Plan to Unveil Homemade Chopper, Tank

Iran's Defense Ministry plans to unveil a domestically developed helicopter and an advanced tank in the near future, Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan said on Wednesday. "The ministry has plans to unveil the Saba-248 helicopter and the Karrar battle tank," Dehqan told reporters during a visit to the Eighth International Iran Air Show on the Persian Gulf island of Kish, Tasnim News Agency reported. According to the minister, the military hardware have been fully designed and manufactured by domestic experts in cooperation with the Iranian private sector's knowledge-based enterprises. Karrar is a class of tanks that enjoy modern technologies. Its earlier version is already in service, together with other locally-made tanks like Zolfaqar. Iranian military experts and technicians have in recent years made great headways in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces mostly self-sufficient in the arms sphere.