TEHRAN – Three new-generation Saeqeh (Lightning) fighters have been manufactured and delivered to the Air Force, Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi told the Persian service of the Fars News Agency on Monday.

 

He also said that new domestically designed fighter jets will be manufactured and delivered at the planned time. 

 

The Saeqeh is an Iranian built single-seat jet fighter, derived from the U.S. Northrop F-5. It is a joint product of the Iranian Air Force and the Iranian Defense Ministry. It is the second generation of the Iranian Azarakhsh fighter. Saeqeh fighters were tested successfully on September 20, 2007.

 

Vahidi added that the project to design and manufacture the radar-evading Sofreh Mahi (flatfish) unmanned aerial vehicle is well underway.   

 

In March 2011, the Iranian Air Force announced that Iran had designed and tested a scale model of the Sofreh Mahi and said that a full-scale version of the aircraft would be manufactured in the near future.