Iran’s F-5 lookalike fighter jet in mass production: Military Commander

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Deputy Commander of the Iranian Army (Artesh) on Tuesday said the country’s recently-unveiled fighter jet, dubbed “Kowsar,” is currently being mass produced, according to Iranian media.

“This development is unprecedented in the Islamic world,” Artesh Deputy Commander Amir Mohammad-Hossein Dadras proclaimed during a speech he delivered to students at a commencement ceremony at the University of Command and Staff of the army, Tasnim news reported.

“We have been able to domestically produce a fighter jet which is now being mass produced,” Dadras claimed. He also argued that “some countries” in the Middle East purchase fighter planes that, “when used for purposes other than that intended by its supplier,” break down.

The Kowsar was unveiled recently, on the National Defence Industry Day in Tehran, as saw the Islamic Republic’s President, Hassan Rouhani, sit in the cockpit of the jet and mark its debut in a dramatic fly-by.

Various individuals, however, quickly pointed to the fighter jet’s uncanny resemblance to the F-5, which made its first flight nearly 60 years ago, in 1959.

On Saturday and during an interview with VOA, Michael Pregent, a Middle East analyst at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, stated that the aircraft was not intimidating and that the jet had not been used by the US in “20 years, except for training other countries in how to fly American aircraft.”

“The difference between Islamic Iran and other countries,” the Deputy Commander began as he addressed soldiers-to-be, “is that we produce all the equipment [military or otherwise] our country desires.”

His comments come days after an Iranian F-5 jet crashed at a military airbase southwest of Tehran.

The Artesh—which is tasked with maintaining order and securing the borders from both internal and external threats—is distinct from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which has the stated goal of protecting the “Republican system of Iran” and guarding the “1979 Revolution and its achievements.” The IRGC is involved in various conflicts across the region, which many view as attempts by Iran to expand its influence.

Editing by Nadia Riva