Iran Announces New Drone Production Line In Tajikistan – Its First UAV Manufacturing Facility Abroad  

(New York, N.Y.) — The Iranian regime announced last week that it has opened a new military drone production line in Tajikistan, its first production line outside of Iran’s borders. The facility is Iran’s latest move to expand the use of its indigenously designed and/or manufactured weaponized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems and to transform its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) drones into versatile platforms with integrated or suicide attack capabilities.  

Drones give Iran an additional means of lethal power projection and enhances its ability to threaten the U.S. and its allies through the terrorist proxy forces. Iranian UAVs have been used to launch armed attacks targeting U.S. military personnel, commercial vessels in international waters, and civilians and critical infrastructure in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Israel, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. The proliferation of drones and related technologies to terrorist and militia proxies is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, too.  

According to a November 2019 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment of Iran’s military strength, “UAVs are Iran’s most rapidly advancing air capability.” Investment in domestic – and now foreign – drone manufacturing, technological advancements, and accessible innovations in the commercial drone market have directly contributed to the expansion of its surveillance and attack capacity.  

In April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6089 — the Stop Iranian Drones Act — on a bipartisan basis. The bill strengthens efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining UAVs, as well as receiving parts commercially made and used for the construction of UAVs. 

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) has urged the U.S. to prioritize deterrence of significant, potentially destabilizing drone attacks, invest in counter-drone technologies and bolster aid defenses by working collaboratively with allies, and to utilize sanctions where possible to hinder Iranian drone advancement. In October 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against several companies and individuals for their role in facilitating the advancement of Iran’s drone program and provision of drones to Iranian proxies.

To read UANI’s resource The Iranian Drone Threat, please click here. 

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