There is only one way of avoiding the war – that is the overthrow of this society. However, as we are too weak for this task, the war is inevitable. -L. Trotsky, 1939
What? The plywood and plastic mockup they showed off? No, it's not real. They bought some off the shelf civilian flying instruments, built a "stealthy" looking body, took an ejection seat out of one of their F-5's and tried to pass it off as a functioning airplane.
McAvoy wrote:It looks like it came from the movie Stealth.
Anyone can make a mock up of a plane. But it takes a very advanced industrial base to make a stealth plane. Iran doesn't have that.
Yeah, I figured they didn't.
If you really thought about it, not many countries produced their own plane. It takes a lot of skill and money to even get a prototype off of the ground.
Iran may possibly have the skill but not the money or industrial base to even build their own.
"Don't underestimate the power of technobabble: the Federation can win anything with the sheer force of bullshit"
I read the article in the second link and he does make a good point about not getting arrogant. Yes, Iran has kept their F-14's flying long after they should have been junk. However we do not know their condition, especially of their radars and avionics. Also, it's one thing to maintain an existing piece of equipment, it's entirely another to build a brand new one. I don't doubt that the Iranians really want to get an aerospace industry going and would love a 4.5 or 5th gen fighter indigenously produced. However you don't go from zero to stealth fighters overnight. The Russians and Chinese had existing aerospace industries and it still took them over 20 years from the public unveiling of the B-2 and F-117 to finally be willing to show off their efforts in the field. Mind you, these are people who already knew how to build world class... ok the Russians already knew how to build world class aircraft.
The F-313 is probably what the Iranians want to do, a sort of end goal for their attempts. Getting anything remotely like that airborne, much less combat ready any time soon? Doubtful.
Keep in mind that the F-14 is mostly likely cobbled together with non US parts to keep them flying. I can assure you that hardly any plane shares the same parts. Even engines are modified from one plane type to the other. But that is an exception as engines are very expensive.
Not to mention the F-14 the Iranians have are forty years old. They probably have to literally go a junk yard to fix their planes.
I remember fixing a air duct in one of our planes using a Pringles can and then using high temp sealent for the inside and outside. Wrapped the can in safety wire and then wrapped the outside in duct tape. Then painted it black. It worked all the way to the scrapyard.
"Don't underestimate the power of technobabble: the Federation can win anything with the sheer force of bullshit"
