Against all of their lightnings
Posted on 09/22/2007 7:53:01 PM PDT by Perdogg
The new aircraft, dubbed Saegheh (Lightning), was proudly unveiled before foreign correspondents at Tehran’s international airport Thursday, Sept. 20. Iran’s defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar boasted that the fighter is the equal of the American F-18 Hornet. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that Saegheh comes nowhere near the capabilities of the F-18, which are deployed on US carriers and fly with the Marines.
What the Iranians have done is to put together elements cannibalized from the US F-14 of the 1970s which revolutionary Iran inherited from the shah, and components of the Russian Sukhoi pepped up with ageing electronic equipment purchased recently from Byelorussia. This hybrid product is no match for the latest US and Israeli air force planes or their avionic systems.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that three Saegheh jets at most were assembled for a flyover at Saturday’s military parade which marked the 27th anniversary of the onset of the Iraq-Iran war of the 1980s. Iran’s aviation industry is far from capable of arming its air force with an entire fleet of domestically manufactured cutting-edge fighters.
The pair were paraded to boost morale at home. Since the beginning of the year, the clerical regime has countered proliferating reports of US preparations for an attack on its nuclear industry by showing off one purported new weapon after another and staging spectacular war games.
This is an attempt to scare off the Americans and Israelis from military action and reassure the populace. But, according to DEBKAfile’s US and Israel weapons experts, none of the new weapons has been tried in real combat conditions and their value is therefore unproven.
For once I can believe Debka.
> The new aircraft, dubbed Saegheh (Lightning) ...
The DOD probably calls it the QF-5i target drone.
> ... three Saegheh jets at most were assembled ...
Quite the fleet.
There is video of two of them.
Takeoff performance is abysmal.
And he will be.
“This is an attempt to scare off the Americans and Israelis from military action and reassure the populace.”
We’ve learned our lesson well. Any new Iran War will be with long range stand-off weapons, MOABs, and maybe a small nuke or two.
Any pics of the rummage sale fighter?
It’s a 49,50,51,52,53,54,55 automobile.
It’s a 56,57,58,59,60.............
(one piece at a time)
Just an old music quote for those who know...
Seemed appropriate.
Johnny Cash! That is one of my favourite Cash songs.
This almost sounds like somthing cobbled together in an episode of Junkyard Wars.
Iran showcases its military strength ("Super-Modern Flying Boat")
Posters had a good laugh.
Just because it can fly, doesn’t mean it can do much more.
Against all of their lightnings
They are nothing more than slightly modified F-5’s, which is 40 year old technology. The F-18 would eat their lunch.
>> Fox has video of the aircraft - but those planes are no match for ours:
I’m guessing their pilots are nowhere near a match for ours, either.
You are guessing correctly!!
“What is with the mimicking of the Blue Angles colour scheme?”
Lol. I was going to write, How do like the paint job?
They’re envious
This is so pathetic this will be an ass-whooping of Biblical proportions.
Thing is, you build a lot of them very cheaply, put only one chem warfare bomb on each of them, then give them to the Hezzies to fly suicide missions into Israel cities.
My bet is Israel is getting a serious wakeup call. Toss a nuke on one of these and fly 500 of them at Israel from Syria and Lebanon. It only takes one or two to get through.
It can crash... (never forget!)
Yes, envious of highly skilled pilots flying a real aircraft (not a fire sale special).
“Toss a nuke on one of these and fly 500 of them at Israel from Syria and Lebanon”
They have 2 or 3
i always thought the F-5 was a fantastic aircraft (for 40 year old technology) - IIRC it was build by Lockheed using their own funds...
I don’t know how it takes to build one. However, let’s say they have 5. Could they take off from an airfield in Lebanon, fly low and not be detected?
The F-5 is a decent aircraft, but it is by no means a match for a Hornet or Super Hornet. BTW, Mexico’s airforce fighers are F-5s.
fighers = fighters
F-5 Freedom Fighter and F-5G/F-20 Tigershark (twin engine) and some cool square inlets and twin tails.
