Direct proof of use
Mehr News Agency reported on March 22, 2026 that Iranian Army spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said the Army had attacked Israel's Ben Gurion Airport with Arash-2 drones. The report said Arash-2 drones were the main drones used against the airport and described the type as a more advanced model than the Kian and Arash-1.
A second Mehr report on April 1, 2026 cited an Iranian Army statement saying the most recent wave of drone attacks used Arash-2 drones against locations associated with U.S. AWACS and tanker aircraft, radar, electronic-warfare sites, regional bases, and military areas in Israel. Army Recognition separately reported that U.S. Central Command strike footage showed an Iranian Arash-2 drone destroyed during Operation Epic Fury.
The strongest public record therefore separates two kinds of evidence: Iranian official claims of Arash-2 strike use, and U.S.-linked strike footage and analysis identifying Arash-2 drones as targets within Iran's wartime one-way attack drone force.
Sources: Mehr Ben Gurion Arash-2 Report, Mehr AWACS Arash-2 Report, Army Recognition CENTCOM Arash-2 Strike, Washington Institute Iran Drone Strategy
Timeline
The first dated Arash-2 use claim in this record is March 22, 2026, when Mehr published the Iranian Army spokesman's Ben Gurion Airport statement. The next directly sourced claim came on March 23, when Army Recognition reported the CENTCOM Arash-2 strike-footage identification during Operation Epic Fury.
On April 1, Mehr published the Iranian Army statement describing Arash-2 use in a more recent wave against regional military-support targets. In May, The Washington Institute reviewed Iran's wartime drone performance and said CENTCOM videos showed Shahed-136 and Arash-2 drones destroyed on launchers or in open storage.
Sources: Mehr Ben Gurion Arash-2 Report, Army Recognition CENTCOM Arash-2 Strike, Mehr AWACS Arash-2 Report, Washington Institute Iran Drone Strategy
Operational pattern
In the 2025 Israel-Iran Conflict, the Arash-2 appears as an Iranian long-range one-way attack UAV used or prepared for deep-strike missions against fixed aviation, radar, electronic-warfare, and rear-area support targets. The Iranian statements emphasized the drone's claimed 2,000 km range and low detectability, while the U.S.-linked strike reporting treated Arash-2 as part of the drone threat set targeted before launch or while exposed in storage or launch positions.
Broader analysis by The Washington Institute placed Arash-2 alongside Shahed-136 and other long-range one-way attack drones in Iran's wartime arsenal, describing dispersed launch capability, repeated attack waves, and U.S. strikes against launch infrastructure and storage sites. CSIS analysis of the March 2026 drone campaign cautioned that confirmed wreckage-based attribution was stronger for Shahed-family systems, while Arash-2 attributions in some incidents remained less substantiated.
Sources: Mehr Ben Gurion Arash-2 Report, Mehr AWACS Arash-2 Report, Army Recognition CENTCOM Arash-2 Strike, Washington Institute Iran Drone Strategy, CSIS Iran Drone Campaign
