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Subscribe to RSSDUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Iran unveiled what it said was a new, domestically built fighter jet on Saturday, local media reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a ceremony in Tehran that the Qaher 313 demonstrated Iran's growing self-reliance in the field of military technology.
Iran's functional air force has been limited to perhaps as few as a few dozen strike aircraft, either Russian or ageing U.S. models acquired before the 1979 Iranian revolution.
The Islamic Republic, under an international arms embargo, has long struggled to find spare parts and some military experts say the fleet is outdated.
"This advanced fighter jet with unique physical characteristics has a very low radar cross section and therefore is capable of operating at low altitudes," Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said of the Qaher 313, according to Mehr news agency.
Tensions in the region have simmered over Tehran's nuclear program. Israel has threatened to bomb its nuclear sites if diplomacy and sanctions fail to stop Iranian nuclear activity the West suspects is aimed at developing a weapons capability.
At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.
Iran denies the weapons charge, saying it seeks only electricity and medical isotopes.
"Now the speed of Iran's development in science and technology does not depend on circumstances, it depends on our will," Ahmadinejad said on Saturday in remarks carried on state television. "We should set higher targets. We see that it is possible, we have the capabilities."
"This project carries the message of brotherhood, peace, and security and it doesn't pose any threat to anyone. There is no intention to interfere in any other country's affairs," he said.
Iran often holds military drills and announces weapons advances that it says are for purely deterrent purposes, though some analysts are skeptical of such reported advances because they cannot be independently verified.
Western sanctions levied on Iran's energy and banking sectors have damaged its economy and limited oil sales, a major source of revenue for the government. But Tehran has shown no sign of backing down from what it says is its right to enrich uranium for civilian uses.
Iran is commemorating the 34th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah in 10 days of events that began on Thursday.
Related:
Full coverage of Iran on NBCNews.com
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There are Jet powered recreational remote controlled aircraft better than this duck squat of Iranian tech
Like a puppy pissing on your foot. Send over a drone and blow it up. Oh that is right it is invisible as well.
It's a domestic jet only if China is a provence of Iran.
O that is one but ugly looking aircraft. Odd the internet has no pictures of it airborne. Maybe "and it doesn't pose any threat to anyone" has real meaning?
I wonder how much camel power the engine has.
Ok I just saw it on the net, first thought it reminded me of the Client Eastwood movie Fire Fox where he steals the Russian made AFJ...
no radar, looks like it can produce about 1000lbs of thrust and with that wing design good luck with keeping that heap stable. Course the advance computers that run this pile of sheite will do all of that.
IRAN YOU ARE A JOKE
Where'd they get all the rubberbands?
Iran!s Air Force would last less than ten minutes in Combat with the United States Air Force. Maybe eleven minutes on a good day. That is there whole Air Force I am talking about. Not a single plane. It would be over before it started. Game-Set-Match.
Has anyone actually seen a Qaher 313 actually fly?
Developing a new fighter, not so hard. Developing a supply and maintenance network to maintain such aircraft is a different story. It's what eventually brought down the Sovier Union. Oh, it's almost time for the Israelis to do their thing "on Iran".
With any F-15, F16 or F-18 on patrol an F-35 or F-22 wouldn't even be needed to keep that "new advanced fighter" inside their own border regardless of low altitude lack of detection. Power plant or rubber band for propulsion to what years technology? How man years of development would they need to create and produce the fighting technology even close to of any one of our current fighters? What is there technology base---a MIG- 17, MIG-23 or a 1969 version of any aircraft scrounged from Iraq?
No, you fly it. I'm taking the train.
The basic design might be fairly advanced as many of their engineers have been educated in the U.S. and Europe. But they have no real experience in building and operating advanced aircraft, so it's unlikely the aircraft will be either reliable or very well integrated.
On one hand, it is admirable that Iran wants to show that they have technology. On the other hand their "technology" reminds me of the car - YUGO - from Yugoslavia. We know how that one worked.
If you look on the inside corner of the tail of the aircraft, you will most likely see in small print the words "Manufactured by ACME Corporation"!
