Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi, Commander of the Air Force of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRIAF) made the remarks during a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of Operation Kaman 99, carried out by the Iranian Air Force on September 22 and 23, 1980 against Saddam Ba'athist regime.
"In that operation, more than 300 planes took off and 140 of them entered the Iraqi airspace and hit their planned targets. Also, in the Al-Walid (H3) operation, the warplanes of the Air Force refueled three times to reach the farthest targets in the west of Iraq," he said.
According to IRIAF commander, the Ba'athist regime lost more than 60 planes on the ground in the operation.
Vahedi pointed out that "Before the revolution, we could not have access to the airplanes and our technical work was limited to replacing parts, but today in the Air Force and our colleagues in the defense ministry, they have entered the field of airplane manufacturing."
"A squadron of [domestically-made] Saeqeh aircraft was built and it is a very good aircraft. Now the construction of Kowsar aircraft as a jet predator and bomber is in the final phases and in the future a squadron of this aircraft will join the Army Air Force," he reported.
MNA/TSNM2960364