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Qaher F313 l News & Discussion

Per Janes's All the World's Aircraft 1975-1976 (when the bird was still fairly new):
- Combat radius carrying 2x AIM-9s + maximum fuel load (internal & external) + 5 minutes of afterburner use at 15,000 feet = 1405km
That's quite an impressive figure. It's a shame it is much harder to get these sorts of figures today. Any idea on the combat radius of the Su-30 - with relevant armament and altitude profiles?
 
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Vevak,

The F-5E does have SOME air to air capabilities but they are limited to WVR and if mated with a modern AAM and HMS (helmet-mounted-sight), it would still be quite a nasty threat today. Modernized F-5s can even compete to some degree in BVR engagements (see Brazil's F-5s, equipped with Israeli Derby medium range missiles). There's a reason the USN/USMC still use them in aggressor squadrons. There are obviously limits to what the old girl can do, but equipped properly, she can still be quite lethal in many combat scenarios.

Those range figures you cite also don't match any literature on F-5E performance.

Per Janes's All the World's Aircraft 1975-1976 (when the bird was still fairly new):
- Combat radius carrying 2x AIM-9s + maximum fuel load (internal & external) + 5 minutes of afterburner use at 15,000 feet = 1405km
- Combat radius carrying 6300lbs of ordnance (including 2x AIM-9s) + internal fuel (obviously no room for drop tanks) +5 minutes of afterburner use at sea level = 305km
- Combat radius carrying 2x AIM-9s + 2x 530lb bombs + max fuel + 5 minutes of afterburner use at seal level = 1130km

I found figures similar to these in several books I have dedicated to the Northrop F-5 family.

So while the IRIAF didn't often drive F-5s deep into Iraqi airspace, it wasn't necessary because they couldn't fly that far with useful payloads.


IMHO, that decision had more to do with the fact that F-4D/Es were capable of carrying PGMs (GBU-10/AGM-65 respectively) and were and could be equipped with fairly modern ECM kit for the time. The F-5E/F models Iran received were not inherently capable of carrying AGM-65s (Saudi models imported a few years later were the first, thanks to the newer APQ-159 radar) and they had virtually no ECM kit beyond RWRs (and many weren't even fitted with those!).

What other countries have modernized their F-5's to do is irrelevant because most of those modernizations use U.S. tech.....

And yes Iranian F-5's can carry AiM-9 missiles but without an IRST not only do you have to operate in a very limited range from your target but you have to keep the nose of your fighter pointed at your target for a lock and against most modern 4th gen fighter F-5's don't possess the speed, range and engine performance required to accomplish even that!


And I wouldn't put much stock on those paper figures! And I'm not saying they are inaccurate just not realistic for war time figures in real combat especially in Iran's terrain! Iran's Air Force fought an 8 year long war with it's F-5 and you can trust that during that time those fighters were stretched to their limits and they were pushed to their limits because Iran didn't have a choice due to Sanctions!

As for choosing an F-4 to conduct bombing because they could be armed with PGM that would have been a good and agreeable argument if Iran hadn't used any F-5's for any bombing runs into Iraqi territory but they did. Which make that argument irrelevant!
Iranian F-5's conducted various bombing run's into Iraqi territory from the start of the war now if those bombing runs were mostly restricted to ~150km of Iranian airspace that has more to do with the performance, range & inability to conduct air to air refueling of F-5's rather than the type of ordinance

As to why Iran reverse engineered the F-5's as appose to it's F-4's or F-14's there is only one reason for that and that's Titanium! They choose it strictly due to it's externally low Titanium requirements!
 
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You don't have the slightest clue what it is your talking about!

If you had any clue as to what it was you were talking about you would know that producing a Fighters like the F-5 and Saegheh is far more complicated than the Q-313 in terms of production!

And Iran did produce the F-5 and whether you wanna believe it or not that's up to you.....
And the only reason Iran was able to produce the F-5's in a shorter time frame has to do with the fact that it's reverse engineering from proven technology that doesn't requires years of testing and trail and error! Where as the Q-313 requires years of testing and trial and error before a production model is ready to be produced.

