New Iranian jet fighter

Is it just me or does this look suspiciously like an American two seat F-5?

I bet this can take it down

New Air Force light attack plane moves quickly toward combat

You are correct, I think they are just rebuilt with additional goodies

Seeing how Iran already had USA made F-5's, not hard to imagine that they would build based off that design. Easy to reverse engineer when you have some already. Not like they could buy new ones from the USA, so they just made their own.

I was wondering about that.

As long as they just have the one, we should be fine.

Yep, F-5 Tiger II look alike.

seems stupid to threaten us with a weapons system we know inside and out. I'd like to see it in action against a super hornet.

Meh.

It's probably a Russian made copy.

Just open it up and head for the nearest USN ship.

Bye bye

Looks like a newer version of the plane that 5 o’clock Charlie flew in that episode of MASH.

Ratz knows what I’m talking about.

I could take that down with a .243

They are called the T-38 now. The airframe's capabilities play second fiddle to the radar technology anyways. No matter how well your plane performs if you can't see the enemy and they can see you, then you will lose.

f35 wouldn't even need to be in the air to kill that.

It looks like a blinged out copy of the T38's they fly out at Sheppard.

If they are saying this is a deterrent to US fighters or surface ships they would have a problem. An F22 could shoot them down from 100 Miles. I think they are probably more for use against the local tribesmen or super tankers in the Gulf of Arabia or civilians in Yemen.

Why did they put a Bullseye target over the fuselage?

In my humble (LOL!) opinion, if they had copied the F-5G, aka F-20 Tigershark, I would be worried. A non-radar, gun only F-5G would be a hand full for any modern fighter.

they are still way ahead of the North Korean Air Force that still has some biplanes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2

Large numbers of cheap, powerful, reliable aircraft is a hard combination to over come.

Admit it. You googled MASH 5 o’clock Charlie didn’t you?

oh no. I knew who 5 o'clock Charlie was without having to look it up.

Oh yeah. I'm an old.

Brazilian made with Pratt Whitney Canada engines? Not very American.

This.

Defense strategists have to decide which path to take...high tech, expensive, aircraft with huge capabilities...or, cheaper, agile, fighters that you can mass produce.

The T-38 and F-5 are not the same aircraft. The t-38 is a twin engine trainer capable of exceeding the speed of sound. I have 120 hours in it.

The F-5 has, iirc, a single engine. It is designed as a combat aircraft. It was used to simulate enemy fighters at combat tactics schools.

The T-38 is a 2 seater, the F-5 a single seater.

The USAF Thunderbirds flew T-38s.

Seems they did some upgrades..

Correct, but it's the same airframe.

Just your typical Mig...

525 gallons of fun.

I saw them up close and personal at Langley around 1975, my oldest was just a baby then. It was an impressive show.

The worst plane to refuel was the a-4. Took a single point and an otw. The Navy sucked.

F5s are twin engine and some had two seats. Lots of variants.