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HESA Kowsar (Thunderbolt)

2019 MODERN AIRCRAFT X-PLANE

History of HESA Kowsar (Thunderbolt)

The HESA Kowsar (translated as "Thunderbolt") is a two-seat, twin-engine light fighter aircraft developed by Iran's local aviation industry (Iran Aircraft Industries Corporation). The illegally copied design is from the 1950s American-era Northrop F-5 "Tiger/Freedom Fighter" platform (detailed elsewhere on this page) with air-to-air and air-to-ground combat capabilities (the latter being more limited ) . boast that the aircraft is 100% domestic effort and is equipped with multipurpose radar equipment and advanced avionics.

The first flight was recorded in August 2018.

From its long nose section to its low-mounted, small-surface-area main wing, this aircraft unquestionably and quite clearly carries the form and function of the F-5. The cockpit provides two tandem seats (the tandem cockpit configuration is used on the F-5 series-built American T-38 "Talon" premium jet trainer) under a separate rear folding canopy. Small semi-circular air intakes flank the fuselage to guide the twin-engine configuration inside. The fuselage tapers slightly towards the rear of the aircraft, with two separate exhaust nozzles attached below a single vertical tail. As with the main wing aircraft, the horizontal stabilizers are designed to be mounted low.

The main aircraft has landing flaps, a swept leading edge and a straight trailing edge. Wingtip orbital launchers are known for carrying short-range air-to-air missiles (AAM). The tricycle chassis is used for ground operation.

Notably, the land-based aircraft retains the snap hooks - a component typically used in aircraft carrier platforms.

The aircraft is believed to use the F-5's five hardpoint arrays (two under each wing and one centerline point) to carry AAMs, air-to-surface missiles (ASM), missile pods, gun pods and throwable fuel tanks.

In addition to its obvious operational value, the Kowsar could also be used as an advanced jet trainer, with students in the front cockpit and instructors in the backperhaps while retaining full operational capability. Ejection seats are located in two cockpit positions.

There isn't much to suggest that Kowsar is in any sense a "war-winning" fighting platform. It's rooted in 1950s Cold War design philosophies, and while it's been proven in the field for years, it's past its heyday -- especially in a 5.22 "Raptor", Lockheed F-35" Lighting II and Sukhoi Su-57. A victory here would be the Iranian aviation industry's success in taking an existing, proven design and retrofitting it for local purposes, but nothing more.

Iranian authorities have dubbed it "deterrence" based on lessons learned from its conflict with neighboring Iraq in the 1980s.

For now, the Kowsar design is completely unproven (war will be the ultimate testing ground), and outrageous claims have been made by Iranian authorities and state television in the past, leading many Western observers to doubt many of the proposed A development arising from Gulf power.