Iranian Shafaq jet trainer nears prototype testing




Iran's long-running programmes to develop a military jet trainer/light attack aircraft will achieve significant milestones in the coming months, officials from the Aerospace Industries Organisation (AIO) told IHS Jane's during the Iran Air Show held on Kish Island on 16-19 November.
The two programmes, which are the same base design with some differences in external configuration and aerodynamic planform, are the Shafaq and the Borhan. The two are derivatives of a design concept that was devised jointly by Iranian designers and a team from Russia's Mikoyan Design Bureau in the 2002-10 timeframe.
"There was a Russian team that worked with us for around eight years," said one Iranian official, "but they then completed their work on the project and we continued on with the configuration development ourselves. What we now have is a finalised design for a flying prototype. Our intention is that the aircraft will complete some high-speed taxi tests by the end of this year, and then a first flight sometime in 2017."
According to AIO, the aircraft that will be tested this year will have the Shafaq-style configuration with a twin, outwardly canted vertical tail. This type of a tail design has become a favoured aerodynamic feature of Iranian designers that dates back to the development of the reverse-engineered Iranian version of the Northrop F-5 called the Saeqeh.
"What the designers on this programme discovered was that the use of a twin, canted-outwards tail design - like the American F/A-18 - gives the aircraft some advantages over a single vertical tail," explained one Iranian engineer. "The aircraft not only gains some manoeuvrability, but also in stability and control."
The Shafaq has been shown in the form of a full-scale mock-up on Iranian television and has been displayed at previous Iranian air shows in the form of models, but it did not make an appearance at the latest show

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