Iran Unveils Its Own Stealth Fighter Jet, the Qaher F-313 260
An anonymous reader writes "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.Footage from state TV showed the jet in flight, but not its take-off or landing."
Re:very very stealthy (Score:5, Interesting)
I think this close up of the cockpit [imgur.com] makes it clear that that static display isn't functional. The video looked a lot like an RC.
Re:very very stealthy (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm not willing to commit to saying this is legit, but I'm reluctant to dismiss it out of hand as well.
More info on GlobalSecurity.org (Score:5, Interesting)
I love these guys: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/qaher-313.htm [globalsecurity.org]
David Cenciotti noted that the plane featured “implausible aerodynamics and Hollywood sheen” and was laughably small for a fighter jet. He also commented thatthe cockpit was far too basic for a sophisticated aircraft, and appeared “similar to those equipping small private planes. ... The nose section is so small almost no radar could fit in it ... The air intakes are extremely small, whereas the engine section lacks any kind of nozzle: engine afterburners could melt the entire jet. ... It looks like this pilot is in a miniature plane” and it appeared “nothing more than a large mock-up model.” Iran also broadcast video footage of the Qaher F-313 in flight, which Cenciotti said appeared to fly like a “radio-controlled scale model more than a modern fighter jet.” He also noted it was suspect that Tehran did not release takeoff and landing footage of its new aircraft.
Re:very very stealthy (Score:5, Interesting)
The most telling part is the shell of the cockpit. Look at the walls... it's clearly fiberglass and only about 1/8" thick. I doubt that would withstand any reasonable airspeed at all. Look behind the seat... more fiberglass. Then there's the even more obvious... where do you put your legs?!? The switches and knobs on the right-side are almost totally obscured by the fiberglass overhang. How would you get to them? And then... the funniest part... all the writing I see is in English... lol
Re:very very stealthy (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a mock up. Do you seriously think that early tech prototypes designed to showcase potential cockpits are made of production hardware and materials anywhere?
Re:More info on GlobalSecurity.org (Score:5, Interesting)
Pretty much all of Iran's "own fighters" have been vaporware so far. This is pretty well known. They cannot really make anything of their own with all the crippling sanctions that isn't overly cheap knockoff.
That said, it doesn't mean that they can't test new stuff. Most planes start off as drones and eventually move to production. Most of the Russian and various Western jets that jumped up in generation had severe teething problems of their own (F-22 and F-35 make great examples here), and those nations actually have great expertise in designing these planes, not to mention economies that can support huge development costs associated with these programs. Iran lacks all of these.
Iran could, and likely is working on something. It's highly unlikely to be practical and working fighter jet, just like all of its previous fighter jets. Beyond the propaganda bullshit, it shows that with all the sanctions, they still have some degree of expertise and skill and every once in a while they have to show off something like this. Something that will never become a practical application, but to show that they still have some semblance of capability of making a high tech device.
And then they sell their anti ship missiles that cost next to nothing and manage to cripple a high tech Israeli ship. Or have a NATO general win war games using nothing but their low quality, but cheap and numerous hardware against significantly more technologically advanced NATO forces.
Re:very very stealthy (Score:5, Interesting)
You'd be surprised at stuff you see stuck in early prototype cockpits. They used to shove production CRT TVs to showcase early versions of multifunctional displays in military prototyping. Because just making a TFT panel back then cost huge amounts to make a couple for every prototype. Then production stuff carried TFTs.
Regardless, this thing is obvious vaporware aimed at internal propaganda, just like the rest of Iran's fighter jet programs. But cockpit mockup and usage of everyday crap in it isn't the telling part. It's the build of the thing, like ridiculously small engine intakes or radome that couldn't fit any modern military jet radar. Cockpit could actually be a real prototype (though doubtful).
Re:very very stealthy (Score:4, Interesting)
Why is the "Danger" sticker in English?
Actually there's a very good reason for that. I used to work with a guy who was in the Iranian Air Force (he was granted asylum in the U.S.). He once told me that pilots/maintenance workers/etc were required to take English classes so they could read the training materials to fly and support the fighters we gave them. So they would be accustomed to reading English when dealing with fighters. If your brain has already been conditioned in "English mode" when operating/servicing a fighter, it's probably best to stick with it. The Soviets also gave them MiGs, so I'm sure they (or some of them) probably had to learn Russian, too.
Re:very very stealthy (Score:2, Interesting)
The Horten 229, which was the world's first stealth plane and most advanced fighter at the time, was made mostly of wood and could go faster than anything in the sky at the time.