Drone carrier “Shahid Bagheri”: Iran's Revolutionary Guard commissions converted freighter

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy officially commissioned the drone carrier “Shahid Bagheri” this week. Present were Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and Major General Hussein Salami, Commander of the IRGC.

It is named after the martyr (“Shahid”) Bahman Bagheri, an IRGC commander killed in Iraq in 1997. Originally a freighter, the container ship “Perarin” was 240 metres long and 32 metres wide, displaced almost 42,000 tonnes and reached at most 20 to 22 knots. Hyundai Heavy Industries built it in Ulsan, South Korea, in 2000.

Iran converted it between 2022 and 2024, adding an angled, 180-metre take-off and landing deck, a helicopter landing pad at the stern and a lift. The ship now also has signals intelligence technology and a short- and medium-range air defence system.

????Iran has unveiled its new drone carrier, Shahid Bahman Bagheri, which has been converted from a civilian vessel. pic.twitter.com/2OzP027a08

What the drone carrier can do according to state media

Iranian state media attribute the following capabilities to the “Shahid Bagheri”:

• Transport, launch and recovery of several squadrons of unmanned aerial vehicles
• Carriage and deployment of various patrol and combat drones
• Launch and recovery of light, fast combat vessels and guided underwater vehicles
• Transport and deployment of combat and support helicopters of various types
• Launch of long-range surface-to-surface cruise missiles

Unveiling photos and videos show, among others, Ababil-3N carrier drones, the new JAS-313 stealth drones, Bell-206 and Mi-171 helicopters, Homa vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drones and Mohajer-6 drones.

Without refuelling, the ship can operate for up to a year; its operational range is 22,000 nautical miles.