According to information published by the US DoD on November 15, 2022, in the Gulf of Oman, an Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicle conducted a one-way attack against the Pacific Zircon, a Liberian-flagged, commercial tanker.
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Wreckage from what Ukrainian military authorities described as an Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone, which was shot down in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. (Picture source Ukraine MoD)
Though there was damage to the vessel, there were no casualties. The exploitation of the debris that hit the vessel reveals that it was a Shahed-series one-way attack drone.
A multilateral operation led by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Lancaster, including 2 U.S. Navy vessels; Guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68); patrol coastal ship USS Chinook (PC 9); and a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon patrol craft responded to the scene.
About the Shahed-series UAV
The HESA Shahed 136, or Geran-2 in Russian service, is an Iranian loitering munition in the form of an autonomous pusher-prop drone. It is developed by HESA.
The aircraft has a cropped delta-wing shape, with a central fuselage blending into the wings and stabilizing rudders at the tips. The nose section contains a warhead estimated to weigh 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb).
The engine sits in the rear of the fuselage and drives a two-bladed propeller in a "pusher" arrangement. The munition is 3.5 meters (11 ft) long with a wingspan of 2.5 meters (8.2 ft), flies at over 185 kilometers per hour (115 mph), and weighs about 200 kilograms (440 lb).
The range has been estimated as between 1,800 and 2,500 kilometers (1,100 and 1,600 miles) usable in a pre-programmed direct-attack munition mode (somewhat like a long-range cruise missile), and also a long-duration loitering munition mode limited by a radio signal range of about 150 kilometers (93 miles) in receiving new GNSS target location instructions.
The Shahed 136 is used in three models in the Iranian armed forces: anti-personnel and armoured vehicle, anti-fortification, and radar seeker. The U.S. Army unclassified worldwide equipment guide states that the Shahed 136 design also supports an aerial reconnaissance option.
