New screenshots coming from Syria give a better view of the Shahed 129 spotted over Damascus on April 10.
Such photos show that the version used by the Syrian Armed Forces is observably different from the one unveiled in Tehran in September 2013.
Indeed, this new drone features a nose section whose shape resembles that of a U.S. Predator/Reaper. It also has a tall antenna mounted on top of it.
Judge by comparing the image on top with the following one:
The seemingly extensive modifications make the drone’s front part more similar to an MQ-9/1 than to a Israeli Hermes 450 model.
Iran is not unfamiliar with domestic modifications to western drones: they have been able to recover or capture some U.S. remotely piloted aircraft, including a Scan Eagle (and the famous stealthy RQ-170).
The question is: did they get their hands on some parts of an MQ-9 as well?