The Shahid Bagheri can carry several squadrons of drones as well as helicopters and cruise missiles.
When one thinks of nation-states whose navies include aircraft carriers in their fleets, the United States of America is probably the first example to come to mind for most Westerners. Yet the People’s Republic of China, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, India, and Russia have joined the exclusive naval fraternity (though in the case of the latter two countries, the carriers have been more of a source of embarrassment than national pride lately).
If we expand our interpretation of the term “aircraft carrier” from just fixed-wing aircraft to include rotary-wing assets, i.e., helicopter carriers, then we can add Japan, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Egypt, and Brazil to the list.
And if we’re going to include drone carriers in our definition of “aircraft carrier,” the Islamic Republic of Iran has just joined that club with the Shahid Bagheri, thus upping the ante for both the aircraft carrier and the unmanned aerial vehicle/unmanned aircraft system (UAV/UAS) arms races.
Details on the Shahid Bagheri
The basics of the story come to us courtesy of the Associated Press in a February 6, 2025, article titled “Iran inaugurates its first drone-carrier warship.” To wit:
“The [Islamic Republic News Agency] report said the vessel, manned by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s navy, can carry several squadrons of drones as well as helicopters and cruise missiles. Named Shahid Bagheri, it’s capable of launching cruise missiles, IRNA said … The report said it was converted from a commercial ship and would increase Iran’s power of deterrence … Chief of the Guard, Gen. Hossein Salami, said at the ceremony that the warship can travel ‘independently’ in seas for up to one year … ‘Iran is not considered a threat to any country, but we do not bow before threat by any power,’ Salami said.”
Shahid Bagheri Specifications
The Shahid Bagheri has a runway length of 180 meters (590 feet) and, if the IRNA reports are accepted at face value, can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in port. The Associated Press report does not specify the exact carrying capacity—though it does mention an Iranian state TV broadcast that “showed at least four helicopters and three drones on the warship’s runway”—or what specific drone types it hosts.
However, it appears likely that the vessel is home to one of the HESA (Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company; a subsidiary of Iran Aviation Industries Organization, a state-owned aerospace company controlled by Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics) Shahed drones, either the Shahed-129 and/or the Shahed-136 Kamikaze UAV.
According to Army Technology, the Shahed-136 measures 3.5 meters (11.4 feet) in length and 2.5 meters in width (8.2 feet), with a weight of 200 kilograms (440 lbs.), a max airspeed of 185 km/h (114 mph) and a maximum range of 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles). As for the -129 model, Armed Forces.eu reports that it can carry a maximum payload of 400 kilograms (881 lbs.) consisting of four Sadid-345 precision-guided bombs, with a proclaimed combat range of 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles; its ferry range is double that), a cruise speed of 150 km/h (93 mph), and a long endurance of up to twenty-four hours.
The Way Forward?
From a big-picture standpoint, the inauguration of the Shahid Bagheri, which follows Iran’s testing of a new air defense system (in conjunction with Russia) known as the Bavar-373, comes at a time of growing paranoia and insecurity within the Iranian regime. Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior advisor for Iran and financial economics at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, recently wrote an article on this topic for The National Interest titled “Cracks in the Core? The Meaning Behind Iran’s Assassinations?” With Trump having issued an executive order on February 4, 2025, resurrecting his “maximum pressure” campaign against the Iranian regime, it appears that Iran has reasons to be worried.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
Image: CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons, cropped.