Iran unveils squadrons of flying boats

reply to post by FreeSpeaker

I need to get me one of those.

Why is everybody thinking of an attack purposes of these planes?

They are reconnaissance and patrol.

They are not all that different, techniquely speaking, from the planes Canada uses for coastal patrols.

Ours are bigger and have 4 engines, but that is pretty much moot.

For rapid and continuos patrols, Iran might be on to something.

Cheap and plentiful, they could have "eyes in the sky" around their territorial waters indefinitely.

Not as much of a technological leap as they are claiming (they have built light prop craft before), but still nice.

Originally posted by neo96
reply to post by FreeSpeaker

 

they wouldnt really be that effective on a carrier however if you remember the usscole and it was packed with explosives

its a threat but as to how effective it will be in use we will find out when they are used other than that only a fool will discredit any threat based on its looks.

edit on 28-9-2010 by neo96 because: (no reason given)

The USS Cole was in port and not supported any other ships. In other words it was a sitting duck. A carrier group is anything but a sitting duck.

Its really easy to discredit it because, as I already said, the superpowers abandoned that type of craft after WW2. If there was any advantage to these things you'd better believe the USA, Russia, and China would be building them.

reply to post by FreeSpeaker


The flaw in your arguement is "comparative" advantage, not just advantage.

If that was the "best" we had for the role, you bet we would use them.

The US is starting to rely heavily on drones, because that is the best they have and can afford.

Canada uses prop planes for coastal patrol, because that is the best we can afford.

Iran will apparently use flying boats.

Best we can afford is what can be fit into the budget allocated, not actual maximum that "could" be afforded.

Originally posted by peck420
reply to post by FreeSpeaker

 

The flaw in your arguement is "comparative" advantage, not just advantage.

If that was the "best" we had for the role, you bet we would use them.

The US is starting to rely heavily on drones, because that is the best they have and can afford.

Canada uses prop planes for coastal patrol, because that is the best we can afford.

Iran will apparently use flying boats.

Best we can afford is what can be fit into the budget allocated, not actual maximum that "could" be afforded.

You have a good point there. My problem is when your enemy is aiming big guns at you, how does it help to build sling shots? Why even waste the money? They cannot compete with any US or Israeli hardware and are therefore useless. Good for patrolling their shore line yes, good for engaging the US or Israel hell no.

reply to post by FreeSpeaker


Well, if you consider how quickly the US progressed from this level of tech to where they are now. Add in that Iran might be able to score some more advanced tech from China and Russia.

I would say that this is more of an exercise of building manufacturing capacity as opposed to hardware.

Once the facilities are in place it's not too hard to change the tooling, especially if some of the more exotic packages come pre built ready for install.

Originally posted by peck420
Why is everybody thinking of an attack purposes of these planes?

They are reconnaissance and patrol.

They are not all that different, techniquely speaking, from the planes Canada uses for coastal patrols.

Ours are bigger and have 4 engines, but that is pretty much moot.

For rapid and continuos patrols, Iran might be on to something.

Cheap and plentiful, they could have "eyes in the sky" around their territorial waters indefinitely.

Not as much of a technological leap as they are claiming (they have built light prop craft before), but still nice.

You are on the right track. It is not an attack plane nor is it even a plane you would put in the air during a conflict. It is however a cheap way to patrol your coasts from smuggling and such. Irans navy is hard pressed to patrol its 2440 KM coast line plus another 700 KM on the Caspian Sea. This can help fill that gap. Its a peacetime platform and for obvious reasons would stay far away from any conflict.

Originally posted by peck420
reply to post by FreeSpeaker

 

Once the facilities are in place it's not too hard to change the tooling, especially if some of the more exotic packages come pre built ready for install.

If there was any possibility of those things carrying a torpedo as has been mentioned, I would see some potential in them. A quick look at them though clearly shows they will never carry a torpedo without being completely re-designed. All they really can be with that airframe is a lightly armed reconnaissance plane.

Try -Iranian Defense.com -
they really are novel ideas..
and the iranian military is proud as peacocks.
they are a patriotic bunch. they aspire to greatness.
they may find a few chinks in the strike force..
but when it breaks loose
like it or not -the usa/nato gang will hammer away.
and the poor civilians will suffer the brunt.
as tin generals try out their new weapons.
good luck everybody..

reply to post by FreeSpeaker


Oh, I don't think they would use this plane offensively at all.