And at the end of the day the Q-313 is a far simpler platform to produce than the F-5 if and when a production model is ready!

As for Iran not being able to produce Radars and Avionics those are just nonsense delusions in your head and far from reality!

Can Iran build Radars, weapon systems and avionics that can compete with even a decade old American or Russian Technology? CLEARLY NOT! But that's a far cry from not being able to produce something or choosing not to spend millions towards producing an outdated technology when you have better options at your disposal!

And don't confuse choosing not to produce something with not being able too!

An F-5 has no real Air to Air capabilities and very limited situational awareness it's combat radius is about 300km and in the Iran Iraq war Iranian F-5's could barely manage to go 200km into Iraqi territory so a Fatteh-110 could do a better job delivering ordnance than an F-5

So just because Iran chooses not to produce the F-5 in large quantities doesn't mean they can't!

Garbage post but I was expecting that...

Iran has produced F-5 replicas ? where are they ? Those 5-7 Saeghes are rebuilt/welded F-5E/F that were sold to Iran, I would like to see any proof of them being built inside Iran from scratch otherwise. I have been hearing about mighty Azrakhash since late 1990s and nothing substantial has ever been unveiled. You can believe in whatever you like but that would not change anything. At best, both Azarakhash and Saeghe were up-gradation programs for already existing Tiger air-frames. They were obviously never fruitful so we never saw them going anywhere. Even the slight changes they made to the original F-5 E with Saeghe 3-7366 i.e. air-intakes failed so they had to retreat back to the original design in the same prototype.

And please show me Iranian made radar, avionics ... I do not want stupid conjectures and mock-ups in exhibitions, where are Iranian made RWR, MAWS, INS, IRST/FLIR, HMS etc etc etc ? have we seen such local equipment being installed on current IRIAF Fleet? are you telling me that Iran is deliberately choosing not to build such systems and is letting IRIAF die intentionally? Yes probably original APQ-153/157 of the tiger fleet were upgraded in 90s under Ufagh up-gradation program but that is that.

If government wants Qaher to become a reality they will first need 4th generation combat suite which is just not locally available. They will have to buy decent Radar+Avionics kits+Armaments(BVR+WVR) from private Chinese companies may be (I am assuming there is probably a locally built J-85 to power this aircraft). Twin turbojet powered small aircraft that can neither house a large radar nor carry large weapon loads will be of what use to IRIAF? They better upgrade (real up-gradation) the current Migs and Tomcats with this much money instead of wasting it on a propaganda stunt that Ahmadinejad government started.
 
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Garbage post but I was expecting that...

Iran has produced F-5 replicas ? where are they ? Those 5-7 Saeghes are rebuilt/welded F-5E/F that were sold to Iran, I would like to see any proof of them being built inside Iran from scratch otherwise. I have been hearing about mighty Azrakhash since late 1990s and nothing substantial has ever been unveiled. You can believe in whatever you like but that would not change anything. At best, both Azarakhash and Saeghe were up-gradation programs for already existing Tiger air-frames. They were obviously never fruitful so we never saw them going anywhere. Even the slight changes they made to the original F-5 E with Saeghe 3-7366 i.e. air-intakes failed so they had to retreat back to the original design in the same prototype.

And please show me Iranian made radar, avionics ... I do not want stupid conjectures and mock-ups in exhibitions, where are Iranian made RWR, MAWS, INS, IRST/FLIR, HMS etc etc etc ? have we seen such local equipment being installed on current IRIAF Fleet? are you telling me that Iran is deliberately choosing not to build such systems and is letting IRIAF die intentionally? Yes probably original APQ-153/157 of the tiger fleet were upgraded in 90s under Ufagh up-gradation program but that is that.

If government wants Qaher to become a reality they will first need 4th generation combat suite which is just not locally available. They will have to buy decent Radar+Avionics kits+Armaments(BVR+WVR) from private Chinese companies may be (I am assuming there is probably a locally built J-85 to power this aircraft). Twin turbojet powered small aircraft that can neither house a large radar nor carry large weapon loads will be of what use to IRIAF? They better upgrade (real up-gradation) the current Migs and Tomcats with this much money instead of wasting it on a propaganda stunt that Ahmadinejad government started.



