Iran’s IRGC Overhauls 10 Sukhoi Fighter Jets

10 overhauled Sukhoi 22 fighter jets were unveiled on Wednesday in Southern Iran in a ceremony participated by Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari and Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

“After this overhaul, the bomber fighters will be able to carry and use smart and pin-pointing cluster bombs, air-to-ground and air-to-air missiles and transmit data and information from drones from a several-kilometer distance,” General Hajizadeh said, addressing the ceremony in Fars province today.

“The pin-pointing air-to-ground cruise missile systems with a range of 1,500km will be mounted on these bomber fighter jets in the near future,” he added.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense sector and gained self-sufficiency in manufacturing essential military hardware and defense systems.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country’s military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

Earlier this month, Iranian experts overhauled an F-14 military plane at an airbase in Northern Iran.

According to the Air Force, the overhaul operation was conducted by a team of Iranian engineers comprised of young experts at Shahid Babayee airbase in Qazvin.

The task was accomplished by Iran’s Air Force experts and engineers after 35,000 man-hours of labor. The jet joined Iran’s Air Force fleet after testing and trial operation.

Also, in 2016, the Iranian Air Force announced that its experts at Shahid Lashkari airbase had managed to overhaul an F-4 fighter jet.

The overhauling operations of the fighter jet took 18,000 man/hours of work. The F-4 aircraft joined the Air Force fleet after making its maiden flight in Tehran.

The aircraft is back to service after it was grounded for four years.