Iran to launch aircraft plant to produce upgraded Ukrainian AN-140s

An aircraft plant will appear in Iran to “develop” a Simorgh military transport plane.

The statement was made by Mohammad Mohammadi-Bakhsh, Head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, according to the Ukrainian defence news portal Militarnyi.

“The production of the Simorgh aircraft is conducted with the involvement of the Ministry of Roads & Urban Development, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Trade of Iran, with each of the departments performing their specific tasks. Today we can state that the Islamic Republic has its own aviation plant,” Mohammadi Bakhsh claimed.

It is not specified where the company is located, but it is likely to be Isfahan.

The first flight of the Simorgh aircraft at the Isfahan air base was reported in June this year.

Simorgh aircraft was “developed” and manufactured by the Iranian Aviation Industry Organization, a subsidiary of the Iranian Ministry of Defense.

This military transport aircraft was created based on the IrAn-140, which, in turn, is a licensed modification of the Ukrainian An-140 turboprop aircraft.

The Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries Company is re-equipping An-140 passenger aircraft into transport aircraft for the military.

The transport version was equipped with a rear ramp for the ability to load large loads.

Half of the fuselage, wings, and several other components and parts were produced in Kharkiv, and only the assembly and conversion from a passenger aircraft to a light transport aircraft were executed by HESA engineers.

The Aeronautical Design Center IAMI is working on a tactical transport aircraft with a ramp and a payload of 6 tons to replace the Fokker-27.

The aircraft was first presented in May 2022. Experts say that the aircraft may be produced from a previously supplied Kharkiv State Aircraft Manufacturing Company An-140 aircraft kit.