Tehran – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday inaugurated the country’s first domestically built unmanned bomber aircraft, calling it an “ambassador of death” to Iran’s enemies.
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The 4-meter-long drone aircraft can carry up to four cruise missiles and will have a range of 620 miles (1,000 kilometers), according to a state TV report — not far enough to reach archenemy Israel.
“The jet, as well as being an ambassador of death for the enemies of humanity, has a main message of peace and friendship,” said Ahmadinejad at the inauguration ceremony, which fell on the country’s national day for its defense industries.
The goal of the aircraft, named Karrar or striker, is to “keep the enemy paralyzed in its bases,” he said, adding that the aircraft is for deterrence and defensive purposes.
The president championed the country’s military self-sufficiency program, and said it will continue “until the enemies of humanity lose hope of ever attacking the Iranian nation.”
Iran launched an arms development program during its 1980-88 war with Iraq to compensate for a U.S. weapons embargo and now produces its own tanks, armored personnel carries, missiles and even a fighter plane.
Iran frequently makes announcements about new advances in military technology that cannot be independently verified.
State TV later showed video footage of the plane taking off from a launching pad and reported that the craft traveled at speeds of 560 miles per hour (900 kilometers) and could alternatively be armed with two 250-pound bombs or a 450-pound guided bomb.
Iran has been producing its own light, unmanned surveillance aircraft since the late 1980s.
The ceremony came a day after Iran began to fuel its first nuclear power reactor, with the help of Russia, amid international concerns over the possibility of a military dimension to its nuclear program.
Iran insists it is only interested in generating electricity.
Referring to Israel’s occasional threats against Iran’s nuclear facilities, Ahmadinejad called any attack unlikely, but he said if Israel did, the reaction would be overwhelming.
“The scope of Iran’s reaction will include the entire the earth,” said Ahmadinejad. “We also tell you — the West — that all options are on the table.”
Ahmadinejad appeared to be consciously echoing the terminology used by the U.S. and Israel in their statements not ruling out a military option against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
On Friday, Iran also test-fired a new liquid fuel surface-to-surface missile, the Qiam-1, with advanced guidance systems.
This is a reverse engineered Soviet Tu-143 Reis with German V-1 prototype, both 1960-1970s UAV technology. This “bomber” is nothing but a flying cylinder an easy target practice for any modern air force. This what happens to a country when religion didn’t respect science for decades and as a result the population produces weak scientific and engineering industries.
looks like one of those blowup plastic planes you can buy from oriental trading. As the report said, nothing that this rasha says can be independently verified…
Looks like a water gun to me!
How many seconds into the flight will it take for the model glue to give out?
Looks like it was made by Fisher Price. Yo A-Jad! I thought you boycott all Jewish products.
The conflicting reports say it could be armed with 4 cruise missles, two 250 lb bombs or one 450 lb guided bomb. Cruise missles by definiton…. cruise. So if this were true, the drone would in effect be a mobile launching platform, with a range of 620 miles PLUS the range of the cruise missle which cannot weigh much more than 500 lbs. minus a few hundred lbs for the shell, motor, and guidance & fueling systems you got a cruise missle with less than a 300 lb gas tank or 42 gallons of Jet-A. If that account is true. If it can carry four such animals with a total weight of 500 lbs, each individual unit being approx. 125 lbs, that gives you a cruise missle with a range of about 14 feet. Assuming an unlikely glide ratio of 10:1 from 30K feet, the extended range would be 60 miles. I like the flowers in the foreground. Nice touch to the ambassador of death.