What I meant was, now that they have a facility making light planes, it wouldn't be too hard to change over to something more aggresive. All the procedures are in place, just change the toolings.

Buy a couple turbo props from China, make plane 25% larger and have a little skipper that could drop a 500lb torpedo no problem.

Like I said, the facility is more important than the product made.

Originally posted by peck420
reply to post by FreeSpeaker

 

Oh, I don't think they would use this plane offensively at all.

What I meant was, now that they have a facility making light planes, it wouldn't be too hard to change over to something more aggresive. All the procedures are in place, just change the toolings.

Buy a couple turbo props from China, make plane 25% larger and have a little skipper that could drop a 500lb torpedo no problem.

Like I said, the facility is more important than the product made.

True, but why waste money on the design and tooling when there are any number of alternatives that already exist. Can this boat plane do better reconnaissance than a cessna? I can't see Iran having a problem buying small prop planes.

Originally posted by FreeSpeaker

Originally posted by peck420
reply to post by FreeSpeaker

 

Oh, I don't think they would use this plane offensively at all.

What I meant was, now that they have a facility making light planes, it wouldn't be too hard to change over to something more aggresive. All the procedures are in place, just change the toolings.

Buy a couple turbo props from China, make plane 25% larger and have a little skipper that could drop a 500lb torpedo no problem.

Like I said, the facility is more important than the product made.

True, but why waste money on the design and tooling when there are any number of alternatives that already exist. Can this boat plane do better reconnaissance than a cessna? I can't see Iran having a problem buying small prop planes.

A believe all civilian aircraft are a part of the santions on Iran.

reply to post by FreeSpeaker


They probably wanted to insure that they have design and research capabilities.

The r&d portion is just as vital to have as the manufacturing. S,o you could buy a cessna, even build it if you want, but it leaves a gap in your design process.

Where as you setup the design process' and all you lack is the intellectual capacity, which is one area I don't think Iran lacks.

I can just see the Captain of a US Carrier seeing a squadron of these things heading towards him with their lawnmower engines buzzing away in them.

In tears of laughter, he says "Hey, what the fu**, come and look at this Mr first Officer".

He replies "Light up one Gatling Gun on the port side and get rid of them" whilst choking on his coffee!

Come on Iran, you are making yourselves and your Country look like a right load of Muppets lolol...!

Originally posted by bekod
you missed the point, yes the are fun to LOL,at but hard to see on radar, and then packed with, H.E. well i will let you think that one out.

That is correct, and also they fly at wave top of the ocean so they will be hard to detect also. Then they are faster than any surfact ship because of the simple fact that they have enough thrust for air flight. Essentially they are flying wave runners. I've seen this type of vehicle before, it's nothing new but it can be lethal. You have an enemy that has the ability to get in close and fast to the ship via skimming and/or wave flying over the ocean. they can either be packed with explosives or equiped with heavy machine guns and dumb rockets (possibly smart rockets). You can say that the jet aircraft will take care of it, I would like to see that. Those things are more manouverable and are at wave top, as soon as they change direction the jet would have to make twist and weave to try to get the craft and all this is being done while they are focused on the surface of the ocean. These craft are designed to get in quick do as much damage as possible and get out.

Yeah, I got 5 words for these things ...

"Turn! Turn! Turn! ... Oh #"

At first glance, they do make one laugh.

However, the posters commenting on how useless these would be in the air or having a limited altitude due to lack of oxygen are missing the point.

Do not think of these as aircraft, rather think of them as the gun boat evolved.

As another poster saw fit to mention, if these can carry a torpedo each, then they certainly represent a problem in numbers.

Only takes a few torpedo's to get through and a carrier goes down.

We still do not know what level of avionics they are fitted with either. Maybe an anit-submarine role? As submarines cannot dive to any significant depth where these would be employed.

Think about landing marines on the shore with these pesky little things flying at 50 ft above the waves.

Lastly, they have revealed very little about these craft, and why would they? Their role is still very much up for debate as a result.

All we can do for now is speculate as to their use, nice to see something novel for a change.

What are the advantages of having a flying boat?

flying death traps.


wouldn't want to pilot one of them in a confrontation. less if i carry a nuke.


like shootng butterflys with rayguns.

i would think that duck hunters would like these rigs.