Iranian Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

gelgoog said:

Iran would be better off replacing all these crap fighters with the FC-1/JF-17. But I kind of get it. The sanctions leave them with little choice.

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First off F5 isn't crap. FC-1 was an attemp by the Pakistani military to match it. Light nimble easy to repair and maintain large numbers are still in service globally.
Only issue is it's old tech. JF17's only real advantage vs F5 is avionics. Improved radar and systems as well as being new and in production vs decades old.

Well if you look at the intended replacement for the F-5 Tiger II, namely the F-20 Tigershark, you will see something not too dissimilar from the FC-1. It is a single engine aircraft with similar thrust rate and a larger nose cone to accommodate a larger radar. So, yes, the F-5 is obsolete.
It was a great aircraft for it's era but now we are in 2019.

Which is my basic point. That being that the avionics advantage. The engines are another matter but the choice of the twin engines on the F5 was based on cost. Those engines were taken from then new cheap types being introduced for Cruise missiles and drones of the era. The need being for a cheap light yet powerful little engine that Northrop than put in a fighter. F5 was designed to be cheap, easy to repair and maintain well also matching Mig21 in performance with better visibility.
F20 moved to replace this with a GE 404 developed for the F5’s grand daughter the F/A18 being a single engine it was hoped to keep costs down by using a Engine that was meant to be bought and offered in numbers and for export. This and the larger radar was hoped to offer a low low end match for the F16A then entering service. In the end the F16 proved better suited to the export market.
FC1 was started by Pakistan China and the US during a short detaunt in the 80s-90s after the death of F20. The Pakistanis had bought Chinese made versions of the Mig21. F5 was built as a match to MiG 21 in fact it was better than MiG 21. The PAF was looking to upgrade there air forces and wanted a platform that offered everything the F7 did plus the modern systems. The US of course bailed and placed sanctions on both due to political issues. The two stuck it through and developed the FC1.
The F5 however did get a radar and a few other upgrades after all it was a successful export fighter.

The problem with the F-5 is similar to the MiG-21. It has a really small nose section. Not a lot of space to put a radar into. The engines are also obsolete by now in terms of thrust-to-weight. The electronics are so paired down the choice of weapons it can carry is quite limited by modern standards. Brazil is one of the few countries which still operate the F-5 and plan to replace it with the Grippen E for example. Iran cannot buy weapons from the West. The Russians do not have an equivalent aircraft. Maybe you could argue some Yak-130 types are similar in specifications but they would be better served by something like the FC-1 IMHO.

FC1 has some of the same limitations in payload and limitations on export because of the fact it uses a third party engine. The Iranians are under a number of sactions. They would have to convince not one but two to three nations to let them buy or build them. The Russians the Chinese and the Pakistanis plus bankroll the whole thing. Being blunt Iran doesn’t have it. They have not added any major new aircraft to there Airforce since the end of the Iran Iraq war buys of Mig29 and there numbers of aircraft actually dropped when they returned a large number of airframes to the Iraqis.

With experience of Design Radar For Kowsar, Now New Indigenous Radar Built for IRIAF F-4E Phantom II

In Resent IRIAF Drill, Chengdu F-7T Dropped New "Yasin" Smart Winged Bomb (max Operational Range:60km)

Three Iranian ships arrive at port of Colombo Sri Lanka

video published 15 February 2019

After some delays, the "Fateh" submarine built in Iran joined the fleet.

sahureka said:

After some delays, the "Fateh" submarine built in Iran joined the fleet.

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From what I read it says to weigh about "600 tonnes". But according to the video it looks bigger than that. Either way pretty impressive for a country under constant US and Israel sanctions.