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Qaher F313 l News & Discussion

Published April 15, 2017
SOURCE: TheAviationist.com

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Footage and photographs showing a new prototype (marked “08”) of the famous Qaher F-313 stealth fighter jet have just emerged as Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani participated Saturday in an exhibition displaying the achievements of the Defense Ministry Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan gained during the past two years.

Indeed, an “upgraded version” of the “faux stealth fighter” can be observed performing taxi tests. The aircraft appears to be slightly different from the one unveiled on Feb. 2, 2013, that was nothing more than a poorly designed mock-up that would never fly unless it was extensively modified and heavily improved.

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Four years ago, the cockpit was basic for any modern plane, the air intakes appeared to be too small, the engine section lacked any kind of nozzle meaning that the engine would probably melt the aircraft’s back-end. Above all, the aircraft was way too small to such its cockpit could not fit a normal-sized human being.

The new prototype retains the original weird shape but has a more realistic cockpit, large enough to accommodate an Iranian test pilot on an ejection seat, with a “normal” canopy (the previous one was clearly made of plexiglass), and a dorsal antenna. It is equipped with dual exhaust nozzles: according to some sources these are U.S. engines, according to others these would be new turbofan engines or modified Iranian J-85s. And, interestingly, a sort of FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) turret was attached to the nose of the aircraft, that also features a white radome.

Although the new prototype is not a complete joke as its predecessor, it is still pretty hard to say whether it will be able to take to the air and land safely without further modifications: the intakes continue to appear smaller than normal (as commented back in 2013, they remind those of current drones/unmanned combat aerial vehicles); the wing are small as well and feature the peculiar design with the external section canted downward whose efficiency is not clear.

As already explained here in the past, Iranian engineers have been able of some impressive achievements in spite of the embargo imposed after the 1979 Revolution: for instance, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) remains the world’s only operator of the F-14 Tomcat, that Tehran continues to maintain airworthy and enhance with some domestic avionics upgrades and weapons.

Moreover, Iran is pretty advanced in terms of production and export of drones: Iranian UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) are quite popular in the Middle East, where some of them have been extensively used in combat over Syria.

So, let’s be prudent and wait once again for more footage about the F-313 to see if it will eventually be modified to become something real, with a real capability or just a concept or a funny DIY jet.

By the way, according to the latest statements, the Qaher F-313 will be a light close air support aircraft.
 
you find out this by looking at pictures !? wow , wow , wow
from what I see , Qaher has more interesting design .... and about performance , well there is no info so I can't say much about it ...

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and I really like that they goes for dual engine ....
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Maybe iran can get some input from their Brothers in arms india. They do have an excellent record in making super stealthy worlds best aircrafts.
 
Cute and deadly little bird.. If one considers that small planes are already stealthy and hard to spot, this one is certainly very stealthy, not only because it is small with stealth shapes, but also because it doesn't carry external weapons.. It was stated at its first inauguration that it will be used for close support as well as for dog-fights..it is inherently a low and very low flying bird that can surprise ground and sea targets as well as other fighters when it climbs up behind them..
 
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Looks nice !
but is there a video of it flying , it would be nice if someone posts it here

CHEERS
 
I am not a fan of Iran, and probably never will be, but....

Even if that bird is never able to take off, it's still a great achievement. At least they have started on the journey and they will reach the destination sooner or later. What have we done in Pakistan, as far as R&D on fighter aircraft is concerned? Maybe I do not know enough, but isn't JF-17 designed and built in China?

Congratulations to Iranian members.
 
Ok we all can agree that this is just an early first generation prototype right? Because if not then we have a big problem.

I know you guys hate each other but 500 does bring up some valid points that can be debated on in a civilized way. I for one would like to hear both sides of the argument regarding the design philosophy of the Q-313.

