Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) has launched the production version of the Yasin (previously known as Kausar 88), a light jet-powered trainer aircraft capable of close air support (CAS) operations.
The new jet was revealed at an event in Tehran on Saturday, with Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani entrusted with officially commencing the aircraft’s mass production.
During the event, Ashtiani addressed reporters and engineers in charge of Yasin’s development and construction. He said that training fighter pilots are one of Iran’s top priorities because the procedure is important and requires training aircraft of various classes.
According to the commander, the training jet’s one-of-a-kind characteristics make it an excellent choice for providing close air support.
Previously, Iranian fighter pilots were trained in other countries. The first sector damaged by the sanctions against Iran was this field, which made training tough for Iran, said Brig. Gen. Hamid Vahedi, commander of Iran’s Air Force, at the occasion. He claims that using the new aircraft will make training shorter and more comprehensive.
According to Ashtiani, the majority of the aircraft’s equipment has been localised, decreasing Iran’s reliance on forces or factors beyond its control.
The Yasin prototype was first shown in late 2019, with the production aircraft shown on Saturday appearing to be a modified and enhanced version with a domestically manufactured radar, avionics, engine, landing gear, and ejection seats.
The Yasin is a small aircraft that weighs around 5.5 tonnes and has a range of up to 1,200 kilometres and a flight speed of up to 1,000 kilometres. The twin-engined, two-man crewed jet has a thrust of 3,200 kg. Yasin has an 11-kilometre flight ceiling and an 800-meter runway length requirement. It can fly at a maximum takeoff weight of 6,600 kg. The aircraft can fly for an hour and a half on internal fuel tanks or two hours on attachable external tanks.
The aircraft is powered by an Owj engine without an afterburner. Owj is reported to be a reverse-engineered variant of General Electric’s J85 design, which was initially developed in the 1950s. Turbine Engine Manufacturing Industries (TEM) in west Tehran began building their version in the mid-1990s. Before the 1979 revolution, Iran acquired hundreds of them. The engine produces an output of 15.6 kilonewtons (3,500 lb). This engine has a speed of Mach 0.8 and can propel the plane up to It takes 40 thousand feet.
Yasin uses a domestically produced K36 ejection seat called Sarir.
The Yasin joins almost a dozen other trainers in the Iranian Air Force’s inventory, including the Fajr F.3, Dorna, and Simorgh. Iran’s inventory also includes Chinese-built Chengdu FT-7s, French-made Socata TBs, Pakistani MFI-17 Mushshaks, Swiss Pilatus PC-7 Turbos, and US-made Beachcraft Bonanza trainers. Iran’s ground assault fleet is comprised of Russian Sukhoi Su-24s and the Azarakhsh, an Iranian-built light attack jet based on the Northrop F-5, a US warplane that Iran received following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran has not squandered the decades it has spent under crushing Western and international sanctions, building one of the Middle East’s largest and most comprehensive defence industrial complexes, producing everything from advanced missile systems and long-range radars to a homegrown defence electronics sector.
