Zain Malik
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A still from Iranian television footage shows a Simorgh taking off from an airstrip that IHS Jane's had identified as the one outside Kashan. Source: Simanews.ir
Video footage of Iran's Simorgh unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) taking off and landing was filmed at Kashan International Airport, according to IHS Jane's geolocation analysis.
Shown by various Iranian TV channels on 1 October, the footage of the aircraft flying at Kashan was the most credible evidence to date to support Iran's claim that it has successfully reverse engineered the US RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaissance UAV that crashed in the east of the country in December 2011.
Iran first displayed the Simorgh copy of the RQ-170 in May 2015, but this was the first time one has been seen flying.
The footage was released by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) when it announced that it has developed a new armed version of the Simorgh called the Saegheh.
This appears to be a reference to a UAV that retains the RQ-170's 'flying wing' shape, but has a far smaller air intake, suggesting it does not use a turbofan engine.
While the Saegheh was not seen flying, the footage shown on Iranian television implied it has entered series production. One shot showed at least 10 of the small-intake aircraft lined up with two large-intake versions. All were on stands rather than their own landing gear.
One of the small-intake aircraft was displayed with four missiles attached to its underside and did not have any landing gear.
http://www.janes.com/article/64435/iranian-stealth-uav-test-site-identified
