
World trembles in confusion and/or fear at Iran's fiberglass airplane - matan_a
http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/02/world-trembles-in-confusion-andor-fear-at-irans-fiberglass-airplane/
======
Avitas
I happened to flip past Fox News on Saturday and caught their coverage of this
aircraft. The Iranian claims about the aircraft were presented in a serious
and menacing fashion. Their coverage reminds me of the US policy of trumpeting
a huge imbalance of power favoring the USSR back in the Reagan years.

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RyanZAG
The 'plug' at the back seems about the right size for an ICBM. Maybe the idea
is to fit this contraption in front of an ICBM and then crash it into targets
while people are still confused why the plane is angling for the ground.

Can't see how else it would work!

~~~
ohwp
I think the second they launch it on top of an ICBM the hatch will break
open...

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jlgreco
Why would all those labels, like the labels on the "engine plug" be in English
and not Persian? I mean, unless this thing were meant to be consumed by an
english speaking audience...

~~~
asynchronous13
You make a good point, but it is not uncommon for engineers to use English
around the world. There are so many text books and source materials available
in English, especially in aerospace. They claimed to use CATIA software for
the design, which is originally French but has an English version. I'd be
shocked if there is a Persian version of the software.

The flip side is that you would really want ground crews to be able to read
warnings and such. So while one could justify english on the engineering
front, native language makes more sense on a production version.

~~~
shimon_e
Iran and France had quiet close relations. Today English is a more common
second language than French in Iran.

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ohwp
Some funny things I noticed:

    
    
      It looks like they built in 2 or 3 car radio systems.
      When the pilot is sitting in his chair he can't reach the controls in front of him.
      The exhaust will melt the body.
      The canopy doesn't give a clear view.

~~~
frankydp
Also funny

I showed this picture to Science Editor Dr. John Timmer, who knows a thing or
two about how science works, and after a moment of silence he responded by
saying, "No f------ way."

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nick_gully
I think people are mistaking a flying bomb for an actual fighter aircraft. The
goal would be to overwhelm naval resources in the cramped gulf. If you have
enough people willing to do one way missions, a different sort of chariot is
in mind. Considering the massed wave tactics of the Iran-Iraq war, I don't
think they were thinking of making something to show at the Paris Air Show
between the Lockheed and EADS booths.

~~~
Encosia
> flying bomb

Otherwise known as a missile, which doesn't require designing and building a
clone of the incredibly expensive F-22. Why would they waste time and money
designing something that would fly slower than a missile and be much easier to
shoot down? The whole thing is a poorly executed hoax.

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jcromartie
There's an official video here
[http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/02/286841/iran-
unveils-...](http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/02/286841/iran-unveils-new-
indigenous-fighter-jet/)

Iran's state media is hilarious.

~~~
calibraxis
Those of us from the US really shouldn't be laughing. Had US propaganda
wished, we'd be running around in fear of these things, just like with Saddam
Hussein's WMDs and all the other boogieman tales which whip up support for
international violence.

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Zarathust
This is described as a "fighter plane" but I fail to see how you could attach
any destructive payload on such a tiny plane. The wings are so small that
anything attached underneath would severely impair airflow

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olympus
This thing has more in common with a homebuilt kit plane like a Vans RV-8 than
it does with a modern fighter jet. No HUD, and the rest of the c __*pit looks
like it is made out of styrofoam and plywood. The exhaust doesn't even have a
variable nozzle, let alone thrust vectoring. The exterior is absurd, I know
that LO coatings and materials take special application, but they should at
least be able to have a non-wavy surface. I'll second the opinion of most
other people, I doubt this thing actually flies, and if it does manage to fly
I'll bet its performance is dismal.

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namidark
This was posted on reddit a few days ago and was called a giant hoax / RC
controlled. Any deeper insight on this? The pilot seat looks way to small, and
there are no landing or take off videos either.

~~~
bradleyland
It's difficult to offer a deep insight on this, because it's so patently
absurd. The easiest way to understand why this can't possibly be a real
aircraft is to look at photos of actual aircraft. Do a Google image searches
for F-117, F-22, F/A-18, F-15, and F-16. Keep in mind that the F-16 is a very
small aircraft. Now compare the proportions of the Iranian "aircraft" to any
of these actual aircraft. Also keep a close eye on the surface textures,
shapes, and connections on the real aircraft and compare them to the Iranian
hoax. Reality quickly comes crashing down around it.

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jug6ernaut
I have a hard time believing anything Iran releases to the "media" as anything
but propaganda until proven otherwise.

Is this suppose to be functional plane? Prototype? Mockup? Until this thing is
seen in the least flying this isn't even cause for a second look.

While i am 100% american and other countries are following this i can bet with
almost the same certainty that they are in no way in "fear" of it. In
comparison to there nuclear program this is a mere side note.

IMO this thing looks like it will fly about as well as a whale, but then again
i am no aerospace engineer.

