It’s been over a decade since Iran first unveiled the Qaher-313, its own indigenous fifth-generation stealth fighter jet. Now the Iranian Defense Ministry is saying it intends to convert this controversial aircraft into an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle—an important about-face in military strategy.
On the national television, General Afshin Khajefard, the managing director of the Iran Aviation Industries Organization, IAIO announced that the Qaher project reached full technological maturity. He underlined that currently the Defense Ministry is working on diversifying the finished product in this project with a long-term aim to turn the Qaher fighter into a pilotless aircraft.
The announcement follows Iran’s successful deployment of Shahed-class kamikaze drones in Ukraine, which have hit Kyiv’s energy and military infrastructure hard. In this regard, Iran has made huge development in its UAV industry in the last couple of decades, and this is something it boasts about.
Further, General Khajefard said several models of Qaher would be unveiled in the next Iranian year, which begins on March 21. He added that the Defense Ministry worked on the stealth aircraft and was going to introduce its drone version soon.
Though these plans sound ambitious, the Iranian fighter jet fleet is still mostly composed of American F-14 Tomcats, F-5 Tigers, and F-4 Phantoms, augmented by MiG-29s bought from Moscow in the 1990s. Many Western military observers doubted whether Tehran could really make a fifth-generation stealth aircraft. Opponents say that this Qaher-313 was primarily unveiled as a propaganda stunt to offset the aged fleet.
When in 2013 Iran revealed its Qaher-313 prototype, the global aviation community laughed at it because Iran had no such analytical and sensor technologies. The aircraft gained quite an infamous status within military enthusiast circles, being ridiculed as a point of criticism because it is a very crude mock-up designed to just drive publicity.
Even when the entire world frowned at it, Iran persisted with the Qaher program; now it has decided to convert the small airframe into a drone. The move fits well with its burgeoning UAV-making capabilities and the global interest in its combat UAVs.
First rolled out in February 2013, the Qaher-313 was reportedly equipped with 2,000-kilogram bombs or at least six air-to-air missiles. Experts quickly pointed out, however, that this slim, single-engine, single-seat aircraft with anhedral wingtips and non-stealthy front canards clearly resembled a movie prop rather than a functional jet fighter. Later video evidence of a supposed “test flight” has showed only a small drone, further fueling doubts over the aircraft’s capabilities.
The analysis of the Qaher-313 brought out a myriad of problems, including engineering irregularities. First, everybody has noted the small size of the aircraft, which makes it totally unsuitable for the fourth generation alone. The cockpit instrumentation looked so primitive with basic instrumentation and no wiring on the front panel; much like a small private plane rather than that sophisticated fighter jet.
The course of events in the modernization of Iran’s military has been shackled for years, mainly because of the arms embargo imposed by the US and allies. With the nation’s strides in the development of missiles, the creation of a fifth-generation fighter jet still stands far from reality.
But the statement of an Iranian official that the Qaher has been modified means that it is still an ongoing project. The goals set forth for the transformation of the Qaher into a drone may be within a more feasible reach, given its size and the advancements made in UAV technology by Iran. The world will be waiting with bated breath when the new iteration is finally unveiled next month.