Iran loses its only AWACS aircraft in collision with jet-fighter
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
NICOSIA Ñ The Iranian Air Force has lost its sole airborne early-warning and alert platform.
Western defense sources said the Iranian Air Force lost its Simorgh AEW aircraft in a crash during a military demonstration on Sept. 22 in Teheran. The sources said Simorgh crashed into an air force F-5E fighter-jet in southern Teheran. At least seven people were killed, and both planes were said to have been destroyed.
"This was a major loss for the air force," a defense source said.
Simorgh was identified as an upgrade of the Adnan AEW aircraft. In 1991, Teheran acquired two Adnans when the Saddam Hussein regime flew scores of military aircraft to neighboring Iran to save the platforms from U.S. air strikes.
In the 1980s, Iraq received Adnan from the former Soviet Union. Adnan was identified as a variant of the Russian-origin Ilyushin Il-76 transport, which has also been converted to an AEW platform for other allies of Moscow, including India.
The sources said Iran upgraded its Simorgh aircraft. They said the biggest enhancement consisted of the installation of a Russian-origin radar.
Simorgh was said to have been Iran's only AEW platform. The air force was said to have been operating three RC-130 electronic surveillance aircraft.