From 4:30


Garbage post but I was expecting that...

Iran has produced F-5 replicas ? where are they ? Those 5-7 Saeghes are rebuilt/welded F-5E/F that were sold to Iran, I would like to see any proof of them being built inside Iran from scratch otherwise. I have been hearing about mighty Azrakhash since late 1990s and nothing substantial has ever been unveiled. You can believe in whatever you like but that would not change anything. At best, both Azarakhash and Saeghe were up-gradation programs for already existing Tiger air-frames. They were obviously never fruitful so we never saw them going anywhere. Even the slight changes they made to the original F-5 E with Saeghe 3-7366 i.e. air-intakes failed so they had to retreat back to the original design in the same prototype.

And please show me Iranian made radar, avionics ... I do not want stupid conjectures and mock-ups in exhibitions, where are Iranian made RWR, MAWS, INS, IRST/FLIR, HMS etc etc etc ? have we seen such local equipment being installed on current IRIAF Fleet? are you telling me that Iran is deliberately choosing not to build such systems and is letting IRIAF die intentionally? Yes probably original APQ-153/157 of the tiger fleet were upgraded in 90s under Ufagh up-gradation program but that is that.

If government wants Qaher to become a reality they will first need 4th generation combat suite which is just not locally available. They will have to buy decent Radar+Avionics kits+Armaments(BVR+WVR) from private Chinese companies may be (I am assuming there is probably a locally built J-85 to power this aircraft). Twin turbojet powered small aircraft that can neither house a large radar nor carry large weapon loads will be of what use to IRIAF? They better upgrade (real up-gradation) the current Migs and Tomcats with this much money instead of wasting it on a propaganda stunt that Ahmadinejad government started.

http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13931111001166
 
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Garbage post but I was expecting that...

Iran has produced F-5 replicas ? where are they ? Those 5-7 Saeghes are rebuilt/welded F-5E/F that were sold to Iran, I would like to see any proof of them being built inside Iran from scratch otherwise. I have been hearing about mighty Azrakhash since late 1990s and nothing substantial has ever been unveiled. You can believe in whatever you like but that would not change anything. At best, both Azarakhash and Saeghe were up-gradation programs for already existing Tiger air-frames. They were obviously never fruitful so we never saw them going anywhere. Even the slight changes they made to the original F-5 E with Saeghe 3-7366 i.e. air-intakes failed so they had to retreat back to the original design in the same prototype.

And please show me Iranian made radar, avionics ... I do not want stupid conjectures and mock-ups in exhibitions, where are Iranian made RWR, MAWS, INS, IRST/FLIR, HMS etc etc etc ? have we seen such local equipment being installed on current IRIAF Fleet? are you telling me that Iran is deliberately choosing not to build such systems and is letting IRIAF die intentionally? Yes probably original APQ-153/157 of the tiger fleet were upgraded in 90s under Ufagh up-gradation program but that is that.

If government wants Qaher to become a reality they will first need 4th generation combat suite which is just not locally available. They will have to buy decent Radar+Avionics kits+Armaments(BVR+WVR) from private Chinese companies may be (I am assuming there is probably a locally built J-85 to power this aircraft). Twin turbojet powered small aircraft that can neither house a large radar nor carry large weapon loads will be of what use to IRIAF? They better upgrade (real up-gradation) the current Migs and Tomcats with this much money instead of wasting it on a propaganda stunt that Ahmadinejad government started.

As I said YOU DON'T have the slightest clue what it is your talking about!

1st off the Q-313 is a Subsonic aircraft with very limited maneuvering capability with a very low payload capacity and it is not a platform that is even designed for air superiority for it to have BVR capabilities and fact is your knowledge about aircrafts are so limited that you don't even know that much!

And to claim that Iran can't build avionics is more a reflection on how little you know and in my opinion only a person with little knowledge about what avionics are would ever make such an absurd claim!

