Iran among 20 World States with Ability to Manufacture Cargo Planes

“The number of countries in the world that enjoy the capability to design and produce aircraft is less than 20, and Iran is one of these countries that has achieved the technical know-how to design and manufacture cargo aircraft with the domestic capabilities of Iranian youth and elites,” said Chief of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization (CAA) Hossein Pourfarzaneh.

The home-made plane, Simorq, officially started its test flights as the aircraft prepares to join the country’s cargo fleet.

Simorq’s test flights started in an airfield in the city of Shahin Shahr in Central Iran after a ceremony attended by deputy heads of Iran’s ministries of defense and transportation.

The CAA announced that the plane has to carry out 100 hours of test flights in various circumstances to get a final permit to join Iran’s aviation fleet.

Pourfarzaneh said that Simorq, whose indigenization process has taken over 15 years, is equipped with two 2,500-horsepower engines that can carry 6 metric tons (mt) of cargo over a distance of 3,900 kilometers, while its maximum takeoff weight is 21.5 mt.

The plane carried out a fast-taxi test in May 2022, a year before it conducted its maiden flight.

Since then, the Iranian defense ministry, which is in charge of manufacturing Simorq, has been trying to receive a test certificate for the plane from the CAA, a process that has involved obtaining a type certificate, a document that signifies the plane's airworthiness.

Reports in recent years have pointed to major achievements in Iran’s aircraft production overhaul and maintenance industry.

Head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) Mohammad Mohammadibakhsh announced in 2023 that different states are using the country's services to repair and overhaul their passenger planes.

Countries from Latin America, Europe, and Asia bring their planes to Iran for repair and maintenance services or send the engines of their planes to the country for overhaul operations, Mohammadibakhsh said.

He added that planes sent to Iran for repair and maintenance operations are Boeing and Airbus, adding that it has been for years that no Iranian planes have been sent to other countries for repair and maintenance services as Iran has turned into a destination for overhauling services of other countries’ planes.

This important national achievement has been made while Iran is under the toughest sanctions imposed by Western countries, including the US, Mohammadi Bakhsh said.

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