Iran pushes Shahed-149 ‘Gaza’ combat drone for export after strike demo.

Iran is openly marketing the long-endurance Shahed-149 “Gaza” combat drone after new state-released footage showing a guided strike. The export push positions Tehran to court buyers beyond Western and Chinese catalogs across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.

Iran has officially announced that its Shahed 149 Gaza unmanned combat aerial vehicle is being promoted for export. This outreach comes after fresh footage from an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps exercise, which Iranian outlets used to highlight a precision-guided strike and to frame the platform as combat-ready. Against the backdrop of expanding UAV demand in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia, the Gaza’s appearance on the trade-show circuit positions Tehran to compete for buyers looking beyond Western or Chinese catalogs. To explore the capabilities and export pitch in plain terms, watch the video placed at the bottom of this article.
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From a market standpoint, the Gaza targets the mid-tier UCAV segment, where acquisition cost, availability, and political risk tolerance often outweigh cutting-edge avionics.

According to Iranian sources, the Shahed-149 is designed for long-range precision strike and persistent surveillance. A turboprop engine supports sorties quoted at up to 35 hours with a stated operating radius of roughly 2,500 miles. The airframe carries an internal bay and external hardpoints for an advertised total of up to 12 precision-guided munitions, described as Sadid-345 bombs, with eight stations under the wings and four positions in the bay. These figures, while not independently verified by Army Recognition, indicate a payload philosophy that prioritizes volume of effects over exquisite sensors.

The air vehicle’s configuration suggests lessons drawn from the U.S. MQ-9 family, a lineage Iran has studied through past exploitation and reverse-engineering experiences. The Gaza couples intelligence, surveillance , and reconnaissance with strike in a single platform, which allows mission sets ranging from persistent border coverage to interdiction. Iranian commentators concede that the system is unlikely to match NATO-grade sensor fusion, satellite communications resilience, or multi-ship networking, yet they argue that long endurance and weapon count can compensate in many operational scenarios where permissive or semi-permissive air environments prevail.

Tehran now presents the Shahed-149 as part of a turnkey package. Iranian industry messaging emphasizes training pipelines, basic maintenance tooling and through-life support, a bundle aimed at users with limited UAV infrastructure. In discussions on show floors in Central Asia and North Africa, officials portrayed Gaza as an affordable alternative for states facing embargoes, budget constraints or lengthy procurement cycles with Western suppliers. Briefings also highlighted compatibility with a family of Iranian precision-guided weapons, which enables graduated lethality from stand-off glide releases to direct-attack profiles.

From a market standpoint, the Gaza targets the mid-tier UCAV segment where acquisition cost, availability, and political risk tolerance often outweigh cutting-edge avionics. Here, Iranian sales teams are competing with Turkish MALE solutions, Chinese export lines such as the Wing Loong series and ad hoc domestic initiatives in several regions. The differentiator Tehran is advancing is rapid delivery paired with a munitions ecosystem under sovereign control, which reduces exposure to third-party vetoes.

The recent IRGC demonstration doubled as a sales narrative. By showcasing a precision strike on video, Iranian media sought to anchor claims of readiness in observable evidence and to reassure prospective buyers about reliability and accuracy. The messaging further depicts the Gaza as a tool of strategic reach. With the quoted combat radius, Iranian analysts argue that key military infrastructure across the Gulf, the Levant, and parts of the Red Sea basin falls within range, which lends the platform a deterrent function in addition to tactical utility.

For export customers, the attraction lies less in prestige and more in attainable capability. A fleet of Gaza-class UCAVs can sustain ISR or strike orbits for border security, counterinsurgency, and maritime surveillance, especially where opponents lack layered air defense or dedicated counter-UAS capacity. That said, the platform’s survivability against modern integrated air defenses remains uncertain, and buyers would need to invest in concept of operations, dispersal, and electronic protection to realize the advertised endurance and sortie rates.

If even limited export orders materialize, the Shahed-149 could influence regional UAV balances by expanding access to long-endurance strike at relatively low entry cost. Such diffusion would complicate airspace management, increase demand for point air defense and electronic warfare, and tighten the loop between ISR and strike in contested border zones. For competitors, the response is likely to include accelerated counter-UAS deployments, tighter technology-release policies and renewed attention to affordable attritable interceptors.

Iran’s decision to present the Shahed-149 Gaza to international buyers formalizes a shift from domestic fielding to export-oriented proliferation. The package being advertised combines endurance, payload capacity, and delivery timelines that aim to undercut established suppliers. Verification of performance claims will depend on export trials and user reporting, yet the commercial move already signals a broader contest in the mid-tier UCAV space that regional actors will factor into procurement and air defense planning.

Watch the video below to learn more.