Do you remember the Iranian stealth jet that was unveiled in 2013 and looked like a fake plane? Well, it would be in the final stages of production according to Tehran.
Little more than 4 years ago, Iran unveiled the Qaher F-313 stealth fighter jet “one of the most sophisticated fighter jets in the world,” according to Tehran.
Even if Iranian media outlets published articles that listed the aircraft’s top features, based on the first images released on Feb. 2, 2013, we explained that the Qaher was just a mock-up that would never fly unless it was extensively modified and improved.
In fact, the cockpit seemed too basic for a modern plane, the air intakes too small , the engine section lacked any kind of nozzle (meaning that the engine, with or without afterburner) would probably melt the aircraft’s back-end) and, generally speaking, the aircraft was way too small. Some of our readers may remember a photo of an Iranian pilot sitting in a cockpit that could not fit a normal-sized human being.
Almost nothing about this jet has emerged since then, besides a single shot that allegedly showed the Qaher being moved to be prepared for taxi tests.
Until, Mar. 5, 2017, when Iran’s defense minister, General Hossein Dehqan, claimed that work on the domestic radar-evading plane is complete and the Qaher is now ready for testing, as reported by the Iranian semi-official news agency Fars News.
We have just widely explained that the flying aircraft shown in a video released in 2013 is a radio controlled model and that some our Iranian readers have said that the one displayed 4 years ago was not intended to be an actual plane but a drone.
Noteworthy, unlike it described the homemade F-313 when it was first (somehow) rolled-out, Fars News is today a bit more prudent: “Qaher is a logistic aircraft for short distances and is a light fighter jet used for military and training operations. Some military analysts have stated that Qaher is a fifth generation aircraft.”
Manned or unmanned, for what we have seen so far, the Qaher will hardly take to the air. However, Iranian engineers have already proved to be able of some impressive works: for instance, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) remains the world’s only operator of the Tomcat, a type of interceptor that Tehran has been able to kept airworthy and somehow enhance with some domestic avionics upgrades and weapons throughout the years in spite of the embargo imposed after the 1979 Revolution. Moreover, Iran has been able to successfully produce and export several UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), some of those have been extensively used in combat over Syria, others, allegedly based on the captured U.S. drones.
So, let’s wait until some new image or footage of the F-313 is unveiled to see if the latest claims are based on a real aircraft with real capabilities or it’s just domestic propaganda.
Image credit: FARS News, “Iranian Spotters” via Pakistan Defence forum
Even if the Qaher 313, is no more than a mock-up that will never fly unless it is almost completely redesigned, Iran insists its new home-made stealth fighter aircraft unveiled on Feb. 2, 2013, is “not a paper model” but an “aircraft designed by the Islamic Republic for anti-choppers missions.”
Furthermore the F-313’s mission would be “protecting security in the Persian Gulf.”
This is what a senior Iranian defense ministry official said on Apr. 16 according to the FARS News Agency.
Addressing a group of Iranian soldiers, Deputy Defense Minister General Majid Bokayee pointed to the “confused remarks made by the US military analysts about the features and specifications of the aircraft,” explaining that the Qaher 313, designed and developed at a cost of 2 to 3 million USD, has a “unique” structure, will be armed with home-made weapons and equipments and it will feature capabilities that will stun enemies on the battlefield.
According to the Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi, the Qaher 313 is an advanced aircraft with a very small Radar Cross Section, capable of taking off from short runways and flying at low altitude like no other most advanced western plane.
A detailed analysis of the reasons why the F-313 is no more than a joke can be found here. You can find a video allegedly showing the Qaher in the air at the bottom of this post.
Even though experts all around the world have already explained why the Qaher 313 stealth fighter jet will never fly unless it is extensively modified and improved, Iran is desperately defending what they consider “one of the most sophisticated fighter jet in the world.”
Despite all the criticism surrounding the F-313, Iran’s Defence Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, is still claiming their radar-evading planes can fly and carry weapons.
“The western media policy is to tell you that the Qaher is a moke-up. This is a cheap talk and shows that enemies are worried about Iran’s advancements in several fields, including defense industries.
This is not the first time that our country has built a domestic advanced warfare there was several times before and its pointless for our enemies to deny our abilities. It is unlikely that the wise would believe such sayings.”
These claims are as laughable as the photoshopped images been used by Tehran to prove its technological achievements.
Last year the Koker 1, presented as the first tilt-wing vertical takeoff drone of the world that was actually built and launched by a team from Chiba University, Japan, in 2008.
More recently, Iran was also accused of faking the first launch of a mokey into space after pictures taken before and after the launch seemed to show different monkeys.
