🎖️ military ✓ still flying
2 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. An IRIAF HESA Azarakhsh in Vahdati Airbase Air Show: Marjan-shivA· CC BY-SA 3.0
- 2. HESA Azarakhsh displayed in Vahdati Airbase: Shahram Sharifi· CC BY-SA 4.0
what is it?
The HESA Azarakhsh (Persian: آذرخش Âzaraxš, "Thunderbolt") is a jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA). It is widely regarded as a rebuilt and renamed American Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger II although Iranian authorities claim it is Iran's first domestically manufactured combat jet fighter.
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 19 years ago, in 2007.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 2007-08
- introduced
- 1997
- status
- still flying
- number built
- 6
- role
- light fighter
- origin
- 🇮🇷 Iran
- makers
- Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company
- engines
- —
- top speed
- —
- range
- —
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q660988, Wikipedia: HESA Azarakhsh (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.