First it was monkeys in space (or not) and now it’s “GI Joe” fighter jets. Not the best of times for Iran’s aviation and aerospace programs, at least if you listen to the skeptics.
First there were doubts about Tehran’s claim it sent a monkey into space in late January. After photos of two different monkeys that were aboard the alleged one-monkey space shot surfaced, Iran media said there was a photo mix-up and, yes, there was just one Iranian monkey in space.
Then this week Iran unveiled what it said was its new high-tech stealth fighter plane. The jet shown in pictures on the website of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been the butt of jokes all week from aviation bloggers.
“This aircraft looks a lot like an old GI Joe toy,” wrote one blogger.
And from another, “This has to be a joke, right?”
Click through the gallery above to see the bloggers' comments and evidence in the photos.
I am being a little worried – why all the english words covering plane?
Its the export model....LOL!!!
The engine air inlets also look very small and putting them on the upper surface of the wing, where pressures would be low, is not how you develop a lot of thrust. All the pilot would have to do is pull up and I bet the engine would stall. I doubt it would even run up to anything close to full power with those inlets. Look at the inlet area on any other fighter and the location. The F-15 has big angled inlets to capture a lot of air and they even tilt down to match the direction of the wind when the nose is high. And back on the canopy, there is only one support and it is off to the side. That canopy doesn't seal.
The United States Navy could use something like that...for a boat anchor.
It would make a poor boat anchor, way too much wood in it!
Why are the warnings on the wings, fuselage, and pitot tube in front written in English?
Like I said before... Its the export model....LOL!!!
You see, when they duplicated and enlarged the pieces of the model, they didn't stop with the parts, but enlarged and used the stickers as well...
The US fithers airplanes are and will be the best for ever, no mather what, nobody can do things better than you do, and...finally your contry is the best contry in the world, because god bless america only. .....satisfaid.
funny as it looks it is still a weapon of war. stealth tech lost by the us under clinton admin. undoubtedly at work. the strait of hormuz just got a little more dangerous.
lol Seriously? No way this thing ever gets airborn. Ever.
LOL That thing couldn't fly if you hooked it to the worlds biggest rubber band, pulled it back a 1/4 mile and launched it!!
It wouldn't even fly in zero gravity. It'd just disintegrate.
It's a cross between a YF23 and a (Fictional) Mig 31 Firefox. Guess when you have to scrounge up a bunch of parts to put a mockup together, you gotta work with what you can find.
I don't see any way to wind this thing up.
For the pilot?
The pilot is really sitting on a Sit-n-Spin.
Yeah I dont recall ever seeing a Jet like that in any GI Joe cartoon.....
Don't judge a book by its cover, you might just be surprised what it could do. We judge everything on looks, and the world knows that, we want take them seriously because it isn't "pretty" and BOOM! Looks aren't everything, how it performs is.
The buikding this thing is in looks like they should be showing livestock at a county fair. In picture 6 look to the left of the pilot at the tool cart, is that a trickle feed battery charger? And in the same picture I dont think ahmadimmy even believes this thing si real, look at the expression on his face. Those wires coming out of the instrument panel do look legit though...
I'm no engineer, but it looks very much like the plane has no weapons packages, and no space for them. No mount points on the wings, no bomb bay ... nothing. I also note that none of the shots show the engine output.
If it can fly at all, but can't carry weapons, what good is it?
I imagine next Iran will reinvent the wheel ... and it will be square.
It looks a bit like a really cool full motion simulator. I'm not sure if it will fly at all well - there doesn't seem to be much room for engines and the wings look as if the canard's turbulence will screw up the lift from the main wing. It may be missing a few things as a warplane - armaments, for example - but if its only a mockup or other prototype it may not have them fitted yet.
I'd like to see them fly it. If they got it to work it might be a formidable plane because its so small it will be difficult to spot or take out. (What I think is more likely is that it will be a one-shot test of the ejection system....)
Let's not discount the possibility that this is simply the military being forced to "produce" something for the Supreme Leader and his puppet Ahmadinejad. The "sham" may be the byproduct of the need to keep Supreme Leader happy...they may well know that security experts in the USA will recognize this to be a toy mockup that cannot possibly fly.
wait, are those little red things the air intakes? that thing is gonna stall at like 200 feet because it cant get enough air into the engines
People of the world, you all have it wrong on my country's new aircraft. Actually this is a clay model of the proposed plane. I was there and I saw it (picture 5, guy all the way to the right with arm up) that's me . Anyhow the rudders were supposed to be straight up, like American F-15, but clay is what it is and kept falling, and eventually dried that way. Wingtips were supposed to be vertical too, but clay was too heavy. Plane is flat on bottom so that it can land on grass. We will eventually grow some grass here in Iran by the time this plane takes to the sky. This aircraft makes me proud of my country. One more thing, we never sent a monkey into space, that was my President's brother. Peace!
now that's funny, i don't care who you are!!
just to prove the arrogance of this article, and that of many comments, including yours
this aircraft flies, you can see video of it online
F15 is old technology...if you want new, look at the F22 and F35...oh wait, they both have inclined rudders
wingtips are not meant to be vertical, they help reduce vortices at the end of wings. You will choose their inclination depending on the flow and vortices pattern you want