Iranian Defense Minister: Over 70% of Aircraft Parts Made in Iran

By Staff, Agencies

Iran has gained the technical know-how to manufacture more than 70 percent of airplane and helicopter components inside the country, a lawmaker quoted Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami as saying.

In an address to the Parliament on Tuesday, General Hatami said Iran has attained self-sufficiency in producing many aircraft components, MP Abolfazl Abutorabi told Tasnim.

The defense minister said that local technicians are manufacturing more than 70 percent of the airplane and helicopter components inside the country, in such a way that Iran is not reliant on foreigners any more, the lawmaker added.

Although Iran was not a manufacturer of planes and choppers and despite the large variety of aircraft, the Islamic Republic has managed to manufacture the components for repair and overhaul of the aircraft, Abutorabi quoted the minister as saying.

The MP also noted that General Hatami gave an assurance that Iran is in perfect conditions in terms of defense capabilities and dismissed concerns about the defense industry.

Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great headways in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in the arms sphere.

Earlier this month, an Iranian Defense Ministry official unveiled plans for the mass production of homegrown helicopter Saba-248.

In February 2018, Leader of the Islamic Revolution His Eminence Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei called for efforts to maintain and boost Iran’s defense capabilities, hitting back at the enemies for disputing the country’s missile program.

“Without a moment of hesitation, the country must move to acquire whatever is necessary for defense, even if the whole world is opposed to it,” Imam Khamenei said at the time.