Even if its shape is quite peculiar and its design shows inputs from past and current radar-evading projects (including the X-32, the X-36, the Boeing Bird of Prey, the F-22 and the F-35 Lightning II), the indigenous plane showcased during the Ten-Day Dawn ceremonies held in Tehran features a number of oddities that clearly prove the F-313 can’t fly.
Actually, as a reader of The Aviationist pointed out in a comment left to a previous article on the Qaher prototype, according to Webster’s dictionary, one of the many definitions of the word “fly” is “to move in or pass through the air with wings”.
Therefore, using that definition very loosely, if you lifted the F-313 mock up with a crane and drop it, technically it would “fly”.
Someone believes the new Iranian plane can’t take to the air just because it has an weird shape with tiny wings unable to generate the required lift and air intakes located where they can only get turbulent air at certain angles-of-attack.
Shape aside, the Qaher on display at Tehran last week will never fly for several more reasons, despite the (photoshopped) images appearing on Iranian media allegedly showing it flying somewhere above the clouds (see below).
Anyway, it is interesting to notice that not always unlikely appearances imply inability to fly.
This is what the Italian Flying Rooster aircraft seems to prove. Designed by Italian aircraft designer and builder Ottone Baggio, the “Aerogallo” made its first flight on Dec. 26, 2011. Since then, the Rooster plane, in the hands of test pilot Daniele Beltrame, has become one of the highlights of last airshow season in Italy.
Image credit: Daniele Beltrame
The aircraft features a Rooster head and neck jutting out of the high wing’s leading edge which house the engine, wooden wings, steel tube fuselage covered in fabric, and a proper paint job.
Image credit: Daniele Beltrame
The control systems is as weird as the aircraft itself: the control sticks comes down from the cockpit’s roof and is counter-instictive – you have to pull it back to dive and to push it forward to climb. Hard to believe, still, working, as the above images and following video prove.
The F-313’s top 10 features piece addresses some of the doubts surrounding the Qaher and its ability to fly and are aimed to persuade skeptics that Tehran’s new aircraft is not only airworthy, but it is also “one of the most sophisticated fighter jet in the world,” as Ahmadinejad said.
Here below you’ll find a long excerpt of the MEHR article:
The top 10 technical characteristics of the F-313 fighter jet and some of the related data on its features and appearance:
1- Using Two inlets and inlet ducts make up the air induction system to deliver air to the engine. Due to an indirect angle of the engine to the air inlets, the radar reflectivity is reduced, and it makes angled design of inlet ducts to the surface to get radar energy wave, just like in F35.
2- The hot exhaust gas mixes with cold air through the inlet ducts, and gets cooler before it gets out of the exhaust system, to reduce heat effects on the surface of the aircraft.
3- Use of radar-absorbent materials in the body, to absorb wave energy and reduce radar reflection, for greater stealth effect of Qaher F-313 fighter.
4- Considering the estimated length and height of the aircraft is less than 16 and 4 meter, the two compartments with payload capacity of carrying two 2000 pound bombs, or greater number of smaller smart guided missiles, or at least 6 air-to-air missiles in the category of R-17 or PL-12.
5- Relatively large vertical tail surface has created favorable directional stability and with canted vertical tails create aerodynamic benefits as well specific appropriate lateral maneuvering capabilities.
6- The very large canopy gives a 360 degree visibility, which is essential for low altitude fly-by flights, especially helps ground mission attacks, and it is also very useful in close dog-fights.
7- The angled wings is perfect example of indigenous design for aircrafts, which gives a side profile like M, and similar to a W profile, is the best form to use in aircrafts.
8- Single-cycle landing gear is another proof that F-313 is a light weight aircraft, with minimum flying weight of 12 to 14 ton, and maximum flying weight of 20 ton.
9- There are 8 analog displays in the cockpit, which shows Multi-Function Display (MFD) technology has more room to improve in F-313, Qaher fighter jet.
10- Considering F-313 normal steering lever, the control systems, with the wing movable surfaces, rudder, and vertical stabilizer are hydraulics, and not fly-by-wire (FBW) system, since many today’s aircraft use “side-steering lever” control.
The advance computer designing software (CATIA) were used for designing F-313, and aerodynamic analysis methods such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) also were used, with the help of numerical grid generation software (GAMBIT), flow analysis software (FLUENT) and other design computation software, which shows a complete scientific work in various areas of indigenous scientific and technology was used for F-313.
These 10 features don’t change what already written about this odd plane. I still believe it can’t fly as it is today.
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