Commander:

New Home-Made Fighter Jets to Join Iranian Air Force

TEHRAN (defapress)- Commander of the Iranian Air Force Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh said on Sunday that his forces are equipped with an increasing number of newly-manufactured supersonic Kosar fighter jets, and informed massive wargames in the near future.

News ID: 78488

Date: 25 August 2019 - 13:12

"We will stage drills every year based on the schedule, and the Air Force's wargames will be held in the second half of this (Iranian) year (to end on March 19)," General Nasirzadeh said in Tehran on Sunday.

"Also, every year a number of Kosar fighter jets are manufactured and delivered to the Air Force," he added.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami announced in June the country's plans to increase production of Kosar fighter jets.

"Experts of the defense ministry's air industries are determined to manufacture a larger number of Kosar fighter jets in the current year and in the minimum period of time possible in full cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran Army's air force and support by its Commander Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh," General Hatami said in the Central city of Isfahan after a visit to the site where the Kosar fighter jets are being produced.

General Nasirzadeh, for his part, expressed the hope that new Kosar fighter jets would join the operational fleet of the air force soon.

Iran in November inaugurated the production line of Kosar fighter jet.

Addressing the ceremony, General Hatami underlined that the mass-production of the domestically-made fighter jet indicated that sanctions and pressures against Iran were ineffective, describing it as a milestone and a new leap in increasing the combat power of the country's Air Force.

He said that research works would continue on Kosar fighter jet, adding that the country would manufacture more advanced generations of the warplane in the future.

Iran last September unveiled Kosar which is equipped with avionics (aviation electronics) and fire-control systems.

Kosar was unveiled in a ceremony participated by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran who ordered the fighter jet to fly.

The new fighter jet uses the fourth generation of military digital network and is equipped with heads-up display (HUD) system to increase the precision-striking power of weapons, advanced and multi-purpose radar for fire-control to boost the precision to trace the targets and threats and high-precision navigation system.

Kosar can be manufactured in two types of single-cockpits and double-cockpits and the second type can be used for training pilots in addition to enjoying combat capabilities.

According to the Iranian officials, the fighter jet is a supersonic combat plane different from the training Kosar 88 plane unveiled in April 2017.

Meantime, Army Lieutenant Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Dadras announced early September that Kosar had gone on line for mass-production.

"The defense ministry, in cooperation with the Air Force, is mass-producing the fighter jet," General Dadras said.

He added that Kosar had undergone different ground and air operational tests by the Iranian Air Force experts for numerous hours.

"We have ordered this fighter jet for the Army," General Dadras said.

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