In 1982 during the Falklands conflict, the Royal Navy commandeered two British container ships and converted them into impromptu carriers carrying Harrier jump jets and Harrier helicopters. Now over 40 years later, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard is reported to be converting two Panamax container ships to “drone carriers” according to Iranian social media and naval analyst H.I. Sutton. 

Maritime Executive reports that it appears the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will be converting two container ships to drone carrier configurations. One has been reported as the former 3,300 TEU Panamax container ship Sarvin – currently listed in Equasis as “in repair/conversion” – and Sutton has identified the other as a sister ship, the Perarin. Both were last seen on AIS in 2019, lying at anchor off Bandar Abbas. 

Iran has invested in drone warfare for decades, and its capabilities are on demonstration on a daily basis in Ukraine, where Russia is using hundreds of imported Iranian Shahed-136 “suicide” drones to bombard the nation’s power grid. Iran’s drone systems have also been used prolifically by its proxy forces in the Middle East, notably Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Recently, in a preview of how an Iranian “drone carrier” might operate in conflict, the Iranian Navy test-launched an Ababil suicide drone from the deck of the landing ship IRIS Lavan. The drone flew inland to a target site and struck what appeared to be a mockup of Israel’s Eliat Naval Base.