Role & capabilities
- Advertised reconnaissance
- Advertised communications relay
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Multirole aircraft
- Developer / manufacturer
- Iranian aviation industry; Qods catalogue listing
- Origin / production countries
- Iran
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- Not distinguished in reviewed sources
- Operators / programme customers
- Not identified in reviewed sources
Evidence & current status
Production cooperation is documented. Current output, delivered fleet size and factory-level attribution remain unresolved; no alias equivalence with Ababil-3 assumed.
Ababil-2 is an Iranian tactical aircraft family with multiple roles and an international production history. Iran’s defence export catalogue lists surveillance and communications functions, with several flight-control modes. The US Defense Intelligence Agency’s 2019 overview separately recognises Ababil-2 as a multirole aircraft. These sources support a broader identity than a single expendable configuration.
A concrete industrial milestone followed in May 2022, when Iranian and Tajik defence leaders inaugurated an Ababil-2 production facility in Dushanbe. The state broadcaster’s report documents the ceremony and the cooperation programme. It does not establish the number delivered, production rate or present readiness of a Tajik fleet.
The archived catalogue provides historical operating figures for its advertised configuration. They are not necessarily representative of later aircraft or locally assembled versions. The source appears within a Qods Aviation catalogue section, but that placement alone should not settle every historical design and manufacturing attribution across the Ababil family.
Ababil-2 remains separate here from Ababil-3, which has a different airframe, and from specifically named derivative programmes. Any derivative comparison needs its own evidence rather than inheriting all performance or payload claims from the family name.
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 | Assisted launch; parachute or skid recovery | Historic advertised options. Source |
| Propulsion | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Mass | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Endurance | 75–120 minutes | 2013–2016 advertised configuration. Source |
| Range | 100 km operational radius | Historic catalogue. Source |
| Speed | 250 km/h maximum | Historic catalogue. Source |
| Altitude | 11,000 ft | Historic flight-altitude claim. Source |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. 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 |
Documented milestones
Tajik production facility inaugurated
Iranian and Tajik defence leaders open a production plant in Dushanbe.
Read the announcement
Publication history
- — Published reference update.
Suggest a correction to this entry
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.
- Iran Defence Products 2013–2016 — Ababil-2 catalogue, page 270 (opens in a new tab)Manufacturer / programme source
- Press TV — official Ababil-2 plant inauguration, 17 May 2022 (opens in a new tab)State media reporting official programme event
- DIA — Iran Military Power 2019, aircraft recognition table (opens in a new tab)Government / military source