As for Iranian reverse engineered versions of the F-5 again your confusing can't with not wanting too! And Iranian reversed engineered versions of the F-5 was built before the Saegheh

And F-5's are already low thrust fighters with low payload capacity so increasing the drag and weight of an F-5 even further by adding an extra stabilizer has little to no military value for Iran to invest in the mass production of the Saegheh!
Yes a limited number were built mostly for R&D purposes and probably to see how Iranian ground and airborne radars did against F/A-18's but by the most part it was never meant to be mass produced because producing them or the F-5's just doesn't make much sense

For the last time THE COST/BENIFT ANALISYS of a fighter like the F-5 or an Iranian version of it DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! Each F-5 at an absolute minimum would cost Iran over $2 million USD a year to keep operational during peace time and that's without ordnance cost or the cost of upgrades or major part replacement....
Now if by 2008 Iran had produced 100 F-5's by now they would have at the very least cost Iran $2billion usd just to keep them operational (Not inducing the actual cost of the aircraft, major part replacement, upgrades and overhaul or PGM) and that's for an Aircraft with no real Air to Air capabilities and extremely limited strike capabilities beyond 300km of Iranian Airspace

Also, due to their limited range and inability to conduct air to air refueling a new fleet of Iranian versions of the F-5 would by the most part have to be located at bases near the boarder making them easy targets and among the 1st targets to be hit at the start of any conflict if Iran had them
So even if you were to upgrade them with new radars and sensors due to their limited range and payload they would have to be located near the boarder to have any use

So you see when Iran has better options available to it like various types of Missiles, UAV's & SAM then mass producing fighters like the F-5 and keeping them operational becomes more of a burden than a capability

So don't confuse can't with not wanting too!




 
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There are Iranian efforts to build a fighter jet, if you check the news you will see in the past 5 years attempts at military cyber espionage of foreign tech and other attempts including trying to get blueprints of F-35 engines.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if Iran is covertly attempting to acquire advanced fighter tech wether through cyber espionage or back door dealings. China has had success through this route to advance its program. But even China is lagging a decade behind (possibly more) in fighter engine technology and they have a more more robust military industrial complex and massive military budget than Iran.
 
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As I said YOU DON'T have the slightest clue what it is your talking about!

You are the most illiterate and delusional man in the Iranian section on PDF.

1st off the Q-313 is a Subsonic aircraft with very limited maneuvering capability with a very low payload capacity and it is not a platform that is even designed for air superiority for it to have BVR capabilities and fact is your knowledge about aircrafts are so limited that you don't even know that much!

This aircraft doesn't exist yet so stop claiming stuff like you are the chief designer. Even if for sake of argument I agree that this aircraft will exist in future and is going to be a sub-sonic, low payload joke without any substantial A2A capability then what is the point of creating this clown cart? Such aircraft may serve their A2G purposes if the air-arm operating them can also field out fair number of air superiority fighters to keep the area clear. IRIAF has no such option. Fly these in future in war and they will be shot at by F-35, F-22, Rafale, EF-2000, F-15SE, F-16 Blk60. You are delusional.

And to claim that Iran can't build avionics is more a reflection on how little you know and in my opinion only a person with little knowledge about what avionics are would ever make such an absurd claim!

Show the proof or you will be proving to me that you are a delusional man ... show me something instead of hiding behind trash talk. Has there ever been any MAJOR local combat suite up-gradation of IRIAF fleet? provide proof please.

By the way, we have never seen even relic radars like APQ-153/157/120 or AWG-9 being rebuilt with upgraded features inside Iran which IRIAF has been operating for nearly last 5 decades.

As for Iranian reverse engineered versions of the F-5 again your confusing can't with not wanting too! And Iranian reversed engineered versions of the F-5 was built before the Saegheh

Prove it or you are a delusional man.

And F-5's are already low thrust fighters with low payload capacity so increasing the drag and weight of an F-5 even further by adding an extra stabilizer has little to no military value for Iran to invest in the mass production of the Saegheh!

so you agree with me here that they started with the wrong design at first and project failed despite the mass production propaganda?

