ToddE
Trusted Member
I finally got his answer, I don't have control over his time...
Haha, Emirzad, you're persistent, I love that, but you're heading straight for disaster with your accusations. ROFL in return? OK, challenge accepted.
First, to clarify once and for all: no, I'm not Mr. Iran Eye, nor his phantom "Mr. X." It's Reza, period. Ex-HESA, as I said, I worked on the avionics of the modernized F-5s before switching to civilian use (and yeah, the sanctions don't help with sleep).
The Telegram group? Not secret, man, it's a restricted chat with 70-90 guys, like ex-colleagues, pilots from the 2nd Tactical Airbase, Iranian military enthusiasts, and a couple of analysts who follow the IAIO tenders. We share scans of internal reports (not public, but not classified either), blurry photos of Tabriz or Isfahan, and laugh at memes about "ghost zincs." If it were all a load of rubbish, why would I come here to be teased? I have a life, a job in Tehran, and tea to drink.
Now, on to Kowsar, because that's where you really go off the rails. You cling to serials like a lifebuoy, and that's cool, respect for the grind on WAF (I used to hang out there too, before they kicked out anything that smelled Iranian). But "only three"? In 2025, with satellite images from Planet Labs or Maxar that anyone can grab for 50 bucks? Let's get down to brass tacks, no bullshit:
3-7400, 3-7164, 3-7180: Yeah, all three were delivered for a parade at Hamedan in June 2020. Photos everywhere, even on PressTV. No debate.
The fourth one (no public serial number): Seen as a primer outside at HESA in late 2021, as you say, but it wasn't an abandoned prototype. It's the chassis for Block 10 testing (upgraded avionics with the Grumman multifunction system and local HUD). Confirmed by a former shop employee who sent me a blurry photo via DM last year: painted and moved to TFB.2 (Sheikhbabaei) for integration, late 2022.
The fifth: March 2023, Tabriz (TFB.7), light gray, serial number partially obscured on the runway edges, but it's 3-7421, according to the logs my friend (still active) saw. No public HD photo (IRIAF isn't Instagram, especially with all the US drones flying), but satellite imagery shows a spotter caught it in low flight this summer.
Sixth and seventh: In assembly since Q1 2024, two-seaters for the Kowsar-88. Upgraded Owjeh engines (F-5 cannibal + local tweaks for flight hours). Not delivered yet, but the line at HESA is running – slow due to parts, but not stopped. And what about the 16 that are still in development? This is from the official IRIAF press release (November 2024, via IRNA), to replace the aging Safir aircraft in training. If it was just talk, why allocate post-sanctions budget?
Jane's? Yeah, they're lenient on Iranian serial numbers (too many legal risks), but WAF doesn't have everything either; they only count what's publicly leaked, and the IRIAF masks serial numbers for new aircraft (basic security, not a conspiracy). "Mass produced batch"? Not quite a factory producing 100 per year like the Sukhoi, but a squadron (12-16) by 2027, that's the goal. Iran isn't moving at the speed of the F-35, but we're not clowns either. And the Yak-130? Good idea for drills, but for pure combat? The Kowsar is cheaper to scale locally, and with the tensions in the Gulf, we prefer to keep our eggs in our own basket.
Look, I get your frustration. The IAIO has messed up big time (Azarakhsh, Saeqeh prototypes galore), and there's corruption, for sure. But to say "downfall" because of guys like me? Nah, it's the sanctions and budgets that kill, not the "narratives." If I'm lying, why won't there be a scandal in 2025? Come on, throw out your recent WAF sources or your 2024-2025 satellites, we'll compare, and if you're right, I'll concede and buy you a virtual round of tea. Otherwise, shall we stop the "Bob of Baghdad" nonsense and discuss aviation like pros? What do you say?
To all those who keep repeating "the Kowsar is just a rebadged F-5, zero future": Tell that to the pilots of the 23rd TFS who have been flying real CAP missions with it since 2022.
Tell that to the HESA engineers who replaced 70% of the systems with local components (4th generation AESA radar, Iranian HUD, Link 16 made in Iran, in-house RWR).
Tell that to the IRIAF commander who announced in November 2024 that the first full squadron (12-16 aircraft) would arrive by 2027-2028 to replace the F-5E/Fs on the front line. It's not an F-35, nobody claims that.
It's a light, inexpensive fighter, 100% sanctions-proof, costing ten times less per flight hour than a MiG-29, and capable of dropping Qassed, Sadeq, and Akhavan missiles without relying on Russian or American parts.
The future of a fighter jet isn't always stealth and supercruise.
Sometimes it's simply: "It flies, it fires, we repair it with whatever parts we have on hand, and it's there tomorrow morning when we need it." For Iran, in 2025, that's exactly the future.
And the Kowsar ticks all the boxes. Period.
So you finally agreed that 5 aircrafts exist in 7-8 years.
You wasted everyone's time and forum space, making up twisted stories of secret inside scoop groups and in the end you repeated the exact same thing everyone knows for years that project is stuck with 5 prototypes of an advanced trainer/light CAP/CAS in 8 years ! Rest of what your alternative e-persona wrote, is already well known since the day they showed the 3-7400 prototype so nothing is new. IRIAF is already preferring YAK-130, thanks but no thanks.
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