Qaher-313
Iran's New Qaher 313 Stealth Fighter
The prototype of the Q-313 (or F-313 according to the stencils applied to the aircraft), was presented to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and publicly displayed as part of the Ten-Day Dawn ceremonies held in Iran to celebrate the 1979′s victory of the Islamic Revolution.
In the previous days, the Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi had said, The aircraft will be different from the other fighter jets Iran has already made.
Indeed, based on the first photographs released by the FARS News Agency, the new stealthy jet has a really peculiar design. It features hard edges and those distinctive edges and angle of the U.S. F-22 and the twin tail shape much similar to that of the F-35 Lightning II.
The Q-313 has large, seemingly fixed canards, and little wings whose external section is canted downward.
"The advanced aircraft with an advanced appearance has a very small radar cross section (RCS) and is capable of operating and flying in low-altitude," Iranian defence minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi tells the official FARS state news agency.
the aircraft was constructed using "high tech" materials and incorporates advanced electronic systems. Additionally, the Qaher 313 can be armed with indigenously designed weapons, Vahidi says. He also claims that the aircraft is capable of taking off and landing on short runways.
The aircraft was designed and built by Iran's Aviation Industries Organization (AIO), which is part of that nation's defence ministry. The designers claim that the new jet is an entirely homegrown project.
"The fighter jet is Iranian made and all its parts, from A to Z, have been manufactured domestically," Hassan Parvaneh, project manager for the Qaher 313, tells Iranian state television.
Parvaneh notes that the Qaher 313 is "the first Iranian jet using a front control wing, and we have never had any other plane with this specification."
Iranian state television also aired video footage that is purported show the Qaher 313 flying.
The aircraft shows a vague resemblance to the Boeing Bird of Prey stealth aircraft prototype. But unlike the Bird of Prey, the Qaher uses a faceted design reminiscent of early US low observables projects like the 1970s-era Lockheed Martin Have Blue prototype that eventually evolved into the F-117 Nighthawk.
Iran reveals new Qaher 313 stealth fighter