Iran to unveil indigenous unmanned plane in near future

August 21, 2023 - 23:19

TEHRAN- In the next months the Defense Ministry intends to unveil the unmanned Qaher-313 (Conqueror-313) stealth fighter aircraft, an official from the Iranian Defense Ministry announced on Monday.

Afshin Khajehfard, chief of the Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO), said that the unmanned fighter plane would be produced in two configurations and displayed in the next months.

“Iranian military experts have managed to acquire the cutting-edge know-know and developed new domestic technologies because multinational arms corporations do not share required technology with Iran,” Khajehfard stated.

In February 2013, the Iranian Qaher-313 fighter plane made its public debut. Short runways allow the single-seat stealth fighter jet to take off and land.

Despite sanctions and other coercive measures, he said, Iranian military experts and technicians have been able to maintain and refit every aircraft used by the country’s armed forces during the last four decades.

Additionally, he stated that there are currently 15 distinct models of helicopters in use by various Armed Forces of the nation.

Khajehfard added that Iran now manufactures Simourgh light transport aircraft, which weighs between 4 and 6 tons.

In the coming weeks a test flight for the homegrown Yasin training aircraft will also take place, he said.

Iranian specialists have created a unique radar for the Kowsar fighter plane and are now updating the bombs and missiles that would be installed on them, the IAIO chief pointed out. 

Back in May, the Iranian defense minister said a transit aircraft built locally has successfully completed a flight test.

Brigadier General Mohammadreza Ashtiani made the announcement while speaking to a group of Defense Ministry officials that included Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri at an airbase in the central city of Isfahan.

He stated that the Simorgh aircraft is a redesigned and evolved version of planes of its generation and that it is well adapted to the demands of Iran’s civil and military institutions.

Iran’s defense minister also noted that specialists from the Ministry of Defense and knowledge-based firms designed and built the aircraft to adapt to the country’s weather conditions in compliance with international standards.  

He went into detail about the features of Simorgh aircraft, including its lightness, high carriage capacity, proper radius of flight operations, compatibility with the climatic conditions of the country, ability to land and take off in short runways, as well as agility and speed in providing emergency services, including as air ambulance.

The armed forces are now self-sufficient thanks to extraordinary advancements made in recent years by military specialists and engineers in the manufacture of a wide variety of indigenous equipment.

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