A senior Iranian official said Friday that the country is in possession of the technological know- how to design and build small turbofan engines used in various types of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), the local satellite Press TV reported.

"Today, we are building turbofan engines for a variety of UAVs, " Iran's Armed Forces deputy Brigadier General Abdolkarim Banitarafi was quoted as saying.

Banitarafi said that the construction of turbofan engines is a significant step in the direction of building indigenous drones, adding that Iran has also taken "major steps" towards designing large turbofan engines, the report said.

The turbofan is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used for aircraft propulsion.