Iran unveils new Kowsar Fighter

[MigBuster]

Most definitely not an F-5F right

 

Iranian media says that a new Iranian fighter jet was exhibited during the National Defense Industry show. Images released by various outlets show President Hassan Rouhani sitting in the cockpit of the new “Kowsar” plane, a “fourth-generation fighter”, with “advanced avionics” and multi-purpose radar.

https://theaviationist.com/?p=59136

[Caesar]

A 100% indigenous-designed and made F-5F Tiger II...

[+streakeagle]

If it is a re-manufactured existing fighter, it means nothing.

If Iran can produce new F-5's from scratch, it is a huge step forward for Iran.

Consider China, it has taken them decades, but they have finally transitioned from reverse engineering to designing their own aircraft.

You can count the number of countries capable of producing supersonic fighters on your fingers. Despite the age of the technology and the fact that they copied it from, this is a real achievement...

But if they just performed an overhaul on existing airframes, they haven't really achieved much more than they have already been doing for years.

[+Typhoid]

14 hours ago, streakeagle said:

If it is a re-manufactured existing fighter, it means nothing.

If Iran can produce new F-5's from scratch, it is a huge step forward for Iran.

Consider China, it has taken them decades, but they have finally transitioned from reverse engineering to designing their own aircraft.

You can count the number of countries capable of producing supersonic fighters on your fingers. Despite the age of the technology and the fact that they copied it from, this is a real achievement...

But if they just performed an overhaul on existing airframes, they haven't really achieved much more than they have already been doing for years.

what it looks like is they put a new coat of paint on an old airframe and some off the shelf avionics from some standard company outlets. 

whoopee......

They did the same thing with some old Soviet subs a few years back.  Repainted them green and called them 'new".

they are the laughing stock of the world - but for internal consumption to a domestic population that has nothing but censored Fake News from Iranian propaganda outlets - its GREAT!

(and anyone who says doubts about it will have their lips sewn shut)

Edited August 22, 2018 by Typhoid

[Caesar]

My initial response was very cynical.  To be certain, IF Iran has gotten to the point that they have reverse-engineered the F-5 well enough to make new copies, that would be pretty damn big for them, even if it gives them what is effectively newly built 60 year old technology with a few extra gadgets.  

That said, their claims are just so pathetic, which really spurred my comment.  It's not new, it's not indigenously designed, it's not 4th generation, it doesn't compare to anything we have in the area; literally every claim they are making about it is false, with the possible exception that they actually manufactured it in-country, and to that point, I'm skeptical.

[Nightshade/PR]

I'm not in the habit of dismissing anyone's technical abilities, so I'll look at it from this perspective......

IF they can reverse engineer and create a new-airframe F-5, albeit with new/different avionics, what is to say that can't do the same with their other models? Like their F-14's? Or any other airframe they may have purchased? All they showed you was an F-5.

As for their claims about what they are doing being false: Of course they are. They wouldn't give away the 1 advantage they have at this point. That nobody believes they could do it is their best weapon. And they can afford to pay the people they need to do all/any of this, and have the proven ability to keep things quite quiet when they wish.

I think it's a miscalculation to take them lightly in this matter.

[+Gepard]

Revers engineering is a very first step to learn how to build a plane. The soviets did it with german and american planes. The chinese learned the job by reverse engineering of soviet planes. The first french and swedish jet fighters based on german designs. Its a common way.

It seem to be possible that Iran take the same way. Better good reverse engineered that bad self developed.

[+streakeagle]

They most certainly modified some F-5's to have twin tails, however crude it may look upon close inspection of the joints.

The real entertainment was their display of a new stealth fighter which looked  worse than a cheap kit-car conversion of a VW Beetle and taxied around like it weighed nothing. The test flight footage was clearly a small-scale radio-controlled model.

I am not sure they could build decent jet engines even if they could make decent airframes. But the F-5E was an amazingly simple, cheap, effective design. It would be a good starting point for producing a first supersonic fighter and trainer. Suppose that they have actually produced one complete, functioning aircraft from scratch outfitted with modern avionics/sensors purchased from an ally... how many have they built and how fast can they build them? If it is only one aircraft built every 5 or 10 years, it is still nothing to brag about. But if they can finish one per month, they could start fielding a useful number of truly new aircraft. You know you are in trouble when they start leasing Su-27 Flankers from Russia for "flight testing/evaluation" like China did... then shortly thereafter announce a completely new airplane built locally that is a perfect copy  of the leased aircraft.

[Arrow]

I certainly seems more propaganda than innovation. I'm  a big fan of the F-5 though and have to say that glass cockpit with what looks like 3 MFDs is sweet.

[fallenphoenix1986]

Even if only for internal consumption... the Iranian people know they've been flying F-5's for decades, and know it's an American design...

Who exactly are they trying to kid here?