HESA Kowsar

The HESA Kowsar (, "thunderbolt") is an Iranian fighter jet based on the American Northrop F-5. The aircraft is equipped with new fourth generation avionics in combination with an advanced fire control system.

Western analysts have described the plane to be inefficient as a weapon but having potential for training a new generation of Iranian fighter pilots. According to the Iranian state-media, this fighter jet has "advanced avionics" and multipurpose radar, and it was "100-percent indigenously made". It also uses digital data networks, a glass cockpit, heads-up display (HUD), ballistic computers and smart mobile mapping systems.

Criticism
Widespread ridicule followed the revealing of the Kowsar fighter jet. Some commentators have mocked the new aircraft, calling it an obsolete yet illegal copy of the American F-5, as Iran is under military embargo from US and its military allies. Reports of a crash of an F-5 type jet were reported days after the jet was revealed. The Iranian press acknowledged that the Kowser is based on the F-5, but lauded it for being the first fighter jet manufactured from the ground up by a Muslim nation.

Variants
The Kowsar is produced in single and two-seater variants.

Export
On November 26, 2018 Brigadier General Abdoklarim Banitarafi, head of Iran Aviation Industries Organization (IAIO), announced that Iran was ready to export the HESA Kowsar jet and had agreements with Russia, China and Indonesia.