"The development of the Northrop F-5 began in 1954 when a Northrop team toured Europe and Asia to examine the defense needs of NATO and SEATO countries."
When I was a kid during the Vietnam War, I had an F-5 model.
Two words: Lawn Darts.
Yah I wondered that too. My first reaction was, these guys just emailed the MSM photos of the blue angels and claimed it was their planes and the press never noticed.
Then I looked closer at the planes.
I worked on F-5E’s and F’s for my first 3 years in the Air Force. I cannot believe how much this thing looks like the F-5E. From the hourglass body shape, to the leading edge wing extensions, the speed brake package, the aux air doors. Even the twin shiny tail cans and the main landing gear doors are spot on. Except for the dual tails it is virtually identical from an exterior view point. No clue on the avionics package, but I doubt it will have much that would offer our front line fighters any problems.
Well, that’s what it is - a modified F-5. Look where the vertical stab would be on an F-5 and note the remnants of the vertical stab structure (just the base of it and the wedge between the exhaust cans).
Maybe they will rename the demo team The Blue Mahdis.
At least that is what I heard from limited feedback from pilots back then. But, that was a quarter century ago.
One of the Aggressor pilots was a tall, blonde babe.....she gave us young boys pause....
Our Wing Commander at that time told us we were the "busiest airport in the world", mainly due to the massive sorties put up by the AT-38B, the trainer version of the F-5.
Look at how the tail is welded on. It looks like any wind would pull it off.
How can a civilization be so backward, and yet consider itself a paragon of virtue and progress? It almost defies belief.
No doubt. I am not showing disrespect to the F-5 (I know of its performance in the hands of well-trained pilots). The thing is that the Iranians have pieced together an aircraft based on the F-5 and claim that it is the equal of an F-18. Growing-up in San Antonio, I saw a lot of T-38s and T-37s from Randolph.
Based on the photos in this thread, it looks as though they used two F-5 vertical stabs and attached them to the aircraft with some big attachments (look at the beefy fairings). I wonder if they modified the formers to accept this added weight and strain (strain when manoeuvering). The F-5 was not designed as a twin tail airfcraft and they have cobbled a twin tail configuration together on the bird.
Well, they have a propganda machine in overdrive through state contolled media. Also, they believe their own propoganda. The latter is dangerous for any nation - especially for one whose ego writes cheques that its body can’t cash.
I would have liked to take a ride in that T-37, with the side by side seating.
Witnessed a few A-37's take off from there. Man, that little thing's noise level was OBNOXIOUS with the upgraded engines. (I think it had the same engines as the T-38, without the afterburners.) It hurt your ears almost as bad as the F-15's and 16's.
My ears are still ringing :P
Hope the Iranian army has ordered lots of white flags. Don't need body bags. The U.S. will supply them.
I knew someone who worked ground crew for T-37s. He called them 6,000lb converters - they converted jet fuel into pure noise. When in flight, they have one of the most distinctive engine sounds. One of my favourite aircraft sounds comes from the C-5 - no other aircraft sounds like that behemoth.
When I was a lad, I would watch the ANG guys take off from Kelly. They’d pour-on the power and pitch-up about midway down the ruinway and go damned near vertical leaving thunder in their wake.
ruinway = runway
Now you want to hear a totally unique, "What in the world was that", sound, wait until an F-22 flies over your house. That thing is really, really unique in sound. Nothing else sounds like that. It sounds like pure horsepower. When the pilot gooses it, it sounds like distant thunder.
I may not know alot about modern military aircraft, but that last plane to me looks like a homebuilt kit plane. Tell me that is not the iranian produced fighter they are bragging about.
I can’t wait to hear an F-22.
I saw a B-2 flyover at an airshow many years ago. That sucker is eerie. The announcer called our attention to its approach. Everyone turned their heads and strained to see it in the distance (it is a sliver head-on). When it passed overhead, you could finally hear its engines - it was like a faint whisper of an engine. No wonder it is called the Spirit.
That is the aircraft about which they are bragging. It is a modified F-5.
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