Regardless of receiving seemingly disparaging remarks from western experts, and it is clear that Kowsar looks like an American F-5 fighter. But I personally think this fighter is a proud achievement of Iranians, in the context of this country being repeatedly embargoed for more than 40 years.
According to Reuters news on November 3, 2018 – Iran has started production of the locally-designed Kowsar fighter plane for use in its air force. state television image shows President Hassan Rouhani sitting in the cockpit of the new “Kowsar” aircraft at the Defense Industry exhibition taking place in Tehran.
“Soon the needed number of this plane will be produced and put at the service of the Air Force,” Reuters quoted Iranian Defense Minister Amir Khatami. Iran is proud to assume that this is the first line of aircraft designed and built completely in Iran.
Iran says the Kowsar is “100-percent indigenously made” and able to carry various weapons and is to be used for short aerial support missions. However, some military experts believe the fighter jet is a carbon copy of an american F-5. Analysts quickly noted similarities between two aircraft. The Northrop F-5 Fighter are part of a supersonic light fighter family, initially designed in the late 1950s by Northrop Corporation of United State
The F-5 was sold to Iran in the 1960s and first entered operation in the Iranian Imperial Air Force in 1965. In the West, the F-5 line of jets is mostly used for training purposes. Iran has already used the F-5 platform — and, some observers suggest, actual parts from its aging fleet of non-flying F-5s — to develop its newer jets. The Saeqeh, first flown in 2004, was one such plane.
Iran’s air force has been limited to perhaps a few dozen strike aircraft using either Russian or ageing U.S. models acquired before the 1979 Iranian revolution.
While the Kowsar is clearly based on the US-built F-5E/F Tiger II, national media reports it has been equipped with fourth-generation avionics. Indeed, imagery of the cockpit shows that the analogue gauges and dials of the original F-5 have been replaced with modern multifunctional display units. Outside Iran, the Kowsar was ridiculed as an already-obsolete derivative of the F-5. The cockpit seats two in tandem under separate, rearward-hinged canopies. From its long nose section to its low-mounted, small-surface-area wing mainplanes. The optimised airframe design offers superior performance by reducing the drag encountered from harsh winds. The fuselage tapers slightly towards the aft-end of the aircraft to which two separate exhaust nozzles are featured just under the single vertical tail fin. Straddling the sides of the fuselage are small semi-circular intakes used to aspirate the twin engine configuration within. Its wings are mounted low on the extended fuselage section. The mainplanes sport flaps, a swept-back leading edge and a straight trailing edge. Like the wing mainplanes, the horizontal tailplanes are low-mounted on the design.
Kowsar is fitted with a retractable tricycle type landing gear comprising a single wheel unit under the nose section and two individual wheel units under the fuselage section.
The aircraft has a length of 12.4m, height of 3.5m, and wingspan of 10.97m. With an empty weight of 2,425kg, the fighter jet can fly at a maximum altitude of 15,000m. It has a maximum take-off weight of 6,177kg.
The light attack aircraft comes with multiple hard-points under the fuselage section and wings. The hard-points can be armed with a range of weapon systems to enhance the firepower of the aircraft.
The new Iranian aircraft is said to be equipped with two J90 turbofan engines, which have a maximum rated thrust of 5,000lb each. With aerodynamic design inherited from the US F-5 and powerful new engine that allows the aircraft to reach a maximum speed of 1,500km/h. Maximum range of 2,200km without refueling. The higher climbing rate of 7,620m/min.
Regardless of whether Iran considers Kowsar a fourth-generation fighter, Western military experts say Iran’s new fighter is actually only classified as a third generation, because it was built On an American plane platform is outdated.
Although there are unfriendly remarks from British and Israeli experts, Kowsar still demonstrates the remarkable ability of Iran’s military industrial complex. Among the neighbors of the Islamic Republic of Iran, only Pakistan and Turkey have fighter jets made by their own.
In this case, Pakistan’s PAC JF-17 Thunder was developed together with China Aviation Corporation and Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group. An advanced lightweight turboprop training aircraft for pilot training, TAI Hurkus, has not yet been put into service for the Turkish Air Force.Regardless of receiving seemingly disparaging remarks from western experts, and it is clear that Kowsar looks like an American F-5 fighter. But I personally think this fighter is a proud achievement of Iranians, in the context of this country being repeatedly embargoed for more than 40 years.
beside the fact that the aircraft is not entirely useless, the important thing is the process of making it. solving such difficulties all domestically is not simple. its an small step towards more complex designs in the future