Iran unveils homegrown fighter jet
CNBC News reports Iran revealed what it claims is a new, domestically-produced fighter jet at a ceremony in Tehran.
On Tuesday, Iranian state television screened images of President Hassan Rouhani sitting in the “Kowsar” fighter aircraft, according to Tasnim News Agency.
Designed and manufactured solely by Iranian military experts, the Kowsar is described as a fourth-generation fighter jet, which classifies it among military fighters in service from approximately 1980 to the present day.
By contrast, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and China’s Chengdu J-20 are considered fifth generation fighters because of their enhanced stealth abilities and computational power.
Tasnim, citing the state television report, said Iran’s new jet had already been through successful test flights and would soon be ready to carry out shorter distance aerial support missions.
Any resemblance to Northrop’s F-5 is purely coincidental.
Category: Iran
F-5/T-33 in Habibistan drag… gonna guess that it’s about 45 years old and being kept flyable from parts of a dozen hangar queens.
NATO nickname for it is “SPLASH ONE”
An F-22 would smoke that thing faster than Willie Nelson burns weed.
A Brewster Buffalo could do it…
I don’t believe that is an Iranian aircraft! All the Iranian aircraft’s cockpits face aft, so in a bruha, they can try to find their way home! 😉
HA!
F-5B or T-38.. T-33 is the Shooting Star trainer. Either way it’s still a nearly 60 year old design (entered service in 61). 4th Gen my dimpled ass.
That looks like something we would have designed and built in the late 60s.
We did.
entered service in 1961, so designed in the mid/late 50’s
Northrop actually started designing that particular jet in the mid-1950s. That design is literally almost as old as your metaphorical granddad…l
I believe that design elements from it were borrowed in the development of the F18.
The design lineage went from the F-5 to the YF-17 (a competitor to the General Dynamic F-16 Falcon), then from the YF-17 to the F/A-18…
Sure, in that it has a cockpit and wings.
HEY!!, I was designed in ’52, came out of production in Spring of ’53. I know I’m not useless, I still can serve as a bad example.
Love that!!
FWIW, CH, my metaphorical granddad served in WWI.
This thing is about as old as I am. And we’d both last about as long in combat.
Actually, the 1950s. First flight was in 1959 with introduction to the USAF in 1961. Hardly a Gen 4 fighter.
I believe that Iranian “military experts” built the aircraft. There is no way that the jets Jordan unloaded a few years ago factored into this. None.
F-5 Marine OPFOR.
A TBS/Flight School classmate of mine spent 3 years flying with the VMFT-401 “Snipers”.
He loved every minute of it.
What a great gig- training pilots so if it comes to combat they’ve got the experience to prevail, but also dishing out some vivid learning experiences along the way.
Win-win!
Something they’ll brag about while it’s something our aircraft can blow to bits before they even know what hit it!
It could be a home-grown copy of the F-5. That would be pretty funny during an air combat.
…I could have sworn I saw a photo of this “native built” fighter a few years ago but with a twin tail.
Is this what they were flying in ‘Top Gun’?
Yes. F-5’s were the opfor aircraft at the Top Gun course.
Yes. F-5’s were the opfor aircraft at the Top Gun course.
In the “Top Gun” movie, the plane masqueraded as enemy bad guy “MIG-28s” flown by some unknown enemy nation. In the real-world U.S. Navy Top Gun course, the F-5 served as opfor aggressor aircraft flown by the school instructors…
The movie had F5s playing a mythological MIG.
The aggressor/instructor aircraft were A4 Skyraiders.
EX- it has probably been a few years since I’ve watched a NASA video, but you used to see these aircraft used as chase planes when the shuttle was landing, Etc. The trainer version was called the T-38 Talon.
According to the wiki, this is the third “home built” airframe that looks just like the F-5s we sold them in the 70’s.
Surprising they can keep those things flying with all the different coats of paint they put on them to make a “new” fighter design.
The paint is what’s holding their F-5s together.
irans motto is; when your a jet your a real cool jet right down to your last cigarette your a jet. The only thing missing on the jet is a switchblade knife for close aerial combat.
