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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Defense experts deride Iran’s ‘new fighter jet’ | ||
| 2018-08-22 | ||
State TV showed President Hassan Rouhani sitting in the cockpit of the new "Kowsar fourth-generation fighter" at the National Defense Industry exhibition in Tehran. The warplane had "advanced avionics" and multi-purpose radar, and was "100-percent indigenously made," Iranian state media said. However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... suspicions were raised when live footage of the plane taxiing along a runway ended before it actually took off. Analysts were reminded of 2013, when Iran trumpeted the "domestically built Qaher 313 fighter jet" ‐ which turned out to be a plastic model that never flew. "Iran’s so-called ’indigenous Kowsar-88’ fourth-generation fighter is not fourth-generation and is not truly indigenous," security analyst Dr. Theodore Karasik, a senior adviser to Gulf State Analytics in Washington, told Arab News. "This jet is a Frankenstein’s monster for optics only. The aircraft’s frame is an American Northrop F-5F Tiger II slapped together with various accoutrements. "This Iranian production is similar to the Qaher 313 a few years ago, another so-called fourth-generation fighter that could overtake America's F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. "At that time, it was plainly obvious that the Qaher 313 was a slapped together mock-up for international propaganda purposes. Now we have two optical illusions." Justin Bronk, a research fellow specializing in combat airpower at the Royal United Services Institute, also said the "new" Iranian jet was a carbon copy of an F-5 Tiger, first produced in the US in the 1960s. "It’s a very small, lightweight fighter with very small engines," he said. "While you might put in a modern radar, or modern avionics ‐ by Iranian standards ‐it is still going to be subject to all the limitations of the F-5 airframe." The plane was first publicly announced on Saturday by Defense Minister Amir Hatami, who had said it would be unveiled on Wednesday. New Iranian fighter jet takes off from Tehran for first time (video) [AlMasdar]
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 Be afraid. Be very afraid. I'm not sure I'll be able to sleep for the rest of the week. [giggle] |
| Posted by: Bobby 2018-08-22 17:20 |
| #8 With the glide slope of a brick... |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2018-08-22 15:44 |
| #7 Does the landing gear retract at all, if so, how can it fit into the wings? They fall off since the designers were told they won't be needing them to land. Sorta like the Japanese Kamikaze planes. |
| Posted by: gorb 2018-08-22 13:22 |
| #6 If this thing flies, it is a target drone for anything we fly, yes, even the flying Turkey can shoot this thing down...that is, if the Iranian "aircraft" can fly. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2018-08-22 10:21 |
| #5 It took me a while to stop laughing so hard... One the wing seems to be a bit on the flat side, i'm not even sure that there is a airfoil shape there. The wings seems to be on the small side, in order to get enough lift to fly the thing, the plane would have to go very very fast, so fast that it could run out of runway long before it could get to the V2 stage. Does the landing gear retract at all, if so, how can it fit into the wings? How can the turbines run (while taxing) with the turbine covers in place? (Airflow blocked?) But most interesting is the yellow mock-up that's shown on the left side of the hanger in the video. It look to be made and shaped of expanded foam. Seems that's what the Plane seems to be is made of, fiberglass covered expanded foam. |
| Posted by: Seeking Cure For Ignorance 2018-08-22 06:18 |
| #4 "What's this do?" "Don't touch that Mr. Rouhani, it's the ejection ..." "Aghhhhh!" (splat) "... seat." |
| Posted by: gorb 2018-08-22 02:25 |
| #3 still and video at rt.com |
| Posted by: Flenter Barnsmell9227 2018-08-22 02:18 |
| #2 The F5F is a single-seat version of the T-38 fighter. As such, it likely will never be flown by Iran except from an airbase in the center of the country. Reason being, a longer-range jet has to have a back seat for the Imam with the pistol... |
| Posted by: Rivrdog 2018-08-22 02:16 |
| #1 State TV showed President Hassan Rouhani sitting in the cockpit of the new "Kowsar fourth-generation fighter" at the National Defense Industry exhibition in Tehran. I'd love to see that pic - flashback to Dukakis in a tank! |
| Posted by: Raj 2018-08-22 01:31 |