Iran Tests New Jet Fighters To Scare "Enemies"

[Purveyor]

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said on Thursday it had "scared its enemies" by test flying two new generation, domestically-produced jet fighter planes and had shown its battle readiness, the latest riposte to speculation about a war over Tehran's nuclear plans.

--
Armed forces chief Ataollah Salehi also said of the test flights: "Iran, with its advanced equipment and capabilities, is fully prepared for any possible aggression."

--
It did not say at the time on what plane the Saegheh was based, but images shown of its test flight suggested it might be based around a U.S.-built F-5, a plane bought from the United States when Iran was a U.S. ally before the 1979 revolution.

State television said the Saegheh jet was a new generation of the Azarakhsh (Lightning) fighter, which Iran said in August was now being built on an industrial scale. Tehran says it makes tanks, armoured personnel carriers and missiles and torpedoes.

--
The experts say Iranian weaponry, some of it modifications of equipment bought from China and others, would be no match for U.S. technology but say Iran could still deliver a punch by hitting strategic targets, such as blocking the Gulf waterway.

---EOE---

http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnHAF043103.html

[wtmusic]

1. Why don't we pick on someone our own size

like Russia? C'mon Junior, send some Tomahawks over to Moscow...let's see whatcher made of! Chicken?

[BlooInBloo]

2. Sigh. You can't scare a homicidal maniac. Please stop trying, for your sakes...

.... as well as ours.