IRIAF | News and Discussions

[TheImmortal]

That current prototype, its not going to fly at all, no matter what others say. Unless they make a new clean slate or major modifications, its not going to fly.

Current prototype was not the final product, might have been a 1/4 scale project, might have been test bed. Who knows. Wouldn’t put too much salt in it till we see the project become more serious.

The best bet is the first gen of whatever final product comes out would fly with AL-31’s till Iran gets a working engine. Designing an airframe, incorporating RAM and honeycomb structure, aren’t the hard parts as Iran has had access to the technologies on the scientific level for years.

The radar, subsystems, and engines are the hard part. With the arms embargo in a grey area, Iran might be able to acquire 35-50 Russian engines so that solves a big problem that these projects have had: lack of access to a heavy engine.

 

[Messerschmitt]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1331110853303787520

https://twitter.com/x/status/1331224921876410369

 

[Sineva]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1331110853303787520

https://twitter.com/x/status/1331224921876410369

Heres hoping that this turns out to be real and not a photoshop....
If it is real then it raises the question of whether its a brand new program to integrate the newer russian a2a weapons [and possibly other russian air launched weapons I hope?] or a continuation of the much earlier [1990s era?] attempt to integrate the awg9 and r27.
Interestingly tho this appears to be the later r27r with 70+kms range not the original r27 that we saw in those first old photos.
Its not a bad start but irans airforce still desperately needs a modern active homing bvr missile in the r77/aim-120 class that can not only be fitted to the f14 fleet,but also to the mig29 fleet and any other aircraft that could be modified to carry it.This would be a huge force multiplier.

 

[WudangMaster]

Tomcats being equipped with archers and alamos was known and discussed back in the old iran defence .net forum days. What is new and a pleasant surprise about this is the impressive range of the R-27s.

 

[Raghfarm007]

Heres hoping that this turns out to be real and not a photoshop....
If it is real then it raises the question of whether its a brand new program to integrate the newer russian a2a weapons [and possibly other russian air launched weapons I hope?] or a continuation of the much earlier [1990s era?] attempt to integrate the awg9 and r27.
Interestingly tho this appears to be the later r27r with 70+kms range not the original r27 that we saw in those first old photos.
Its not a bad start but irans airforce still desperately needs a modern active homing bvr missile in the r77/aim-120 class that can not only be fitted to the f14 fleet,but also to the mig29 fleet and any other aircraft that could be modified to carry it.This would be a huge force multiplier.

The caption reads that the project is from 1986.

 

[skyshadow]

Jamarat guided bomb

now, say hello to my little friend ( its drone equipped with giant asssssss sniper rifle )

 

[TheTallGuy]

What i never understand...why did not Iran Aerospace never tried reverse engineer F-14.

I mean they should be able to manufacture after all F14 airframe is from 1960s get the Russion Engines and Radar ...get R33 & R37 and viola they would have an interceptor-Air Superiorty Fighter..

any idea why they did not persue it...after it is still better idea then shafaq or qaher ....

 

[skyshadow]

What i never understand...why did not Iran Aerospace never tried reverse engineer F-14.

I mean they should be able to manufacture after all F14 airframe is from 1960s get the Russion Engines and Radar ...get R33 & R37 and viola they would have an interceptor-Air Superiorty Fighter..

any idea why they did not persue it...after it is still better idea then shafaq or qaher ....

well Iran said Qaher is going to make its first flight in couple of months let see how its going to look like

 

[TheTallGuy]

well Iran said Qaher is going to make its first flight in couple of months let see how its going to look like

Brother, i can understand the domestic consumption..but seriously Qaher 313 which was shown was to put mildly was beyond any aerodynamic physics (aka Joke)

if you are saying that Qaher some how changed and rebirth into a some kind of different flyable aircraft. i would wait and see..

but it still does not answer the logical question..

the philosophy of air defense of homeland based upon AAA & SAM and air space denial weapons is flawed and has backfired.

you just cant depend on SAMs for airspace defense. one would always require an interceptor or air superiority aircraft or even a strike aircraft.

 

[skyshadow]

Brother, i can understand the domestic consumption..but seriously Qaher 313 which was shown was to put mildly was beyond any aerodynamic physics (aka Joke)

if you are saying that Qaher some how changed and rebirth into a some kind of different flyable aircraft. i would wait and see..

but it still does not answer the logical question..

the philosophy of air defense of homeland based upon AAA & SAM and air space denial weapons is flawed and has backfired.

you just cant depend on SAMs for airspace defense. one would always require an interceptor or air superiority aircraft or even a strike aircraft.

agreed nothing alone can guarantee us safety, remember that Qaher was prototype number 8 brother the real thing is much batter

 

[foxhoundbis]

Tomcats being equipped with archers and alamos was known and discussed back in the old iran defence .net forum days. What is new and a pleasant surprise about this is the impressive range of the R-27s.

I don't want to disappoint you, however, the days of Iranian's F-14 fleet are counted, if not approaching the end. The US are no longer a friend for Iran, and for while. To duplicate the F-14 could be interesting for Iran, however too much expensive regarding the resources available, unless US to become an ally with Iran. As long as Israel exists it is not possible.
The only help Iran can hope, it will come from Moscow, Beijing, and a lesser extent -just for the F-14's topic- Pyongyang. All these allies have a fleet more powerful, more modern -except NK of course- than US, and they won't lose time to help for F-14. Then the likely next step for Iran is SU-30 SM, SU-35's fleets, but a far more exciting adventure is coming too. The 100% indigenous Iranian heavy fighter, including its jet engines. I guess most of you will be happy.

