago

Its harder. 20% of Russians(my estimate) have connections to Ukraine (relatives, friends, or were born there) and could be Ukrainian agents, there are lots of land routes how you can smuggle stuff. Things are not as well connected between Iran and US.

robocat10h ago

Agents in the US would just be normal citizens asking for money/crypto. You'd need to find fools to deceive, but a lot of people fall for scams to get small gains. Many hard drug users in particular are often rather self centered in my limited experience.

Or if you wanted to attack refineries, you could possibly select some climate change activists to do it for you?

Or find angry children to do it. Make things go bang for fun.

Our industrial infrastructure appears to be vulnerable to me (as a superficial opinion).

The real fix is to help poor people in other countries to like the US. And work hard at avoiding doing things that radicalise dangerous haters.

2 more replies

nozzlegear5h ago

You know what they say when you assume.

spwa420h ago

These people are used to executing civilians when they are the police. That's how IRGC, hamas and hezbollah work. You won't see much action from people like that when they can't just shoot anyone that they don't like.

citrin_ru1d ago

> And where exactly are you planning to operate that trawler out of? Or are you going to send it across the Atlantic on its own

China operates fishing fleets all around the globe but Iran is not known for this so Iranian fishing vessel in western Atlantics will rise suspicions. An ordinary cargo vessel heading to the Central America on other hand may sail unnoticed.

samus14h ago

How to identify a vessel as Iranian though? They can just register it in a Caribbean country and give it a less suspicious name.

citrin_ru1d ago

2500 km is a realistic range of you follow the war in Ukraine. Kyiv is frequently attacked with Shahed drones and it is far from frontlines.

lmmOP1d ago

> Kyiv is frequently attacked with Shahed drones and it is far from frontlines. reply

It's a couple of hundred miles from the frontlines in Kharkiv, and the Russian border to the North is even closer.

citrin_ru22h ago

Shaheds are launched not from the frontline (to avoid a launch site being attacked) but I would agree that a typical attack distance is around 500 km (which is much less than the range stated in wikipedia). Still this unlikely the max range of this drone and there is a tradeoff - one can increase range by reducing the war head mass.

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Scarblac1d ago

Kyiv is pretty close to the Russian border to its north, even Moscow itself is less than 1000km away.

I think the furthest hits Ukraine has been able to achieve with drones were on a refinery about 1300km from Ukraine controlled land.

Pay0812h ago

It's surprisingly difficult to find ships if they don't want to be found. Iran has been able to maintain it's shadow fleet for decades for a reason. It'd be more difficult to get a boat that close to the USA for sure, but not impossible. What is more likely are attacks by the various Iranian terrorist organisatons that have been showing up especially in the UK [1, 2].

[1] https://news.sky.com/story/four-arrested-on-suspicion-of-syp...

[2] https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-890851

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0 comments

D_Alex22h ago

>I think you either added an extra zero or were looking at the hyped prototypes

I thought I was clear where I was looking - here, you may check for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HESA_Shahed_136.

crazygringo15h ago

> Its range has been estimated to be anywhere from between 970–1,500 km (600–930 mi) to as much as 2,000–2,500 km (1,200–1,600 mi).

You presented the absolute maximum estimate as if it were the conventionally accepted value. That's incredibly misleading.

Arnt22h ago

I assume that smuggling drones into the US is easier than it was for Ukraine to smuggle them into Russia.

andriy_koval11h ago

robocat10h ago

Or if you wanted to attack refineries, you could possibly select some climate change activists to do it for you?

Or find angry children to do it. Make things go bang for fun.

Our industrial infrastructure appears to be vulnerable to me (as a superficial opinion).

The real fix is to help poor people in other countries to like the US. And work hard at avoiding doing things that radicalise dangerous haters.

2 more replies

nozzlegear5h ago

You know what they say when you assume.

spwa420h ago

citrin_ru1d ago

> And where exactly are you planning to operate that trawler out of? Or are you going to send it across the Atlantic on its own

samus14h ago

How to identify a vessel as Iranian though? They can just register it in a Caribbean country and give it a less suspicious name.

citrin_ru1d ago

2500 km is a realistic range of you follow the war in Ukraine. Kyiv is frequently attacked with Shahed drones and it is far from frontlines.

lmmOP1d ago

> Kyiv is frequently attacked with Shahed drones and it is far from frontlines. reply

It's a couple of hundred miles from the frontlines in Kharkiv, and the Russian border to the North is even closer.

citrin_ru22h ago

1 more reply

Scarblac1d ago

Kyiv is pretty close to the Russian border to its north, even Moscow itself is less than 1000km away.

I think the furthest hits Ukraine has been able to achieve with drones were on a refinery about 1300km from Ukraine controlled land.

Pay0812h ago

[1] https://news.sky.com/story/four-arrested-on-suspicion-of-syp...

[2] https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-890851

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