Tel Aviv. Iranian defence industry continues to try and make weapons systems by reverse engineering.

In recent days, a short video of just over two minutes showing an experiment of launching a missile from an Iranian UAV has surfaced on social media. According to reports on Arab websites, this is a replica of a SPIKE missile made by Rafael that Israel launched against targets in Syria.

In the video, a UAV takes off while the missile is attached to one of its wings.

Later the video shows the missile on its way to the target through the missile’s optical sensor. Experts say that this video is identical to videos released by the IDF spokesperson.

The Rafael Spike is a family of ground and air launched missiles.

The Iranian industry has already demonstrated its capabilities to perform “reverse engineering” for various weapons systems, one of its solutions to the limitations that have banned it from acquiring weapons over the years.

The Iranians claim the one of their most advanced UAV is copy of the US RQ-170 UAV that fell in Iranian territory.

On December 5, 2011, an American Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was captured by Iranian forces near the city of Kashmar in northeastern Iran. The Iranian government announced that the UAV was brought down by its cyberwarfare unit which took control of the UAV and landed it.

Experts say that what the Iranians claim is the copy of the US UAV is nothing but a mockup.

-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist