Slashdot Mirror
Iran Unveils Its Own Stealth Fighter Jet, the Qaher F-313
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."
Not sure whether this is a hoax or not, but the pictures seems to show a model, not a real plane. Have a look at the cockpit : http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/s/s/19/media19/2013/Feb/2/LiveLeak-dot-com-4347f2b9fa55-f313_17_preview.jpg?d5e8cc8eccfb6039332f41f6249e92b06c91b4db65f5e99818bad29f444cd3d1ca14&ec_rate=200
I don't know anything about jet fighters, but I can recognize a Thrustmaster Mark II joystick stuck to a pole. And the material on the border of the cabin definitely looks like duct tape. And the canopy does not seem to lock into anything. And so on.
Nobox: Only simple products.
Cessna 172 has a huge radar cross section. Those wing mounts and engine are shiners. You're talking about flying under radar horizon, which is not stealthy as any modern fighter is equipped with look down-shoot down radar which will find you and light you up like a christmas tree in a matter of seconds of entering its range.
I think this close up of the cockpit makes it clear that that static display isn't functional. The video looked a lot like an RC.
The dimpling on the surfaces you can see in that pic looks like the crappy fiberglass repair job on my boat with a coat of paint smeared on it.
That sinking feeling deep in your gut when you KNOW you screwed up bad summed up with: {head desk} {head desk}
That is a Top gun Thrustmaster on the cockpit!!!
http://www.hak900.com/top-gun-thrustmaster-joystick/
The head of the design team himself said they have only performed test flight with two smaller models (one with a propeller, the other with a micro jet). These are from the slides he presented.
Propeller-powered sub-scale model:
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/250662_10151268717323603_1355114109_n.png
Jet-powered sub-scale model:
http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/542333_10151268717468603_1294585182_n.png
The one in photos was a mock up. Like any of these:
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/2667/pavillion22so.jpg
http://i847.photobucket.com/albums/ab35/bobro15/NAA-FX-2_zps79959a9a.jpg
http://i50.tinypic.com/2yl7cs8.jpg (the one in front)
Indeed. Iran is the only remaining user of F-14's today. It's probable most of their F-14's are no longer operational though, as they date from the days of the Shah. The fact that most of their foreign fighters are so old is what is propelling domestic fighter development, including rather more probable looking fighters based on reverse engineered technology.
IIRC, he was detected, just wasn't shot down. More due to "what do we do what do we DO" than any stealthiness of such a basic plane.
The equipment used on that panel are listed in this image:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2gmNiznAYPk/UQ_kVG4GxUI/AAAAAAAABQY/UIRwfGrF0cY/s1600/Kahir313_Kokpit.png