Azarakhsh
Iran was not known to have possessed advanced technology to build fighter planes or tanks. However, in April 1997 Iranian Brigadier General Arasteh, a deputy head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (serving under Major General Ali Shahbazi, the joint chief of staff) claimed that Iran had successfully designed, constructed, and tested its first fighter aircraft, the Azarakhsh (Thunder). According to one theory, Iran cobbled together an aircraft by reverse-engineered elements from a number of other aircraft. Evidently a modified F-5, this Iranian design evolved from an examination of the wide variety of fighter aircraft in Iran's inventory, which included both the F-4 and F-5, along with training and experimentation.
A scaled-up version of the US Northrop Grumman F-5E/F Tiger II, Azarakhsh features shoulder mounted air intakes. It is said to be 10-15 percent larger than the F-5. It incorporates an Iranian-designed radar, but some of the avionics modules were actually of Russian design.
Brigadier General Arasteh stated in April 1997 that the "production line of this aircraft will begin work in the near future." Iranian officials announced in September 1997 that Iran had started mass producing its first locally-designed fighter-bomber. In February 1999 commander of the Air Force Brigadier-General Habibollah Baqaei offered a report on the achievements of the air force. He said the Air Force had made great progress since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in the operational, technical, educational and research fields and in manufacturing fighter planes of Azarakhsh and training plane of Tondar as well as radar receivers and is strong enough to defend the air-space of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In June 1999 it was reported that Iran had begun series production of the Azarakhsh. As of 2000 only four examples of the Azarakhsh were thought to be in existence, and series production was expected to start in 2001. As of 2001 there were six in inventory, with a production schedule established for 30 aircraft over the following three years.
On 18 July 2007 Iran's Defence Minister Brigadier-General Mostafa Najjar said the defence ministry and military would hold joint military exercises "within next month." He told reporters on the sidelines of a Majlis session that new weapons would be introduced in the military maneuver. The Defence minister said that Azarakhsh fighter planes would be introduced in the exercise.
In August 2007 the Fars News Agency reported that Iran had successfully performed a test flight of the Azarakhsh fighter. The test flight was performed in Isfahan where a number of high-ranking military officials including the Defense Minister were present, an Iran's Air Force official has said. Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar had earlier announced that Azarakhsh would be used in a forthcoming wargames.
The aircraft had been manufactured in cooperation with experts from the Army, Defense Ministry and HESA aircarft manufacturing industries in the central province of Isfahan, the minister told reporters. "The Azarakhsh fighter plan is now at the stage of industrial production and its mass production will start in the future," said the minister. He added that the fighter's successful test would lead to plans for "manufacturing of the fifth generation of Iranian aircraft." Army and Defense Ministry experts were working on the second type of Azarakhsh fighters called Saeqeh (alternately translated as Thunderbolt or Lightning), which would be also tested in the near future, Mohammad-Najjar added.