Oh, I do so love a classical reference!
So :
1. IF they really DID build that themselves, can they sustain a production line capable of making a number of them in reasonable time along with replacement parts?
2. IF they really can field a number of them, how soon will it be until Israeli Jets pick them off like they’re shooting fish in a barrel? I’m sure that said Israeli Pilots will pick them off in the air just as easily as if they were on the ground!
I’m sure that Israeli pilots flying Israeli jets can pick these off from a great enough distance to not even have to engage with them.
That’s correct, Ma’am.
Bringing the Good News courtesy of the AIM-120 series AMRAAM “Slammer”.
(Although against these Iranian assclowns, most pilots might prefer to conserve their missiles and instead try to maneuver in close for a guns kill. Guns kill = more cost effective, and more fun!)
Let’s not forget that not too long ago the Israelis flew an F-35 right through Iranian and Syrian airspace completely undetected.
Which provoked many discussions with their Russian patrons about the vaunted S-400 AA missile system Iran had just purchased, I’m sure.
Very few nations have the manufacturing, technology, engineering and most import historical experience in building complex weapons systems.
That’s why most 3rd world nations trying to emerge simply buy systems from The West or the Russians or Chinese.
Similar?
AW1Ed wrote “Any resemblance to Northrop’s F-5 is purely coincidental…”
Yep😉:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/22/military-experts-say-irans-new-fighter-jet-is-actually-a-us-plane-from-the-1970s.html
“Military experts say Iran’s new fighter jet is actually a US plane from the 1970s”
I wonder what percentage of the Iranian people actually believe this crap? What’s next, an Iranian space shuttle?
I’m sure that Whatshisface, President Trump’s predecessor likely dreamed of sponsoring such a thing which those goat molesters would likely call something like “BLEHLEHLEHLEH Death to American Infidels”.
I thought they made an updated version, the F-20 or something like that. The Tigershark II? I thought that was the company’s way to trying to keep the lines open for export as the USAF didn’t want it. Or so, I know for a fact they made a newer version of the F-5. I just don’t know the plane well enough to see if it is or not. And I don’t have time to go to Wikipedia or a real source to check.
Andy Kravetz, reporter
Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star
My understanding is that the F-20 Tigershark II didn’t have any confirmed buyers, so the F-20 was never manufactured other than the few prototypes exhibited by Northrop Grummann…
The Air Force and State department killed the F-20 so that it couldn’t hurt foreign F-16 sales. Northrop was going to build it under license in Singapore but the wing box construction was declared technology to advanced to let out of the country.
The F20 (F-5G) was developed, but never went into production. The F16 killed the project and it was never sold abroad.
The F-20 was single engine variant compared to the F-5 A/B and F-5E/F
A/B had no radars. E/F had radars but were third Gen fighters not 4th Gen.
Too bad our TAH resident lawn dart D.B. already burned in for good. We could send him over to their lead test pilot.
There are a few SV assclowns that know how to fly that could fill in for the “lawn dart”. Hell, ShOrTbUsWiNdOwLiCkEr42 was busted for flying a plane while drunk…
‘Ol “Blobfish” Chevalier could volunteer himself as well if he’s gotten out of jail yet.
Chevyliar wouldn’t lower himself to that. He insists on flying cargo planes with at least enough cargo capacity to hold a large brick of cheese. He couldn’t squeeze a package of Cheese n crackers into the small space allotted to a fighter pilot, considering his considerable girth.
So THAT’s what happened to the Venezuelan Air Force’s CF-5’s! They quit flying them in 2015 as a trainer, and shortly thereafter offered the Iranians their fleet of F-16’s (complete with US embargo on spare parts). To which the Iranians said, “bedrood!” Maybe the Iranians bought the cheaper CF-5s and repaint them for release as a new, homegrown fighter jet.
The press release for this was written by Baghdad Bob.
Tehran Tyrone…?
So is this the platform the Airdales would consider when they went out to “club baby seals?” Disclaimer, no baby seals were harmed in the making of this post.
Must it wear a burka if seen in public?