What happened to Iran's super stealth fighter?

[MigBuster 2,884]

Several years back,  Iran rolled out its Qaher F-313 ‘stealth fighter’ in front of then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Within hours it was met with near universal derision from defense and aerospace experts around the world

 

 

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/whatever-happenned-irans-super-stealth-fighter-15654

[claw 17]

Off the radar.

[+Trotski 936]

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terms and conditions apply, your statutory rights as a consumer will be severely compromised upon purchase....have a most excellent day.

[+Erik 1,812]

It's a rather small mock up if you look at the image carefully. Unless of course those extension cords just happen to be exceptionally big, like 30/0 AWG cable. I know they have built full size mock ups of aircraft carriers out of cardboard and wood before so when they are shot from satellites they cast the shadows and give cause for second looks. It's all propaganda aimed at scaring the uneducated or bolstering their support depending on the target audience.

 

I think these are good people for election insurance, just my take on things.

 

E

[ShrikeHawk 384]

I covered this in my blog a while back. Apparently the fighter was once stolen...

https://momusnews.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/irans-stealth-fighter-stolen/

[RUSTYMORLEY 162]

I think that is all it was - a simple mock-up, possibly made of wood and other basic materials. I don't think that Iran has the necessary aircraft technology to produce such an aircraft anyway, and most of their combat aircraft are imported as well. It stands to reason if they had the means to produce this aircraft they would have rolled it out by now and western journalists would be invited to see it performing aerobatics in a staged air display. Smoke and mirrors executed very well by Iran. 

[+Trotski 936]

I dunno they managed to keep the remaining F-14's going for a good long time without any spares, of course, this is a smoke and mirrors exercise, and I think it was more likely to be aimed at their own population, rather than the world at large......they have trundled out some really strange and pretty ridiculous stuff in the past, some of their military vehicles for example.

[Atreides 144]

I covered this in my blog a while back. Apparently the fighter was once stolen...

https://momusnews.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/irans-stealth-fighter-stolen/

I nearly spilled my precious Blue Label on the laptop after going to that link.  :biggrin:  Stop writing this stuff unless you want people to waste their scotch.  You know what they say, there's a special place in hell for those that waste a good scotch.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Atreides

[ShrikeHawk 384]

Gads No! Not wasted scotch. I  was maybe hoping for coffee snorted through the nose, but not that! ;)

 

Truth be told, my regular readers no longer drink fluids while reading my blog.

[JediMaster 451]

If Iran could make fighters like that, they wouldn't need to keep 40 year old F-14s still flying, would they?

[Atreides 144]

If Iran could make fighters like that, they wouldn't need to keep 40 year old F-14s still flying, would they?

But it's still oh so glorious so see the old cat flying regardless of which nation she flies for.  Isn't it ironic though that one of the greatest aircraft the US Navy ever had in it arsenal continues to fly for and serve one of her greatest "enemies" ?  I do love the Iranian cat camo schemes though tbh.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Atreides

[JediMaster 451]

If they'd managed to sell them to anyone else we might still see them flying there, too. After all, the contemporary F-15 and F-16 are both still in production let alone worldwide service.

 

Had Cheney allowed the F-14D program to continue instead of killing it 25 years ago, the USN would probably have kept them around longer with a large all-D fleet. The mixed A/B/D fleet wasn't as cost-effective or capable to keep around.

[ShrikeHawk 384]

If they'd managed to sell them to anyone else we might still see them flying there, too. After all, the contemporary F-15 and F-16 are both still in production let alone worldwide service.

 

Had Cheney allowed the F-14D program to continue instead of killing it 25 years ago, the USN would probably have kept them around longer with a large all-D fleet. The mixed A/B/D fleet wasn't as cost-effective or capable to keep around.

 

Truth. The Delta Tomcat was a bird worth keeping. *sigh*

[JediMaster 451]

Also, if they'd kept building them the planned AMRAAM integration would've taken place. With such a small fleet I guess they felt it wasn't worth the money to do it.