It comes off as an ground effect jet thate meant for close in operations if I'm correct, so it will fly low and the shape of the body will absorb and bounce off radar signals, ok that sounds good. It has a small profile ok yet again I'm assuming this is due to the body of the air craft being designed around the smaller jet engine that Iran produces. But when we take a closer look the back 2 wings are in fact very thick, I don't see the tactical or even aerodynamic aspect of these two thick wings. But moving on.

The body of the aircraft itself is quite wide which yet again I'm assuming for some sort of internal bay? Or to house electronics and other onboard systems that sounds cool.

But when one does a close up of q-313 at least the one that is being shown we see seems and lines under the paint and quite frankly shoddy work that doesn't indicate that this is a modern or flight worthy jet that can withstand high g's let alone turbulence (but who knows, my knowledge on jets isn't that good).

Overall if this jet was bigger I can see how the design choices would fit more but as it stands it is small and weirdly shaped but hey we just dont know yet.

If refined more and more and mean much more money is poured into it we can see a jet that truly shines with Iranian in house tech.
They are oval-shaped, they look thick from the front, but they are not if you look from the back.. meaning they are shaped to disperse radar waves..
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So it's mentioned EXPERIMENTAL on the Plane

Will it grow Bigger then this?? the Size?? Bigger Engine Etc??
And What about Radar and Weapons???
Why they Removed the Single glass canopy??
 
Back in 2013 when this was unveiled, on IMF I made comments people didn't want to realize back then. I said realistically this plane won't be ready for true prototype testing till 2018-2020 with mass production happening for 2022-2025 timeframe. At the time users said it would taxi in 6 months.

This plane has largerly followed a track that makes sense and thus not surprising (to me at least). For example, it made sense they would switch to dual engine layout using J-85 in early prototype testing. I believe I even said that when it was first revealed.

This plane is still in experimental stages, with defense ministry backing this is likely to get picked up by IRGC for production.

For those that said this plane is for anti-shipping role. I never agreed for many reasons. One....who makes a plane just for anti-shipping role? And why would Iran that has cruise missiles and is working on supersonic cruise missile spend time building an efficient method of anti-ship role. Never made sense and still doesn't.

My current thoughts and opinion are as follows.

*this plane is still in EARLY prototype testing stage. Many changes will occur till production.

2 versions of plane (both 50+% bigger than current prototype)

Version A: IRGC close air support fighter jet. Powered by 2 RD-33's or single undisclosed engine.

*The war in Syria truly woke up IRGC leadership to the importance of close air support. Prior to that close air support was a luxury that IRGC did not believe was fully needed. They believed that brute ground force can win wars even against asymmetrical forces such as insurgents and terrorists. The demonstration of Russian air power changed that considerably. This lead to the development of IRGC division to focus on close air support plane. I believe the IRGC could very well select F-313 for its close air support purposes as well as the Iran Airforce

Version B: Air superiority/multi role (larger than version A).

*Contrary to what other users are saying I believe this plane can also be an air superiority fighter. It would be larger than Version A and primary focus would be to defend Iranian skies in case of war.

I think both versions will be supersonic and I think the intakes will be made larger and will "drop down" further for both versions (but the very least for Version B). I felt that way since it was first unveiled and still think that way now.

Reason why it will be supersonic is because Iran needs close air support planes for potentially external conflicts in Middle East. Thus it needs planes that can enter a war zone fast. Thus even the ground variant would need supersonic capability for operational efficency and survivability in war zone.

Currently this plane is still a ways away from entering final design testing. Depending on funding and which military branch shows serious interest (IRGC, Airforce, Army) could affect timeline.

I wouldn't expect this plane to enter mass production for another 5 years at the earliest. If we say for example that q-313 project began in let's say 2010 then a 15 year development cycle would put mass production around 2025 which is plausible. People need to realize the sub-systems, radar, weapons, etc. need to be refined and developed as well it's not just the plane itself.

Anyway a lot of speculation. Early stages in this project. Long way still to go. But proceeding nicely.
 
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