Yes a limited number were built mostly for R&D purposes and probably to see how Iranian ground and airborne radars did against F/A-18's but by the most part it was never meant to be mass produced because producing them or the F-5's just doesn't make much sense

Provide evidence to your claim you delusional man. They re-built some 7 x F-5E/F with twin VS just to see how Iranian radars would fare against Hornets ? ... :cheesy: ... If mass production was not the idea then why did decision makers waste millions of dollars and hours of men power on a stupid project that ended up becoming an insult for IRIAF ?

For the last time THE COST/BENIFT ANALISYS of a fighter like the F-5 or an Iranian version of it DOES NOT MAKE SENSE! Each F-5 at an absolute minimum would cost Iran over $2 million USD a year to keep operational during peace time and that's without ordnance cost or the cost of upgrades or major part replacement....
Now if by 2008 Iran had produced 100 F-5's by now they would have at the very least cost Iran $2billion usd just to keep them operational (Not inducing the actual cost of the aircraft, major part replacement, upgrades and overhaul or PGM) and that's for an Aircraft with no real Air to Air capabilities and extremely limited strike capabilities beyond 300km of Iranian Airspace

Also, due to their limited range and inability to conduct air to air refueling a new fleet of Iranian versions of the F-5 would by the most part have to be located at bases near the boarder making them easy targets and among the 1st targets to be hit at the start of any conflict if Iran had them
So even if you were to upgrade them with new radars and sensors due to their limited range and payload they would have to be located near the boarder to have any use

So you see when Iran has better options available to it like various types of Missiles, UAV's & SAM then mass producing fighters like the F-5 and keeping them operational becomes more of a burden than a capability

So don't confuse can't with not wanting too!

BS again by the usual suspect. Do you think these legendary calculations were not performed by IRIAF, HESA, Defence ministry decision makers that you carried out on a defense forum, yet they still went with announcements like we have created a local F/A-18 which will be mass produced ?

Even if I agree with you that creating a small 3rd generation replica was not feasible for IRIAF from the beginning that it just proves my point that Azarakhsh, Saeghe, Qaher are all propaganda stunts which are used for local consumption from time to time. Iran as a nation can not build a 4th generation fighter jet platform by itself. Engine, Radar, Avionics, Armaments all will have to be imported and that is where the argument of buying a foreign proven platform vs invent the wheel again comes in. I would rather have 3-4 squadrons of Su-30 SM/J-10C fly in the Iranian air space then spend same amount of money on rebuilt 3rd generation Shahi relics or according to you "low payload, subsonic aircraft with no substantial A2A capability" Qaher.

By the way, if Saeghe project would have been a reality with proper foreign input from China, Russia then it could have become something like FC-1/JF-17 or F-20, a potent fourth generation combat platform, built inside Iran. IRIAF would have a future that it currently does not have. No trash talk can change that sore fact.
 
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You are the most illiterate and delusional man in the Iranian section on PDF.



This aircraft doesn't exist yet so stop claiming stuff like you are the chief designer. Even if for sake of argument I agree that this aircraft will exist in future and is going to be a sub-sonic, low payload joke without any substantial A2A capability then what is the point of creating this clown cart? Such aircraft may serve their A2G purposes if the air-arm operating them can also field out fair number of air superiority fighters to keep the area clear. IRIAF has no such option. Fly these in future in war and they will be shot at by F-35, F-22, Rafale, EF-2000, F-15SE, F-16 Blk60. You are delusional.



Show the proof or you will be proving to me that you are a delusional man ... show me something instead of hiding behind trash talk. Has there ever been any MAJOR local combat suite up-gradation of IRIAF fleet? provide proof please.

By the way, we have never seen even relic radars like APQ-153/157/120 or AWG-9 being rebuilt with upgraded features inside Iran which IRIAF has been operating for nearly last 5 decades.



Prove it or you are a delusional man.



so you agree with me here that they started with the wrong design at first and project failed despite the mass production propaganda?