We should nuke Iran now and take out the same time the new fighter jet. Iran is a terrorist nation that does not know how to live in a civilized world so wipe them out.
I just found out the new fighter jet was test piloted by no other, than the monkey who went up in space. Go monkey go!!!
This is incorrect. Within days of the beginning of the Persian Gulf War, Saddam Hussein sent a couple-dozen military aircraft to Iran, many of which were fighter jets. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/27/world/war-in-the-gulf-iraq-some-iraqi-jets-flee-to-iran-us-says-reason-is-unclear.html
Many more Iraqi planes soon followed the exodus to Iran. According to an official Iraqi statement, those aircraft included 115 combat aircraft, among them 44 Su-20/22 Fitters, 24 Mirage F1s, 24 Su-24 Fencers, nine
MiG-23 Floggers, seven Su-25 Frogfoots, and four MiG-29 Fulcrums. http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj92/win92/hurley.htm
As always, take an "official" Iraqi statement with a huge grain of salt. Many other people estimate that the number of MiGs that Saddam "gifted" to Iran is considerably higher than claimed.
It would be much more correct to say that Iran's functional air force has been limited to a few dozen skilled pilots who can actually fly those planes. After the revolution in '79, Ayatollah Khomeini quickly executed a large number of Iranian fighter pilots, and imprisoned the rest to await execution. Some pilots were fortunate however, living long enough to be pulled out of prison and forced to fly in the Iran-Iraq war. But the damage was done: all of their American, Soviet and French-trained pilots were dead, leaving Iran with a couple-dozen Tomcats that nobody could successfully maneuver in a dogfight. And today they have many more, considerably newer, more advanced fighter aircraft just sitting around gathering dust.
Update: according to sources, Iran officially has nearly 100 MiG-29 fighter jets, and are in the process of upgrading them with newer electronics: http://www.examiner.com/article/iran-upgrades-its-mig-29-fighter-jets-with-modern-electronics
I've been looking unsuccessfully for a link to an article that I read about six years ago that claimed Iran was "gifted" as many as 129 MiG-29 fighters by Iraq during the Gulf War, not just the four jets as officially claimed by Iraq. In other words, it's quite possible than Iran has well over 200 MiG-29s, but consider this as rumor, not fact. I just can't find that blasted article I read.
But the basic takeaway here is that Iran's air force is considerably larger and stronger than claimed by this nbcnews article.
Other more reputable news sources have pictures. It's obviously a non flying mock-up for propaganda.
It looks like it's made from paper mache.
ive actually seen real photos of it. it looks like an overfed 1980s f20 tigershark with a semblance of an f18 tail grafted onto it.
http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2013/2/2/20132211327455734_20.jpg
ps. to all the stealth"experts" out there who have already commented on this model t clunker, please educate us based on a real picture of the jet in question.
i am not doubting its ability to attack ground forces. i am doubting its ability to be stealthy.
The sanctions must be working well.....
Iranian girls are some of the hottest women ever........and they play guitar also.....when the United States goes over 30 trillion in debt....if only my hand was bigger....
dose it work? probable not. and who dose nuclear any more anyway.
Most Iranians have better English spelling and grammar ability than you do.
Invisible Hand, you should hook up with 2008cheaters.
Makes no difference. The United States of America have highly trained fighter piolts let alone superior fighter jets.
As Iran's people start to go hungry and the country falls into complete disarray, they decide to build a new jet fighter, under the ruse of being a peaceful country. What a load of BS.......
Reminds me of the old proverb, how do you know a lawyer is lying, when he opens his mouth to speak.... I feel very sorry for the Iranian people and their country that has been hijacked by these fanatics.......
Let me guess, it stops in midair and prays four times a day to a false GOD? Now that's advanced!
Five times a day.
Sorry, I forgot their GOD is hard of hearing...
Iran are a sovereign nation that has a right to defend itself, even if doing so means it will acquire weapons equal to those of what it perceives as its potential enemies.
Believe it or not, Iranians are pretty smart, industrious people.
i agree iranians are very intelligent and have a very long and storied culture. unfortunately, they need to come up with something better than that 1980s f20 tigershark mutant if they think they want to scare off their enemies.