Role & capabilities
- Long-endurance reconnaissance
- Reusable multirole aircraft
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Multirole aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Shahed Aviation Industries Research Center
- Origin / production countries
- Iran
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Shahed-123 is an earlier related design, not a confirmed interchangeable variant.
- Operators / programme customers
- Iran — Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Evidence & current status
Service status follows military reference recognition; no current fleet count or performance test independently established.
Shahed-129 is a reusable Iranian medium-altitude, long-endurance aircraft developed by Shahed Aviation Industries for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The US Army’s ODIN equipment guide describes a single-engine platform combining reconnaissance and combat roles, and identifies Shahed-123 as an earlier design in its development lineage. That relationship does not make Shahed-123 an alternative name for every Shahed-129.
The Joint Air Power Competence Centre’s aircraft reference places Shahed-129 in operational service. Its published dimensions and performance figures are useful historical reference points, but they are not a current manufacturer guarantee or a description of every production batch. This profile therefore retains their source attribution and does not treat maximum payload, endurance and range as simultaneously demonstrated performance.
Shahed-129 should also remain separate from Shahed-136 and other expendable aircraft sharing the Shahed name. Its catalogue role is sustained surveillance with an optional combat payload, rather than a one-way aircraft. Public evidence reviewed here establishes the programme and broad role more clearly than it establishes the number of serviceable aircraft, individual sensor installations or the configuration of current communications equipment. Those fleet and configuration questions remain open.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Launch / recovery | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Propulsion | Single-engine aircraft | US Army equipment description. Source ↗ |
| Dimensions | 16 m wingspan; 8 m length; 3.1 m height | Historic JAPCC reference; batch not specified. Source ↗ |
| Mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Endurance | 24 hours | Published reference value, not independently timed here. Source ↗ |
| Range | 2,000 km | Reference says range; control radius not defined. Source ↗ |
| Speed | 150 km/h cruise | Historic reference value. Source ↗ |
| Altitude | 7,300 m ceiling | Historic reference value. Source ↗ |
| Payload | 400 kg | Reference payload figure; configuration unspecified. Source ↗ |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source ↗ |
Publication history
- — Added in the September 2026 global coverage review, with sources, configuration limits and explicit data gaps.
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Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.
- US Army ODIN — Shahed-129 equipment reference (opens in a new tab)Government / military source
- JAPCC — Shahed-129 fact sheet, printed page 563 (opens in a new tab)Government / military source