Iran launches own stealth fighter

[Richard from Rotterdam]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21307208

Qaher F313: Iran unveils home-made 'stealth' fighter

The single-seat Qaher F313 is the latest design produced by Iran's military
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Iran has unveiled a new home-made combat aircraft, which officials say can evade radar.

The single-seat Qaher F313 (Dominant F313) is the latest design produced by Iran's military since it launched the Azarakhsh (Lightning), in 2007.

President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said it had "almost all the positive features" of the world's most sophisticated jets.

He said the "development of the Iranian nation's military power is... for deterrence and defensive purposes".

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Analysis

Cyrus Amini
BBC Persian
The Qaher F313 looks like a cheap copy of the American F22 and its capabilities are unknown. State TV did not even show its take-off or landing. Iran is in dire need of planes to boost its ageing fleet. The 1980-1988 Iraq-Iran war left a big dent in Iran's air force arsenal of US-supplied planes.

Damaged ones were used for spare parts and some of them (mostly Northrop F-5s) were turned into a new generation of planes like the Azarakhsh. Their capabilities are also unknown as they have not seen any real action.

Iran has been under tight sanctions since its war with Iraq and has not been allowed to obtain new hardware or spare parts for its old fleet. Buying Russian or Chinese jet fighters is not a ready option for Iran due to new sanctions imposed over its controversial nuclear programme.

So the big challenge for Iranian military planners remains - having an air force that it can maintain and support locally, as buying parts on black market has been very costly.

In an unveiling ceremony inside a Tehran hangar broadcast on State TV on Saturday, Mr Ahmadinejad said he ranked the aircraft as "among the most advanced fighter jets in the world".

Pictures of the jet were released by state television, showing a steely grey jet that Iran's Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said was built with "advanced materials" and had a very low radar signature.

The ceremony was timed to coincide with the 34th anniversary of the 1979 revolution, which replaced the US-backed shah with an Islamic regime.

Iran this week claimed to have successfully sent a monkey into space in a Pishgam rocket, which reached an altitude of some 120km (75 miles) for a sub-orbital flight.

Western nations responded by expressing concern that Iran's space programme was being used to develop long-range missiles that could potentially be used to carry nuclear warheads.

Iran denies it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons and insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes.

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok2aMgfBdCs
A radio-controlled miniature example is already flying...

More on this project, including mock-up photos: http://theaviationist.com/2013/02/02/ir ... h-fighter/

[Ivan_K]

Those Iranians really have a unusual sense of humor

[Flyboy]

Given the location and shape of the airintakes, the airflow to the engine would become turbulent at positive angle of attack. This is clearly a mockup (glasfiber...). It would not be surprising however if stealth studies are taking place and could be part of this studie. The show of their PM could well be for election reasons.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[SquAdmin]

This reminded me of the F-19 impressions during the mid eighties:





I'm sure some of you owned the splendid looking Revell kit

[Wildpicture]

This is clearly a mockup (glasfiber...).

Indeed it very much looks like that. There are no panel lines visible. The body seems to be one piece. Still, they might make headlines with this news in the Arabic world and it might influence the kind of people fighting for them in places like Syria.

[Thermal]

If that thing is real; than I am the Easter Bunny. It looks more like something that entered "Ter Land, ter Zee en in de Lucht"

Are Iranians really that dumb that they think they would fool any expert (or non expert for that matter??) by showing this plastic toy?

All you can do is laugh at these sort of things...... but it is actually very sad that Iran has to impress the world in this way.

[ehusmann]

I doubt it is meant to fool any expert, but more likely to fool their own people. To the Iranian people, this should look very impressive and it should feel like their leaders are able to combat any threat from abroad...
Whether that will be the case is a different question of course...

Erwin

[Erik_7Xi]

While I don't think this is a real aircraft, least of all a stealth fighter, the Iranians are far from dumb though - especially when it comes to aviation. They have their own aviation industry that has kept a large fleet of F-4s, F-5s and F-14s in active service even though they have been cut-off from spare parts since 1979. They even managed to turn HAWK SAMs into air-to-air missiles, as 'budget' replacements for the AIM-54.

I have no doubt that they could build that fighter and get it airborne - but how good it is and what RCS it will have remains to be seen of course, although I would assume both to be in the "not very" category.

[jp 74]

The ejection seat looks a bit to small for the pilot.....

[Gerard]

They managed to provide a photo of the Qaher F-313 "in flight".

See this article (in Dutch), which will explain why I put "in flight" in between quotation marks.

Gerard

[michel N]

Ach, mooi geprobeerd... volgende x beter!