VEVAK
SENIOR MEMBER
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The Kowsar and the programs/variants that preceded it at worst were test bed programs and at best were modernization programs at keeping the F-5 flying for another 2-3 decades.
It wasn’t a serious program designed to put up an air superiority fighter. At the end of the day you cannot change physics. F-5 was designed as a cheap export light fighter/trainer for wars against Soviet fighters. Quantity over quality.
You cannot take that plane and suddenly make it an air superiority fighter anymore you can take a truck and make it a formula one car.
I think a better analogy would have been changing a Go-Kart into a Formula-1
Main problem I have with Iran's F-5 program is more about Iran's refusal to move on past the program and towards something bigger with bigger more powerful engines which will force you to push boundaries of technology and industry in Iran
If your weapons industry isn't pushing the boundaries of science, industrial and technological growth in your country then it's really not doing it's job properly.
You may force yourself to start mining and producing Ti, high grade Nickel & other alloys and other composites over a fighter program but in the long run it's effects on your civilian industries will be far greater than any fighter same goes with the development of any advanced part, tools or gear you use on it or to produce it, be it an advanced data link, helmet mounted display, AI hardware and software, IRST, turbofan engines, Ti casting or 3d printing.... at the end of the day and in the long run the overall effect such a program will have on your civilian industries will be far greater than any fighter jet and that's what makes spending billons on a domestic fighter program a worth while effort. BUT it can ONLY be a worth while effort if your actually pushing the boundaries of science, technology and industry in your country.
But if you chose a fighter that's not really pushing you to be innovate and your standing around for some other industry to produce this and that so you can shove inside or use to build your fighter with the result being a go kart of a fighter then clearly there is something fundamentally wrong with such a program....