IRIAF manufactures Iran’s first radar-evading fighter plane
Tehran, Jan 30, IRNA – Prototype of first Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) radar evading fighter jet was test-flied here Friday, according to IRIAF Commander Brigadier General Pilot, Hassan Shahsafi.
According to Public Relations of the IRIAF, Brigadier General Shahsafi said after the successful test flight of the plane, “In line with Supreme Leader’s nomination of the current Iranian year as the Year for Innovations and Blossoming, we successfully passed the last stage of our first radar evading fighter jet, and are testing a new air-to-air missile to be mounted on it.”
He added, “After a few more tests the radar evading plane project would enter its mass production phase, which would be in early new Iranian year (beginning on March 20th, 2009).”
Shahsafi said that earlier last month the smaller scale model of the same radar evading plane was successfully test-flied, new on which was broadcasted then.
Focusing on the new Iranian made “thermal air-to-air missile”, which has also been tested, he said, “This is one of our thermal air-to-air missiles, fully designed and manufactured at IRIAF industries, whose test was completed at one of the military fields of the country.”
He added, “The thermal missile would be fired by a fighter plane and pursue the fired missile of another plane.”
The final range of the new air-to-air thermal missile is 100 kilometers, according to Brigadier General Shahsafi, that can be further improved for higher altitude flights.
The IRIAF Commander was asked about the measures adopted to deal with the new era wars, particularly after the US invasion against Iraq, and the probability of countering such situations.
He replied, “The air force is a rapid reaction force whose superiority greatly is in the focus of attention in the world today.”
Shahsafi said, “Our air force, due to the strategic importance of the Middle East, and particularly the Persian Gulf region, and our national interests in this region, as well as the West’s need to the existing energy resources here, has adopted an independent doctrine, in which self sufficiency and reliance on own capabilities are our top priorities, based on which we have to the best of our capabilities equipped both our attack and our defense sites with equivalents of world’s most advanced systems.”
Focusing on the present and future perspectives of the IRIAF, he said, “Today, we are capable of 120 sorties of flights at a short period, conducting unprecedented tests, carrying out innovative new missions with various planes, and flying long distances as far as 2,000 kilometers, which is proof for high combat readiness of the IRIAF, which is a necessity keeping in mind the very sensitive conditions we are at.”
He said that the entire productions and trainings of the air force are done inside the country today, based on high level scientific research work, whose result has been quite satisfactory, adding, “We have the Martyr Sattari Air Force University today, where the works of our young scientists and air force students are merged with the achievements of the other similar universities throughout Iran, and scientific model taking is practiced there quite successfully.”
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