Qods Yasir

The Qods Yasir, also designated the Sayed-2, is a light tactical surveillance and reconnaissance drone built by Iran’s Qods Aviation. It is widely considered an unlicensed copy of the American Boeing Insitu ScanEagle, which Iran captured and reverse-engineered, though the Yasir includes several design modifications.

Iran claimed to have captured a ScanEagle on December 4, 2012, alleging it had violated Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Navy denied losing any ScanEagles, though other operators of the drone exist in the Middle East.

Later that month, on December 17, Iran revised its claim to three captured ScanEagles and announced plans to reverse-engineer and mass-produce them, also asserting it had already done so. The Yasir was publicly unveiled in September 2013, about ten months after the initial capture. In October 2013, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) gave one as a gift to the commander of the Russian Air Force.

Design

The Yasir features swept-back wings and a large payload bubble under its nose. Unlike the ScanEagle, it has an inverted V-tail and a twin-boom tail structure. It is powered by a single, unidentified two-bladed propeller engine and carries an electro-optical payload.

It can also be fitted with an explosive payload for use as a disposable strike munition. The drone is 1.19 meters long, has a wingspan of 3.05 meters, and weighs 18 kilograms—slightly smaller than the ScanEagle. Its speed is 120 km/h, with a maximum endurance of 20 hours, a service ceiling of 16,000 feet, and a communications link range of up to 100 kilometers.

Iran and Syria are the only state operators of the Yasir. It has been exported to at least one non-state actor, with allegations of exports to several more. Iranian allies have used Yasir drones in the civil wars in Iraq and Syria, likely due to their small size compared to larger Iranian UAVs.

Lebanon

In Iran, some Yasirs are based at the drone facility on Qeshm Island. In Lebanon, after an unidentified UAV repeatedly flew over a complex belonging to Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in early 2014, a lawmaker accused Hezbollah of using a Yasir for surveillance or potential assassination. Israeli sources also report Hezbollah has flown Yasirs.