Eagle2009
ACCESS: Confidential
- Joined
- 8 February 2010
- Messages
- 166
- Reaction score
- 214
Gents,
Just as an FYI, even sites like the IMF have largely agreed this was a sub-scale mockup, hence its small size, so there is really no need to continue discussing that point. Also, for those interesting in following Iranian defense events, I highly recommend you NEVER read the articles from their major news outlets. Even pro-Iranian sites mock how badly they screw up every announcement. Sites like the one I posted below are much better. For one, their indepth stories are rarely translated into English (which is nice & annoying) and include images that have rarely been published before. Some examples including articles discussing various Iranian UAV projects (including several excellent images and specs for the Iranian version of S. Africa's Lark drone) and future submarine concepts.
As a whole, Iran's aviation industry is very ambitious. The problem is politics. The Iranian government largely gave up on the idea of having a conventional and powerful AF over a decade ago and has since embraced the idea of unconventional warfare on nearly all fronts and the IRIAF has suffered badly for it. They do allow funding for maintaining the current fleet and keep toying with the idea of major upgrade projects (such as the F-4D upgrade) but in the grand scheme of things, the Iranian government doesn't provide funding to aviation projects because it seems to see it as a low-priority. This is why Iran has so many more active Air Defense related projects in production or in the works, this is where they are investing their money. It's not the worst strategy considering that fact that the IRIAF wouldn't stand a chance against most of Iran's would-be opponents. Thus, Iranian leadership have decided that Air Defense systems are a better investment than upgrading the IRIAF and personally I would have to agree...
One of the first articles in Farsi about the F-313 (which had 50 points of interests, 10 of which found their way the article a few posts above) mentioned that the aircraft would be "<16 meters" in length. If taken to be an accurate description of the final product (should the concept ever make it that far), then the weights given the article make much more sense (which were also mentioned in the same article).
Here is the link to said article. I have to warn ya though, I don't read Farsi and thus had to read the English translation via Google (which is rarely any good) but the dimensions and weights are fairly easy to ready:
http://www.mashreghnews.ir/fa/news/190868/50-%D9%86%DA%A9%D8%AA%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AD%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-f313-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B9%DA%A9%D8%B3
JFC Fuller,
FYI, the "Azarakhsh" with mid-mounted wings is a well-documented PS'd image published by the Iranian media, it's not a real concept or design. The idea for mid-mounted wings on a F-5 is not technically new (there is a thread here somewhere with models from Northrop showing such a concept) but the sole image of this "Azarakhsh" is bogus.
Just as an FYI, even sites like the IMF have largely agreed this was a sub-scale mockup, hence its small size, so there is really no need to continue discussing that point. Also, for those interesting in following Iranian defense events, I highly recommend you NEVER read the articles from their major news outlets. Even pro-Iranian sites mock how badly they screw up every announcement. Sites like the one I posted below are much better. For one, their indepth stories are rarely translated into English (which is nice & annoying) and include images that have rarely been published before. Some examples including articles discussing various Iranian UAV projects (including several excellent images and specs for the Iranian version of S. Africa's Lark drone) and future submarine concepts.
As a whole, Iran's aviation industry is very ambitious. The problem is politics. The Iranian government largely gave up on the idea of having a conventional and powerful AF over a decade ago and has since embraced the idea of unconventional warfare on nearly all fronts and the IRIAF has suffered badly for it. They do allow funding for maintaining the current fleet and keep toying with the idea of major upgrade projects (such as the F-4D upgrade) but in the grand scheme of things, the Iranian government doesn't provide funding to aviation projects because it seems to see it as a low-priority. This is why Iran has so many more active Air Defense related projects in production or in the works, this is where they are investing their money. It's not the worst strategy considering that fact that the IRIAF wouldn't stand a chance against most of Iran's would-be opponents. Thus, Iranian leadership have decided that Air Defense systems are a better investment than upgrading the IRIAF and personally I would have to agree...
One of the first articles in Farsi about the F-313 (which had 50 points of interests, 10 of which found their way the article a few posts above) mentioned that the aircraft would be "<16 meters" in length. If taken to be an accurate description of the final product (should the concept ever make it that far), then the weights given the article make much more sense (which were also mentioned in the same article).
Here is the link to said article. I have to warn ya though, I don't read Farsi and thus had to read the English translation via Google (which is rarely any good) but the dimensions and weights are fairly easy to ready:
http://www.mashreghnews.ir/fa/news/190868/50-%D9%86%DA%A9%D8%AA%D9%87-%D9%85%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AD%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-f313-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B9%DA%A9%D8%B3
JFC Fuller,
FYI, the "Azarakhsh" with mid-mounted wings is a well-documented PS'd image published by the Iranian media, it's not a real concept or design. The idea for mid-mounted wings on a F-5 is not technically new (there is a thread here somewhere with models from Northrop showing such a concept) but the sole image of this "Azarakhsh" is bogus.
