Iran claims success in testing An-140-based Simorgh cargo and AWACS aircraft
October 30, 2025
Iran claims to be flight testing the “Simorgh” military transport aircraft and to have developed an AWACS variant. The aircraft is based on the Ukrainian Antonov An-140, and it remains unclear how much Iran has been able to domestically produce the aircraft since Ukraine’s 2022 sanctions.
Iran claims domestic An-140 knock-off “Simorgh” in test flights
According to the state news agency, IRNA, Iran has successfully completed tests of its Simorgh military transport aircraft developed from the Ukrainian Antonov An-140 turboprop regional airliner.
#Iran Joins the World’s Top 10 Aircraft Manufacturers. Iran Begins Test Flights of Domestically Built Cargo Aircraft. The Simorgh has officially entered its test flight phase and will soon join Iran’s cargo fleet. A step forward in Iran’s push for aerospace independence. pic.twitter.com/VQ5ghQDRf5
— Embassy of Iran in Bulgaria (@IRANinBULGARIA) October 30, 2025
The aircraft is able to carry oversized cargo with a payload of up to six tons. Iranian Air Force plans for the Simorgh to replace its ageing fleet of Dutch-origin Fokker-27s
The Simorgh military cargo aircraft should not be confused with the identically named Iranian Simorgh rocket being developed to launch satellites into space.
IRNA reported Simorgh has now accumulated around 100 hours of flight testing and is working to meet Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation of Iran’s airworthiness certification.
Iran announces the start of Simorgh’s test flights at least once a year. https://t.co/MWh7UmmNNw pic.twitter.com/vAthZ1WK8k
— Kian Sharifi (@KianSharifi) October 29, 2025
Caution should also be taken with Iran’s state news, which has a history of significantly exaggerating information or even misrepresenting it entirely. OSNIT account, Kian Sharifi, posted showing Iran has claimed to have begun initial Simorgh aircraft test flights every year for three years now (2023, 2024, and 2025).
Iran claims to have built an AWACS variant
Iran’s West Asia News Agency (WANA) reported the Iranian Ministry of Defence has “designed, produced, and operationalised a domestically built aircraft with functionalities similar to an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS).”
It is possible that Russia could be supplying the needed radars and other equipment for the conversion in compensation for Iran’s substantial military aid in its war against Ukraine.
WANA stated the development comes after years of “Iran’s need for an airborne early warning and control aircraft.” Radar aeroplanes, like the Boeing E-3 Sentry and E-7 Wedgetail, are critical ‘eyes in the skies’ for militaries.
If true, this would follow North Korea, which is known to be converting an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aeroplane into an AWACS aircraft. With North Korea, the conversions of the large mounted radar have been confirmed in satellite imagery.
However, images shown by Iranian media do not show an An-140 aircraft carrying a large mounted radar. The Russian AWACS variant of the Il-76 is the Beriev A-50, and it carries a massive radar.
The Il-76 is a much larger aircraft than the An-140, and it’s unclear what radars the turboprop can carry. Modern Western aircraft carry much smaller radars than those seen on the A-50 and E-3 Sentry. Israel has developed its own highly advanced Oron radar aircraft based on the Gulfstream G550.
Iran’s IrAn-140s assembled from Ukrainian-supplied knock-down kits
The Ukrainian news outlet, Militaryni, points out that the Simorgh is being presented by Iran as a domestic Iranian aircraft of its national aviation industry. It added that the aircraft is based on the IrAn-140, which is a licensed modification of the Ukrainian An-140 turboprop developed by the Kharkiv State Aircraft Manufacturing Company.
Militaryni wrote Iran assembled ten IrAn-140 passenger aircraft from Ukrainian components before the countries’ cooperation ended. Iran’s Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industries (HESA) is responsible for converting passenger An-140s into military transports.
The Iranian embassy in Bulgaria posted, claiming Iran is now one of the world’s aircraft manufacturers and that the aircraft test represents a step in Iran’s push for aerospace independence. It posted a video of what is claimed to be Simorgh conducting test flights.
Iranian attack UAV Shahed-136, eliminated by the #UAarmy near Kupiansk, Kharkiv region.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 13, 2022
🇷🇺 and 🇮🇷: A perfect union of two despots.
📷 @kms_d4k pic.twitter.com/M7sQ9PX1hJ
Iran first presented the Simorgh in May 2022. That aircraft was built with parts supplied by Ukraine that were shipped before Ukraine stopped its cooperation with Iran. Iran was an early supporter of Russia supplying weapons like its infamous Shahed-style drones to attack Ukraine.
It is unclear if the new “domestically produced Iranian” aircraft was substantially built from Iranian components or was little more than a passenger IrAn-140 aircraft assembled with Ukrainian parts converted into a military aircraft.
Featured Image: IRNA
