Here’s our analysis about the “Qaher 313” stealth jet.
On Feb. 1, 2013, Iran unveiled its indigenous fighter jet named “Qaher 313”.
The prototype of the Q-313 (or F-313 according to the stencils applied to the aircraft), was presented to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and publicly displayed as part of the Ten-Day Dawn ceremonies held in Iran to celebrate the 1979’s victory of the Islamic Revolution.
In the previous days, the Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi had said, “The aircraft will be different from the other fighter jets Iran has already made.”
Indeed, based on the first photographs released by the FARS News Agency, the new stealthy jet has a really peculiar design. It features hard edges and those distinctive edges and angle of the U.S. F-22 and the twin tail shape much similar to that of the F-35 Lightning II.
The Q-313 has large, seemingly fixed canards, and little wings whose external section is canted downward.
The canopy material is at least odd (based on its transparency, it looks like plexiglass or something like that).
The cockpit seems to be basic (a bit too much for a modern plane – note the lack of wirings behind the front panel and the presence of few instruments, some of those 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 (they remind those of current drones/unmanned combat aerial vehicles) whereas the engine section lacks any kind of nozzle: engine afterburners could melt the entire jet.
And, above all, the aircraft is way to small.
Look at the following image showing an Iranian officer sitting on the ejection seat in the cockpit.
It looks like this pilot is in a miniature plane.
Summing up: the shape is interesting with some innovative features but the Q-313 displayed on Feb. 1, 2013, seems to be nothing more than a large mock up model (not properly sized to accomodate a real pilot….).
Update
There is a video allegedly showing the Q-313 in the air. Here it is.
Even if it is not the first flight of the aircraft as some of The Aviationist readers say, the way the depicted plane flies is suspect. It seems a radio-controlled scale model more than a modern fighter jet.
Furthermore, as someone pointed out: if the Qaher 313 actually flew, most probably Tehran would release footage of its takeoff and landing.
Click here to read the article on Business Insider about this and other (more realistic) Iran’s military projects and the risk they pose to the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf.
Image credit: FARS, Mashreghnews
a) I agree it’s a mock-up
b) Can’t see how this configuration can fly with fixed canards.
c) Have I just given them the missing bit of info they need? ;-)
d) I’ll watch while YOU fly it, thank you…
The sub-sized models fly, that means the aerodynamics is ok and it CAN fly. How good? That is unknown.
Small-scale performance isn’t always an indicator of success. RC Aircraft always have higher thrust-to-weight ratios than real aircraft. Many simple RC aircraft don’t even have cambered wings, just flat pieces of cardboard, and fly just fine.
Not if you have scale powered motors. Not exactly a difficult task with today’s RC industry.
Canards are fixed vs stabilators, but they do have control surfaces. It seems the end and full trailing edge rotates as a unit. At least if that is a break line I can see in the low resolution photo.
It was already shown flying, so obviously we can discard mock-up theory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkuu3zPQUVU
youtu.be/7i8t5pOd-h4
doing maneuvers in the first flight? and how come they didn’t show a take off nor landing footage? it is an obvious RC module. Another fake work like the infamous s-300
Think about it? If this aircraft actually flew then the Iranians would be releasing actual landing or take off footage. The flying footage is a scale model. At this level of the project such models would be used for basic testing hence the flying footage.
there is video of the test flight
Yes, there is a video. But from a distance and just for a few seconds. If Iran has the technology to build a stealth-fighter, they would have a lot of footage of the plane in the air, even techical footage of the plane flying. They don`t even show us the plane taxing on the ground. But in the studio or in the hangar, we can have a closer look, amazingly enough.
the radar must be 5 inches size! the landing gear looks fake, if you paid close attention in the front of the jet there seem to be small bumbs. The afterburner could melt the body of the jet. There are no HUD and the helmet is basic. This is FAKE.
The one piece canopy is too expensive and the iranian economy has collapsed! Please approve my comment even if it sounded silly. Thank you
Yeah and I suppose the drones captured by Iran are fake too. So fake that Obama sent an email asking for it back.
Like the apology letter Bush wrote over the Hainan Island incident? Oh wait… Obama didn’t apologize – he threatened. Never mind.
Shooting down a real drone doesn’t make this fake jet real any more than being able to scratch my ass makes me a better basketball player than Michael Jordan.
True. I think we all can see this jet was made for propaganda purposes and even if this is a small prototype it still applies. Iran will never put money into building a real stealth fighter.
They only made this crap to say ”Look world, Iran can produce a stealth fighter”.
As anyone working for the CIA knows Iran’s military strategy’s are the same as for Hezbollah only on much larger scale. These strategy’s do not include stealth fighters.
Cheap smart warfare ideas created by the Russians and adopted by Iran.
True, that captured drone looked fake, but it was 100% CIA
Do Su-25 and A-10 have radars?
This is a low speed, low-altitude operating ground attack aircraft. Not a fighter.
Yes, the A-10 has advanced radars.
The A-10 has no radar. Neither does the Su-25. But they are real full sized planes!
You can leave out “full sized”…
My friends I didn’t see the fake weapon that can’t kill , if it is a fighter plane I’m sure it have possibility to drop down the bombs , is this what we do to kill each other? what a sad and very bad how we are than we say we are civilized by creating weapons to kill one another , may be most of you people are not civilized because the civilized people never compete in weapon production, who are you? I am Tanzanian African
It must be VERY low speed considering you can’t see more than a few inches outside of that canopy. It’s like trying to look through vaseline.
No its a fiberglass fake. just like everything else in Iran…
how long you were been in Iran ?
how many pictures did you ever see from Iran?
I know that mulla’s GOV try to fake some pictures but it does not mean everything is fake in Iran.
Probably…
They cant get fiberglass its camel crap and fabric
A stealth plane doesn’t necessarily need a radar. It can get by with GPS. The worst thing a stealth can do is turn on a radar and tell the world “Hey look at me!”
You are clueless…
That’s an understatement….
TomTom 9″ will work ….Cheap enough even for Iran
Attack with what? Falafel bombs?
I noticed that as well. The landing gear were all wrong. But my problem with this is, are they really that stupid!? Iran has real jet fighter aircraft they have purchased. Why this? Of all things, with this fake thing?
because the aircraft that they purchased over the years have broken and been cannibalized to keep only a few operational due to sanctions.
Yes, they really are that stupid. This pap is meant for internal consumption and propaganda purposes.
It only has to be large enough to signal speed traps, because I doubt that thing ever makes it off the ground.
Ejection seat appears to be from a PC-7.