Moreover, the price for Iran to leave a significant number of F-14 able to fly must be high, however, for dubious effectiveness in case of conflict. I think at this stage it must be more effective for Iran to spend money to buy, or to build another fighter. The end of the embargo will provide for Iran's industry new dawn.

 

[Sineva]

What i never understand...why did not Iran Aerospace never tried reverse engineer F-14.

I mean they should be able to manufacture after all F14 airframe is from 1960s get the Russion Engines and Radar ...get R33 & R37 and viola they would have an interceptor-Air Superiorty Fighter..

any idea why they did not persue it...after it is still better idea then shafaq or qaher ....

Likely because of the enormous costs involved[to put it mildly],dont forget the f-14 was the most complex and expensive of all of the first generation of 4th gen fighters.In addition there would be no chance of trying to recoup some of the enormous costs by offering it for sale on the international arms market.
Unless iran was willing to massively increase its military budget and then to devote most of that to the indigenous production of airpower,which would still likely leave it at a huge disadvantage vis-a-vis the sheer weight of combined air power that its enemies both regional and international could throw at it.
Ultimately the western and soviet cold war era air power heavy model was never going to be a viable option for iran once it rejected western vassalage,and this was regardless of its abilities to indigenously reverse and reengineer other nations hardware.
The airforce for its part seemed more interested in pie-in-the-sky type programs that it did not have the capability to actually produce,yet when it did set its sights on something a little more reasonable like the f5 it showed little inclination to reengineer and modernise the aircraft.
There is a lot that the airforce could do to upgrade and improve the capabilities of the existing airfleet,yet for whatever reason it has not done so,at least not yet.

PS
The only area in which the russians have ever been even remotely reliable is in their near total unreliability.Effectively as reliable suppliers of military hardware the russians are literally almost worse than useless.

The end of the embargo will provide for Iran's industry new dawn.

Time will tell,but sadly from past experience I for one certainly wouldnt be holding my breath on that one if I was you.....or iran.

 

[Iranitaakharin]

What i never understand...why did not Iran Aerospace never tried reverse engineer F-14.

I mean they should be able to manufacture after all F14 airframe is from 1960s get the Russion Engines and Radar ...get R33 & R37 and viola they would have an interceptor-Air Superiorty Fighter..

any idea why they did not persue it...after it is still better idea then shafaq or qaher ....

Easier said then done. Aircraft require a lot of precise, complex machines in parts manufacturing. The F-14s today are operating through a combination of ingenuity, cannibalization, and stop gap measures. The Americans destroyed their own F-14s to prevent Iran getting any spare parts and stripped the ones on display.

 

[Bahram Esfandiari]

Easier said then done. Aircraft require a lot of precise, complex machines in parts manufacturing. The F-14s today are operating through a combination of ingenuity, cannibalization, and stop gap measures. The Americans destroyed their own F-14s to prevent Iran getting any spare parts and stripped the ones on display.

Iran has not kept its fleet of F-14s operational without support from its country of origin for 40 years through "cannibalizing" parts. That is the sort of Shit that Americans have been telling them selves and any idiot dumb enough to believe them to not have to recognize the Ingenuity of those who they consider to be beneath them. If IRIAF technicians were dumb enough to resort to Cannibalizing parts they would have run out of parts to cannibalize in the first few years of the Iran Iraq war. Have more respect for the personnel of the IRIAF for God's sake! The US are so dumb that they destroyed every single Tomcat/parts in there inventory to prevent them from reaching Iran thinking that that would force Iran to ground its F-14s but almost 15 years have gone by and we see that IRIAF f-14s are still as active as ever!

 

[Sina-1]

Iran has not kept its fleet of F-14s operational without support from its country of origin for 40 years through "cannibalizing" parts. That is the sort of Shit that Americans have been telling them selves and any idiot dumb enough to believe them to not have to recognize the Ingenuity of those who they consider to be beneath them. Have more respect for the personnel of the IRIAF for God's sake!

I agree that the American narrative regarding cannibalising is to paint Iran as weak and incompotent. Which is complete horse sh!t. Even though Iran has the capability to produce all the parts, especially the ones that require machining operations, it is still much more preferred to get them from black market. Simply because it is such a damn hassle to produce everything internally. The issue is not that the parts or components are too advanced for Iran. The issue is that in order to get the overall CoG correct, the size and the weight distribution of each part needs to match 100% the original part. Basically, even if Iran could for example produce a much more effective hydraulic actuator for lets say the aileron, if that actuator does not match the weight distribution of the original part exactly, then it will mess up the CoG. And it's not even advanced components that are a hassle. Even simple tubes can become a nightmare because not matching weight distribution.

Personally I have always admired the F14, but it is a completely useless design to pursue today. Even Sweden's gripen can perform the same job today and much more cost effectively.
Furthermore, I think the way to go is UCAVs. Manned aircraft is a thing of the past. They are expensive and quite possibly much less capable even with current AI-tech level.