Alwaght- Iran’s research and development in defense industries in the recent years and in the past have drawn attention of many countries including those with high military capabilities. The progress made in this area of technology has surprised the world’s states, leaving them wonder how the Islamic Republic has managed to reach these magnificent defensive achievements while being under the pressure of full-scale sanctions.
Despite the brutal sanctions imposed on the country for the past three decades the country has made immense breakthroughs in terms of economy, politics and the defense industries. The breakthroughs in military industry and its advanced technology have been remarkable. Tehran has taken long steps to reach self-efficiency in defense equipment manufacturing, enabling it to compete with the top owners of this technology.
Newly-unveiled Emad long-range missile is one of the longest steps taken by Iran while restricted by the American-Western imposed sanctions.
In a concerned case, the British newspaper Daily Star has noted that after unveiling of the Chinese fifth generation fighter jet Shenyang FC-31 Falcon, the US adversaries like North Korea, Iran and China would succeed in achieving fighter jets able to fly undetected by radar.
The Chinese clone of the US F35 fighter jet was put on show for sale in the recent Dubai air show. This is while the US officials believe that the new China’s undetectable fighter is a copy of their F-35, the top secret design and technology of which were stolen by Chinese hackers through cyber infiltration.
Presently, The Chinese air force is in negotiations with the fighter’s manufacturing company to buy it, as there have been reports that Pakistan and Iran are eyeing placing orders for this modern fighter jet. Equipped with four precision–guided air-to-air missiles, the Shenyang J-31 aircraft has a speed ceiling of approximately 20,000M (2,200km/m). The manufacturing company has claimed that its fighter is able to beat the US F-35 aircraft in a dogfight.
“When it (the J-31) takes to the sky, it could definitely take down the F-35. It is a certainty”, said Lin Zuoming, the CEO of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, boasting about his country’s new aircraft. “Shenyang J-3 is the first undetectable fighter jet available for the countries set on the arms exports blacklist, or cannot afford buying the US company Lockheed Martin’s £85 million F-35 jets”, Zuoming added. He continued that the US as an unchallenged superpower after the Cold War era has now faced China and Russia as rivals. This is while after the US Navy warships’ presence near South China Sea, China has seen the conflict with US as unavoidable, LI Zuoming noted.
Additionally, Air and Space Power Journal, the US air force journal in its last edition of July and August has noted that Iran’s missile power was based on the Russian old missiles which have different types of technologies, but Iran had the largest stockpile of ballistic missiles in the West Asia. The informed sources suggest that Iran owns over 1,000 different types of ready to fire ballistic missiles. The Iranian missiles enjoy more advanced guiding systems than the older Russian ones. Tehran is also planning development of the Scud missiles, which Shahab-3 is one of them. Beside Shahab-3 project, Iran has plans of developing and producing three conventional missile systems, including short-range solid-propellant Fateh-110 missile. Solid-propellant feature of Fateh-110 rocket has given it the privilege of more mobility, making it faster to prepare for firing. The single-stage missile has at least 200 km range, having the ability to reach Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar’s north, the UAE and northern Oman. Moreover, the Fateh-110 rocket has remarkably appropriate accuracy.
The second case is the Sejjil missile which is a kind of two-stage rocket. If finalized, Sejjil would have a more advanced technology than Shahb-3 missiles. One operational, it offers Iran the capability to reach targets in western Europe.
