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Iran Debuts Latest Fighter Jet

February 4, 2013

Astronaut-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented Iran's newest domestically manufactured fighter jet that will "conquer scientific peaks" by evading radar on Saturday, according to Military.com.

The Qaher-313, or Dominant-313, will be the latest domestically produced Iranian fighter jet since 2007 when the state first began making jets.

"Qaher-313 is a fully indigenous aircraft designed and built by our aerospace experts. This is a radar-evading plane that can fly at low altitude, carry weapons, engage enemy aircrafts and land at short airstrips," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said.

The Qaher-313 is similar to the American-made F/A-18 Hornet, as reported by the Iranian-state owned media outlet, Press TV. The Qaher-313 physically resembles the F-5, a fighter jet that last saw consistent combat in the 1980s and is currently used as in a training role, despite being touted as a contemporary to the nearly 20-year old Hornet.

The actual specifics of the Qaher-313 are publicly unknown since Iran does not release technical details of its arsenal. Iran is self-sufficient in its military armament production because of an embargo placed by the West that bans the exportation of Western military technology.

Iranians must utilize the other thing Iran does not have sanctioned against it: determination.

"Development depends on our will," said the astronaut-president. "If we don't have a will, no one can take us there."

Published under: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad