28-03-2024 02:29 PM Jerusalem Timing

Russia Demands Tehran’s Drone Technology, Starts Talks on Sukhoi-30 Fighter Jets

Russia Demands Tehran’s Drone Technology, Starts Talks on Sukhoi-30 Fighter Jets

Managing-Director of the Iranian Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) Manouchehr Manteqi said Wednesday that Russia has asked for import of Iranian drone technology.

Iranian droneManaging-Director of the Iranian Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) Manouchehr Manteqi said Wednesday that Russia has asked for import of Iranian drone technology.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is known as an advanced country in the field of (building) drones," Manteqi said on the sidelines of the MAKS 2015 air show in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow.

He underlined that the Russians plan to transfer the technology of building one of Iran's drones to their country, but he declined to reveal any further details.

"We are discussing this issue now," he just said.

Iran has made huge progress in building different types of weapons and military equipment, including drones.

The Islamic Republic has so far unveiled various domestically produced drones, including Ababil, Fotros, Hazem, Karrar (long range attack drone), Mohajer, Sarir, Shahed 129, Yasir and Zohal.

Iran unveiled its first homemade fighter drone that carries air-to-air missiles last September.

The Iranian media outlets reported that the drone is capable of destroying all types of aircrafts including fighters, small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and helicopters.

Earlier on Tuesday, Tehran and Moscow started talks on the supply of the Russian-made Sukhoi 30 fighter jets to Iran.

The talks were held on the sidelines of the MAKS 2015 air show in the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow during which Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari were present.

"Today, we visited different parts of the exhibition and the fighter jets' air show for three and a half hours accompanied by Mr. Putin which was a rare opportunity," Sattari told Fars News Agency.

"Putin showed that he is well aware of the military issues, knows the companies and products and spends time to get more familiar with them," he added.

Asked if the issue of purchasing Russia's Shkhoi 30 was raised during the visit, Sattari said, "We spoke about it but we didn’t discuss purchasing them and talks were mostly focused on the technological issues."

He added that both parties tackled issues related to purchasing Sukhoi-30 from the Russian Defense Ministry, and other groups like the trade teams should pursue the issue.

The Sukhoi Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat super-maneuverable fighter aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation.

It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions.