Boy, how’s that for timing? I was just making fun of this flying Gremlin the other day…
Iran shows off new fighter jet:
Iran unveiled on Thursday a new home-grown fighter jet amid growing tensions with the United States, saying the plane could “blind the eyes” of its enemies.State television showed pictures of two “Saegheh” (Thunder) fighters — said by Iran to be similar to the American F-18 — taking off in tandem and then landing for a ceremony at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport.
“This fighter plane has been researched, designed and built with indigenous means and this new generation of fighter plane is entering industrial production,” Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
“Our forces like a thunderbolt will blind the eyes of the enemies of our land,” he added. “And in the battlefield of defending our land, just like a thunderbolt, they will set ablaze the enemies’ camp.”
He went on to say that the Saegeh could defeat the F-18 in dogfights, out maneuver the F-22, and merge with other Saegehs to form Voltron.
So what’s with the stupid thunderbolt talk? Mostafa sounds like an Iroquois Medicine Man. No doubt the Saegeh’s radar will spot enemies with the eyes of hawk, and strike with the strength of bear. PR note to Tehran, if you’re going to show off your crappy new military equipment, leave the Dances with Wolves talk at home.
Anyway, Mostafa’s awful proud of this thing, considering the fact that Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer shot down like, five of them while riding the highway to the danger zone in 1986.
Oh, but that was before Iran added the second stabilizer.
Well played, Tehran. Well played.
Hotel Tango: F-18 (and one time F-5) driver Lex, who asks:
So this is the aircraft the Iranian Air Force Chief of Staff intends to use to “punish” Israel if that country attacks their nuclear program? Slap a dihedral tail on a forty year old airframe, paint it up like a Blue Angel and call that progress?
To save my life, I can’t find the link….. but I’d point out that these are the same jokers who used a Blue Angels photo on the Iranian Air Force website. At least they’ve stepped up their fakery, y’know?
I seriously can’t wait to see it in inaction.
I saw a pretty impressive article on the F-22 the other day. I wonder if there are any Raptor drivers out there who would be willing to sepculate on the survival time of this Iranian jet.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
I’ve been thinking about this dual tail mod on the old F-5 for awhile. It’s possible that it is purely cosmetic (“all the newer fighters have them so if we have them our fighter must be new too…”), but that seems to be a lot of trouble to go to for very little propaganda value. How many of their target audience has a subscription to Aviation Leak anyway. However, since at least one effect of the dual tail is to increase directional stability, I wonder if this retread isn’t intended to be the delivery platform (one way presumably) for a large, bulky, centerline store. Such as a primative gun type U-235 device. I.e. the Islamic version of the B-58 Hustler.
Check out the Blue-Angels-wannabe photo. I can’t make out all the writing, but right above the wing it seems to say “IRAF” in nice western Roman letters. And the nose appears to say “Air Force” in nice western script. No point, really, I’m just saying it’s totally stupid.
if they were going to haul a big ugly “device” on centerline wouldn’t the thing have to have longer landing gear like the b-58′s had in order just to get off of the ground.
then there is the problem of landing gear stroke when (if ever) they try to land with the “device” still attached.
anchor clankers the world around have to know.
C
If you didn’t have to land again (or at least not until Big Ugly has dropped) the F-5 looks like it has a pretty high stance off the ground. A long take off run with a shallow pull up to prevent a tail strike?
Here is another link to the official Iranian News Agency. Iran’s previous “new aircraft” is painted exactly like a USAF Thunderbird…a tinfoil guy like me would actually believe it is a USAF fighter…not an Iranian “next generation” aircaft.
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-24/0708022696144826.htm
I think the Iranians may have realized that they should at least photoshop some Iranian Markings onto USAF and USN Aircraft photos.
Here is another picture of Iran’s latest fighter aircraft flying…blow the photo up…you can see the camoflauge(sp) paint of one aircraft ‘magically’ blending into the grey aircraft in the middle of the fuselage while in flight. The Iranians really need to get the palistinians help them with photoshop.
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-16/0709208177122849.htm
When did the Iraqi Information Minister go to work for the Iranian air force?
