Iranian Armed Forces Aerial Achievements Exhibition Tehran 2019
Since 2002 the author had visited Iran a total of four times in the hope of seeing one of the Iranian F-7s or FT-7s. He never succeeded. While the visits to Kish 2002 and Tehran 2004 at least made up for it with plenty of local colour and numerous experiences, the trips to Kish and Tehran in 2005 were rather disappointing, which is why further attempts were not made. The parades in Tehran every April seemed too unpromising, and the exhibition at Dezful, also in spring, remained out of reach for foreigners.
All the more astonishing was the news that reached the author at the beginning of February 2019: on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the revolution, an aviation exhibition was taking place at Tehran-Mehrabad air base, at which practically all aircraft types currently in the Iranian inventory could be seen. And this exhibition was public! The only unclear point was whether "public" would also include access for foreigners. As luck would have it, two Berlin spotters were on site at the time, and on February 7, four days before the end (!) of the event, came the message: "yes, we got in, we were there", garnished with a picture of the FT-7 on display there.
The remaining time was actually too short and yet it was worth a try. And so – after several sleepless nights, a visa issued by the skin of its teeth and other nerve-racking situations – the author stood on the morning of February 10 in brilliant sunshine in front of the object of desire, an FT-7 of the IRIAF.
In the morning it had still been veiled – as befits an Iranian woman – then the covers fell ...
... and dozens of photos from all possible angles were taken of the highlight of the event, the FT-7.
Lined up right next to it were a HESA Saeqeh, an F-5 converted to twin fins, ...
... followed by a two-seat Mirage F.1, one of the aircraft flown over from Iraq to escape the US air strikes ...
... and an F-4D, one of the last active aircraft of this version worldwide.
A few metres away – each with part of its weapons arsenal – were displayed a MiG-29 ...
... and a Su-24 of the IRIAF.
Unlike the aircraft shown so far, this Su-22UM3K belongs to Iran's "parallel air force", that of the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran). The aircraft on display, however, was not airworthy; among other things it lacked ejection seats and landing gear doors. Two other Su-22s had, however, been seen in the flying programme on the previous days.
The American types standing next to them offered a nice contrast to the Soviet ones – an F-4E Phantom II ...
... and an F-14A Tomcat. Already retired in the USA, this impressive type now only flies in Iran.
The third flying service represented at the exhibition was the air arm of the Iranian police, which showed a Mi-171 armed with unguided rockets and guns – an unusual armament for a police helicopter, to put it cautiously.
This Bell probably also belonged to the police.
Service number four at the exhibition was Iranian naval aviation, which unfortunately was represented by only one type – this Sea King.
Finally, as the fifth service, Iranian army aviation showed Bell 214s ...
... in various armament variants as well as ...
... AH-1 Cobras, which differed not only in camouflage ...
... but also in equipment.
The Chinook also shown belongs to the air force again.
In keeping with their growing power and importance in the state structure, the air arm of the Revolutionary Guards was represented with several other types from its inventory: An-74 transports, ...
... MFI-17 Mushshak basic trainers ...
... and Embraer Tucano advanced trainers and light ground attack aircraft.
Also belonging to the Revolutionary Guards are the "home-made" Shahed 285 attack helicopter ...
... and the Shahed 278, obviously a copy of the Bell 206. Both helicopters were parked on the flight line but did not take part in the flying displays.
The transport aircraft on display could already be seen from outside the exhibition grounds, including Falcon (front) and B747 (rear), ...
... Fokker F27 ...
... and C-130 Hercules.
Surface-to-air missile systems were also displayed: S-300 (pictured), S-200 and Hawk.
The maintenance hangars for MiG-29 and Phantom (seen here) were open and offered interesting insights into the work in progress.
Around noon a flying programme began which was unspectacular in terms of flying but still worth seeing given the types involved. It started with a MiG-29UB ...
... and a MiG-29A from Mehrabad.
After the rather flat take-off ...
... the aircraft flew two or three circles over the audience ...
... and then landed again quickly.
Nevertheless the pilots were applauded on their way back to the squadron area, ...
... as were their colleagues ...
... who then flew two Saeqehs.
The converted F-5s with twin fins ...
... cut a fine figure both on the ground ...
... and in the air.
The finale was formed by ...
... two PC-7s, ...
... which, like the other types before, flew part of their displays directly over the audience.
After the end of the flying displays, operations on the ground, including interesting vehicles, could be observed at close range.
Throughout the day there was busy civil flying at Mehrabad. In addition there were some military types that were not part of the event programme, such as this police Mi-171, ...
... a C-130 without national markings on a short test flight, ...
... a Pasdaran Il-76 on its way to an unknown destination, ...
... a police Bell ...
... and an elegantly painted Mi-171 of the Revolutionary Guards.
In the afternoon, with the sun low, there were veritable postcard motifs against a dreamlike background.
A wide range of drones – obviously of Iranian manufacture – was displayed in one of the halls, with, ...
... without ...
... and again with armament.
A Lockheed T-33 converted into a drone could also be seen.
Finally, various equipment was shown, such as this Chinese-made high-altitude pressure suit.