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Why would Iran want to mass produce the F-5 let alone the Saegheh? Do you know how much jet fuel costs? Do you now how much fuel an F-5 uses per hour of flight? Do you know how many flight hours a fighter pilot has to conduct on a yearly bases on his fighter? Do you know how much it costs to maintain even a low cost fighter like the F-5?
Do you know how many Air to Air kills with Air to Air missiles Iranian F-5's had in 8 years of war with Iraq?
Truth is you don't know these simple things hell you can't even differentiate a subsonic fighter from a supersonic fighter!
What you want to accept is irrelevant! If you can't differentiate a subsonic aircraft from a supersonic aircraft by simply looking at the aircraft then clearly you lack the knowledge base to even comment on what Iran can or can't build! You just don't know enough about aircrafts to even know what is simple to produce and what isn't! and a lot of these things your claiming Iran can't produce were developed in the 60's so it's only delusions in your head that makes you think Iran can't produce them!
 
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In a methodical research on manned airpower with a main boundary condition of a missile-centric military force, you will get very different results than what can be seen worldwide today.

Here some of the parameters that would flow into the decision making on how in such a case manned airpower would look like:

Availability of following parameters:

- Large heavy artillery rocket arsenal; very low cost with submunition-warhead (100-250km) --> wind corrected higher precision variants.

- Large short range tactical ballistic missile arsenal; low cost submunition-warhead liquids (300-800km) --> more expensive advanced high precision solids (250-800km), with special anti-ship and anti radar variants.

- Large medium range tactical ballistic missile arsenal; medium cost submunition-warhead liquids (1300-2000km) --> more expensive, advanced high precision liquids (250-800km) --> more expensive heavy warhead liquids (2000km) --> more expensive solids (2000km)

- Short-medium range land attack cruise missiles; low cost variant (700km) --> more expensive, advanced variants (1500-2000km).

- Nuclear hardened basing for all the missile arsenal

- Large fleet of tactical UCAVs; Scuicide lowcost (200km) --> single PGM low range (200km) --> low range low PGM payload (200km) --> low range higher PGM payload (200km) --> long range higher PGM payload (2000km) --> jet powered medium range, higher payload (700km) --> jet powered long range higher payload (2000km)

- Guided artillery, 30-80km, tube and rocket

- Anti ship cruise missiles, 15-350km

- Advanced airdefense systems for all important layers; short range, low altitude (AAA/SAM) --> mobile medium range, medium altitude --> medium range high altitude --> mobile medium range, high altitude --> highly mobile medium range, high altitude --> mobile longer range, high altitude --> static very long range, high altitude --> mobile long range, high altitude --> mobile long range, high altitude with anti-BM capability.

- Industry open to novel concepts, as there are no seniors in the aeronautic field that would stick to old proven concepts


Lack of following parameters:

- Advanced, equal to 80's state of the art, jet engine technology of large size.

- Industry experience and expertise for very high performance (payload, range, speed) fighter-bombers such as the Su-57, Mig-31 and F-22.

- Heavily hardened airbases

- Long/large empirical knowledge in aeronautics.

- Airplane industry lobbying for contracts to keep factories open

- Airforce/pilot community lobbying for continued significance of the service.

- Excess financial resources used for prestigious projects/capabilities, but strictly cost-effect driven policy.



If these parameters are the basis of your methodical decision making, the question is what the result will look like.

Will a F-5 or JF-17 or J-10 or F-15 as a result be possible?
Or will the F-313 start to make some kind of sense?
 
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drmeson,

Actually, Iran has shown off images of domestically built components of at least one US-built radar they imported: the APQ-153 (which by default also includes the APQ-157 which is only different in that it's modified so the 2nd seater can use it as well).

They've also show off numerous types of other avionics that can be domestically manufactured, ranging from RWRs, ADCs, TACANs, IFFs, and Radar Altimeters for both their Western and Eastern aircraft.

Also, if I'm interpreting that time stamp on that APQ-153 antenna image, it was taken 8 or 9 years ago.
 

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