Drones are a strategic weapon that Iran uses and develops in military bases, despite the U.S. sanctions imposed on it. A recent report has revealed that Iran trained Hezbollah fighters to carry out drone attacks in northern Israel at a highly secretive base known as the Gangin Center, according to the British newspaper "Telegraph."
The size of the drone facility in Iran has tripled since its establishment in 2006, despite U.S. sanctions, according to leaked documents from the Revolutionary Guard. The report indicates that the center is located only five miles from the Iranian city of Qom and has expanded from a runway of 500 meters to 1500 meters today.
According to information revealed by the hacking group "Uprising Until Overthrow," the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics seized 949 hectares (about 9.5 square kilometers) in the Gangin area north of Qom to establish this center. Intelligence information disclosed that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered the concentration and enhancement of drone manufacturing activities by the country’s main manufacturer, Quds Aviation Industries, in 2004.
Despite being on the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions list since December 12, 2013, the drone facility belonging to the Quds Force continued to expand. Previously, it was a small airport for crop-dusting aircraft, and it transformed from a 500-meter runway in 2007 to an expansion of 1000 meters in 2014. By 2020, it expanded to 1500 meters, allowing larger, longer-range drones to fly, such as those used in last month’s Iranian airstrike against Israel. A new hangar was added to the complex adjacent to the runway in 2021.
Furthermore, intelligence information collected by the Iranian Mujahideen Organization from various sources, including some within the Revolutionary Guard, revealed that the Gangin Center, which has remained secret until now, hosts groups currently wreaking havoc throughout the Middle East, most notably Lebanese Hezbollah. It also trains and tests drones, such as the long-range Mohajer drone, which can fly up to 1000 miles in 24 hours.
The base serves as a training center for drone pilots. According to reports from within the regime, militants are trained in small groups consisting of a handful of fighters. Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow in military aviation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, explained that supplying Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen with drones enables Iran to have a practical center to test its missile designs, functions, and accuracy.
He added that "Tehran places these capabilities in the hands of its network of regional actors so that it can influence their behavior and cause significant harm to some of its regional competitors." It is noteworthy that since the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Iran has faced sanctions for supplying drones to Russia, which are allegedly used against civilian targets, according to Western claims.