~~~
jcromartie
Whatever they want the world to believe it to be, it's a mockup. It's a thin
fiberglass shell with non-functional canopy, and it's the wrong size to
actually fly.

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speeder
I used to doubt stuff like this, but Iran did built their own uranium
centrifuges.

Also seemly they did captured some drones, and this would be plenty of
material to reverse engineer.

~~~
shpxnvz
Oh, just look at the pictures! Look at the fiberglass seams on the body and
the shoddy finish of the skin and moldings in the cockpit. Look at the edge
where the canopy seals. See any structural attachment points for the canopy?
Compare to a real airplane [1] and see if you can spot the differences.

1\.
[http://www.airforcetimes.com/xml/news/2009/01/airforce_pilot...](http://www.airforcetimes.com/xml/news/2009/01/airforce_pilot_assignments_012509/012509_airforce_pilot_assignments_800.JPG)

~~~
Create
The De Havilland Mosquito ("The Wooden Wonder", also known as "The Timber
Terror") was a military aircraft that excelled in a number of roles during
World War II. It was a twin-engine aircraft with the pilot and navigator
sitting side by side. Unorthodox in design, it used a plywood structure of
spruce and balsa in a time when wooden construction was considered outdated.

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nnq
...this joke aside, I really wonder how the first 3d printed / milled aircraft
will look like (I mean put together entirely from printed components using a
home-brewed or bought from ebay 3d printer and metal mill) _...and then I
imagine someone getting their hands on some "printable" cruise missile schemes
and printing one his garage - scary shit..._

~~~
jlgreco
You can build a 'cruise missile' right now in your garage pretty easily, being
able to print one shouldn't be any scarier than that.

The scary part is the warhead, and you don't just print that from a spool of
plastic. If someone can make such a thing for a printed cruise missile and do
mean stuff with it, they can surely stick it in the back of a pickup truck
too.

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jseip
The plane as a whole is clearly non-functional but there are parts that are
from a real aircraft. Where do you think that landing gear came from?
Certainly not the downed RQ-170...?

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philhippus
This is an embarrassing and desperate stunt from the Iranian establishment.
They are clearly aiming this at an uneducated voter base who outnumber those
who know the reality.

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rivd
Whether points made about the aircraft are valid or not, the tone of the
article is very biased. As if only the idea of inventing your own modern
airplane is ridiculous, let alone iran could do such a thing. I highly doubt
iran is not aware of the (critique &&) attention it gets with this news and
their space monkey.

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jostmey
Ha! The Iranians are trying to pretend to be a military superpower. Iran is so
backwards that the country can barely keep their planes flying. It takes an
open minded culture to achieve technological advancement. The brightest people
may come from anywhere, from any background, sex, or sexual preference. If you
don't embrace everyone an open mind, you will never have the top talent
working for you.

Now I do believe that North Korea could make great scientific and
technological strides on its own. Its economy may be faltering, but I suspect
their culture seeks out the very brightest people & puts them to work on very
hard problems.

~~~
warmwaffles
> Now I do believe that North Korea could make great scientific and
> technological strides on its own. Its economy may be faltering, but I
> suspect their culture seeks out the very brightest people & puts them to
> work on very hard problems.

or kills them.

~~~
jostmey
North Korea appears to have had at least partial success building a nuclear
weapon. It is my personal belief that Iran is incapable of doing the same. I
base this belief on the little that I know about the two cultures. One society
is a communist government, that will presumably accept anyone provided that
they tow the party line, and the other demands religious fanaticism, and
disrespects over 50% of their population.

I am not saying I approve of the North Korean government (that said, I don't
like most governments). But I do believe the North Koreans are better
positioned to be a real threat.

~~~
pyre

      | One society is a communist government, that will
      | presumably accept anyone provided that they tow
      | the party line
    

You do realize that if you fail to tow the party line your entire family gets
sent to a concentration camp (even if they were all towing the party line),
right?

~~~
PeterisP
Yeah, and if the regime starts to need you for whatever reason, then you get
picked right back from the concentration camp (at least Stalin did it many
times). The parent post is claiming the efficiency difference from not
repressing the people you need to do X; repressing/not repressing innocent
people is somewhat irrelevant for that part.

