Iranians testing home built fighter based on US F-5

GERTZ:NICOSIA — Iran has reported a successful test-flight of its indigenous fighter-jet and announced plans for production beginning as early as next year.

Iranian officials said the Azarakhsh fighter-jet conducted a successful maiden test flight on Aug. 5 in the central province of Isfahan. The Azarakhsh was said to have been an Iranian variant of the U.S.-origin F-5 fighter-jet, sold to Teheran in the 1970s.

Official Photo of IRIAF "Azarkhsh" Jet Fighter

"The successful flight of the domestically manufactured fighter is a mark of our country's scientific and technical achievement," Isfahan Gov. Morteza Bakhtiari said.

The Azarakhsh, which means lightening in Farsi, was designed and produced by the Defense Ministry and the Iranian Air Force. Officials said serial production of Azarakhsh could take place in 2008.

"At a time when the United States plans to sell weapons to its allies in the region, our country's technicians have taken huge strides toward national defense self-sufficiency," Bakhtiari said.

Defense Minister Mostafa Najar said Azarakhsh would be deployed in the Iranian Air Force. Najar said Azarakhsh would play a major role in a forthcoming military exercise scheduled for over the next month.

"The Azarakhsh fighter plan is now at the stage of industrial production, and mass production will start in the future," Najar said on Aug. 6.

Najar said Iran was designing an upgraded variant of Azarakhsh. He said the platform would be tested in the near future.

The F-5 is no first line unit, but this story of home built, resdesigned jets should be viewed as a first step. Whether or not they wuill be building redesigned F-14's or SU-30's or not, 750 F-5's they have on their own UNDERGROUND assembly line will be plenty to obliterate their local enemies ALL OF WHOM SAVE ONE buy all their aircraft overseas, and when these are expended, cannot replace them quickly.