Editing HESA Azarakhsh (section)

{{Short description|Iranian fighter aircraft}}
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{{Infobox aircraft
| name = Azarakhsh
| image = An IRIAF HESA Azarakhsh in Vahdati Airbase Air Show.JPG
| caption = HESA Azarakhsh on display at [[Vahdati Air Base]]
| type = [[Light fighter]]
| manufacturer = [[Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company]] (HESA)
| designer = 
| produced = 
| first_flight = 
| introduction = 1997
| retired = 
| number_built = 6<ref name="Military Factory.com_Azarakhsh">[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/azarakhsh.htm GlobalSecurity.org] Azarakhsh (Lightning)</ref>
| status = In service<ref name="Global">{{cite news|title=Global Security|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/airforce-equipment.htm}}</ref> (production completed)
| unit cost = 
| primary_user = [[Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force]]
| more_users = 
| developed_from = [[Northrop F-5]]
| variants = 
| developed_into = [[HESA Saeqeh]]<br/>[[HESA Kowsar]]
}}

The '''HESA Azarakhsh''' ({{langx|fa|آذرخش}} ''Âzaraxš'', "Thunderbolt") is a jet fighter aircraft manufactured by the [[Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company]] (HESA). It is widely regarded as a rebuilt and renamed American [[Northrop F-5]] Freedom Fighter/Tiger II <ref name="Military Factory.com_Azarakhsh" /> although Iranian authorities claim it is Iran's first domestically manufactured combat jet fighter.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/balance/Iran.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2007-02-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216120054/http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss/balance/Iran.pdf |archive-date=2007-02-16 }} Tel Aviv University Publication, Analysis by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies</ref>

The Azarakhsh was developed in Isfahan by the Iranian military, the Iranian Defense Ministry, and aircraft-manufacturing company HESA.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/azarakhsh.htm|title=Azarakhsh|author=John Pike|work=globalsecurity.org|access-date=12 May 2015}}</ref>