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.
The monkey went "oohh ooohhh ooooh" just before Ajmadinejead took it as a bride.
If ya know what I mean.
I'd say someone is worried about getting whacked.
This is a ruse. The Iranians really have a singularity powered craft cloaked over D.C. based on a Romulan design from Star Trek.
And why would it be hard for Israel to disarm Iran? Their aviation forces look like a joke.
This is from a country wants to move back to the middle ages.
Translation: "The Iranians pose no threat, so we may as well go ahead with our plan to attack them."
I doubt it would take more than 24 hours to send them home crying like a girl!!!!
Take no more than 24 hours? Didn't we hear something similar when we went to war in Iraq just about 10 years ago?
LOL! If you're going to sell a fake you should at least try to make it look realistic in pictures. Silly!
Kevin, if you remember, we did defeat the Iraqi military in hours. It was the hunt for WPM and Saddam, plus trying to bring democracy and security to Iraq that took years.
This is great. Iran is getting desperate. First the monkey,then they want to have talks about their nuke program, now the toy jet. The scansions are working. give it another year and they will cry uncle. That is if Israel does not get to them first.
i think Matel made it.
Iran had a war with Iraq for over 8 yrs and lost a half million men but couldn't defeat Saddam. This prototype looks like a toy because it's designed by Mattel under the supervision of Hasbro. I especially enjoy the devilish pictures of the Ayatollah faces in the background......
It is soooo cute! If only it could fly, it might be dangerous – to the pilot, at least.
Honestly if a Nation like Iran wanted a stealth aircraft, the only credible way to get one worth having would be to just buy them off the Russians. Would it be as good as the US ones? Who cares, it would still fly, and fly nice, as long as you paid for ongoing maintenance contracts rather than tried to translate the manuals and DIY.
Actually they speak Persian according to the CIA worldbook.
good catch. wonder if this a model or a really good fake. pics can say alot
Is that duck tape I see on the instrument console?
SAD. this looks like a modified russian jet from the 50s-60s
Well, of course we are making fun of it. And one of the bloggers commented that he could hope Iran has at least one airspace engineer. Just remember that there are only half a dozen countries in the world that are making their own planes. And Iran is indeed one of them. So, we don't really know what it is and just posting on the blogs doesn't change that fact.