“Our forces like a thunderbolt will blind the eyes of the enemies of our land,” he added. “And in the battlefield of defending our land, just like a thunderbolt, they will set ablaze the enemies’ camp.”
That’s some good stuff right there.
This is probably more for internal consumption than external. It is also classic Near Eastern pre-war chest thumping. The increasing frequency of such outbursts is troubling.
We have the F-22…they don’t!
We have the B-52…they don’t!
We have Nimitz-Class aircraft carriers and the accompanying Fighter Wing Squadrons…they don’t!
Enough said.
Have a great weekend!
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
Please excuse my lapse in not using the “remember me” button.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
“He went on to say that the Saegeh could defeat the F-18 in dogfights, out maneuver the F-22, and merge with other Saegehs to form Voltron.”
Am I the only one who thought that this was the funniest line ever? I shot iced-tea out my nose I laughed so hard.
Personally, I’m terrified of this monster. If it can shoot thunderbolts, that’s decades ahead of anything we have. And schooling out top of the line fighters using vintage 70′s design techniques bespeaks engineering that has thoroughly mastered the I-think-I-can school of air-to-air combat.
As for the landing gear versus ordinance issue, that’s a total red herring. No F5 Saegheh will ever land with war ordinance, at least not belly down. I hope those things are bio-degradeable because they’re gonna end up littering most of the persian countryside.
On a serious note, are there any indications this thing is configured or capable of inflight refueling?
I bet they will blind the hell out the eyes of impacting Sidewinders in short order.
All I asked for was freaking sharks with laser beems shooting out of their heads…And I get this
Dr Evil
I wonder if it has the dual M39′s like the F5 had. I still have scares on my hands from those charging handles!
And a reminder, the F20 (a souped up single engine version of the F5) flew circles around the F16 in the fly off competition. But politics won the day.
Mustang where you a flyer? If so what did you fly? Also I have to say, making fun of these Iranian idiots is much more satisfying to me than getting huffy and puffy about their latest saber rattles. The Voltron line had me cackling.
They don’t even have a bubble canopy. Could it be they can’t make one yet, so they just coppied the F5′s as well?
BC, I was a weapons loader for 22 years. Retired in ’98
They probably a tail off of a junk plane. They would have trouble fabricating one, and there is no way that they could make a jet engine.
John,
“To save my life, I can’t find the link….. but I’d point out that these are the same jokers who used a Blue Angels photo on the Iranian Air Force website.”
Picture of Iranian “Super Jets” on Iranian News Website -
http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-24/0708022696144826.htm
Picture of USAF Thunderbirds
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/1209769854015749622YWRjdK
Someone more witty than I should send the Islamic Republic News Agency a note to let them know we’re onto their little game. (And they would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling milbloggers.)
Here’s the link: http://www2.irna.ir/en/irncontact/menu-340/
Snicker.
Oh, Doug, to answer your question, remember what Storm said about what it’s like when lightning strikes a toad in the first X-Men movie? “The same as everything else.”
Actually in this case, probably even sooner.
“…and merge with other Saegehs to form Voltron.”
That would actually start to scare me a little bit.
I wonder if Northrop Grumman will sue over the design poaching?
Maybe Baghdad Bob moved to Iran.
Do you mean they actually have more than four men in their air force that can fly something more sophisticated than a Cessna 172?
>>Anyway, Mostafa’s awful proud of this thing, considering the fact that Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer shot down like, five of them while riding the highway to the danger zone in 1986.<
Nah, that was the special effects crew that did that…Cruise hates the military. On the other hand The US and its allies have missiles that could tag this junk bucket long before it even hits 50 mile mark…But just to embarrass tha ignorant slagish Iranian military I would reintroduce SGT York DIVAD system and send it to Iraq just incase Imlatefordinnerdad orders Thunder loose.
I had to give my COs during my tour in Germany, to prove my ability to predict threat, an analysis of 1 Army and why we could kill it. I chose Iran. Solely because we had the armor that had the range to destroy the Iranian M47s, their sole Chieftain, their WWII Centurians, and the handful of Russian junk all of which they still have.