Iranian defence minister brigadier general Amir Hatami on Saturday hailed the progress that has been made in Iran's aviation industry.

Iran PressIran news: "Turning a passenger plane into a fire?ghter aircraft is an advance technology that only a few countries possess and Iran is one of them," Iranian defence minister brigadier general Amir Hatami said on the sidelines of the ceremony to unveil a high pressure fire suppression system that can be carried by various aircraft in Isfahan.

According to Iran Press, defence minister Hatami added, "Today with the participation of Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company (HESA) and also with the cooperation of Iran's vice-presidency for Science and Technology, Department of Environment, Interior ministry, we could turn a passenger airplane into a fire?ghter aircraft." 

"Actually, three important events have happened in this process which are achieving the a high pressure fire suppression technology, turning a passenger air plane to a fire?ghter aircraft, and also synthesizing these two sets, is the work that has been done by HESA with the help of universities, and science based companies in Iran," General Hatami noted.

"It was a very sensitive and delicate job that has been done successfully. By achieving this technology we will produce as many fire?ghter aircraft as we need by the order of Iran's interior ministry, and Department of Environment," Iranian defence minister concluded.

Iran's Vice-President for Scientific and Technological Affairs Sorena Sattari and the Head of the Department of Environment (DoE) Isa Kalantari also took part in the ceremony.

ِِِDespite the sanctions imposed against Iran, the country's industry, Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO) in particular, enjoys state-of-art technology.  IAIO enjoys the highest technology for designing and manufacturing equipment and hardware.

Iran has recently made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and hardware.

On 27 September, the Iranian defence minister inaugurated two large factories producing advanced industrial and military vehicle batteries.

In April that year, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the country’s capacity to manufacture military hardware, saying Iran’s export of defense equipment had jumped by 227 percent during the period 2013-2017.

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