Curious case of Iranian stealth fighter jet ‘Qaher’ becoming ‘pilotless warplane’

Iran calls ‘Qaher’ an indigenous development. It's a well-known fact that these are reverse engineered products from the US warplanes that it received during the King Shah’s period.

Although Iran is under heavy sanctions from the Western countries for its non-compliance of the UNSC resolutions and there is hardly any technology transfer from the developed nations, the country has unveiled plans to turn the 'home-grown' stealth fighter jet "Qaher" into a pilotless warplane.

Ironically, Iran calls 'Qaher' an indigenous development. It's a well-known fact that these are reverse engineered products from the USA warplanes that it received during the King Shah's period. Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO), which works as a subsidiary of the Defence Ministry, announced the program with much fanfare.

In a televised interview, an IAIO official said that they have reached the advanced stage of the development and the Qaher fighter jet project will soon come to production. However, since the government of Iran is also working on diversifying the warplane, it would also be coming up with the pilotless version. All these versions are to be unveiled in the next Iranian year.

It's pertinent to note that once Iran was a partner of the USA and it lasted till 1978. During this period the USA sold a number of its own advanced fighter jets to Iran which are still operational. Even now Iran operates a fleet of American F-14 Tomcats, F-5 Tigers, and F-4 Phantoms.

Fifth generation fighter jet?

All the claims from Iran that it has capability to develop fifth generation fighter jets that are as good as the F-35 are yet to be proven. Its rolling out Qaher-313 stealth fighter jet is the first step towards proving to the world that they indeed have the capability. Iran has also made sure that the stealth fighter could work as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle or UAV.

Interestingly, Iran has one of the most advanced drone development capabilities that could be witnessed from the fact that its 'Shahed-class kamikaze drones' have caused havoc in Ukraine. It is another thing that the export of these drones to Russia has caused alarm among the NATO allies. However, the Iranian regime is unfazed by all these talks from the Western countries.

Iranian drones have heavily damaged energy and military infrastructure in Ukraine. Quite astoundingly, Turkey and Iran have both developed high utility drones that are proving their mettle in the ongoing Ukraine crisis. It's worth to note that there are a number of ethical questions on the use of drones in war as with them there is always a risk of destroying civilian infrastructure and killing innocent civilians.