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Iran showcases its military strength ("Super-Modern Flying Boat")
China Daily ^ | Updated: 09:27, April 05, 2006

Posted on 04/04/2006 10:04:02 PM PDT by demlosers

TEHERAN: Iran successfully tested a "super-modern flying boat" yesterday and the land-to-sea Kowsar missile that military analysts say is designed to sink ships in the Gulf, state media reported.

The tests came in the middle of the country's Gulf war games that started on Friday. State radio said the Kowsar could evade radar and that its guidance system could not be scrambled.

The Defence Ministry was not immediately able to give details of a "flying boat" that was shown on television. The small propeller-driven aircraft floated on a trimaran hull until it took off and flew low over the surface of the water. State television said it could reach speeds of 100 knots.

"A super-modern flying boat was successfully tested in the 'Great Prophet' war game in Persian Gulf waters," state television said.

"Because of its hull's advanced design, no radar at sea or in the air can locate it. It can lift out of the water. It is wholly domestically built and can launch missiles with precise targeting while moving."

The military exercise is being held as pressure from the West, especially from the United States, rises on its nuclear programme.

Iran's military technology might not be highly advanced, but analysts say Iran would not need much know-how to cause chaos in vital oil shipping channels.

They say Iran could be testing arms in the Strait of Hormuz, a key tanker nexus, to dissuade Israel and the United States from taking military action against nuclear-power sites.

The United States said it was possible Iran had developed weapons that could evade sonar and radar but warned the Islamic Republic had a tendency to "boast and exaggerate."

Earlier in the war games, Iran said it had tested a radar-evading rocket and the Hoot (whale) underwater missile which could outpace any enemy warship.

On Monday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard test-fired a torpedo it said was being mass-produced in Iran.

"With intelligent missile terminals, Iran is capable of confronting any assaults from forces outside the region," the official IRNA news agency quoted Revolutionary Guards Commander-in-Chief Yahya Rahim as saying.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed the West's concerns about developments in Iran's missile capabilities. "Iran has never attacked any country. Our military doctrine is defensive doctrine," he told reporters.

Source: China Daily


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aeronautics; aerospace; aerospaceengineering; aircraft; aviation; flyingboat; flyinglawnmower; watercraft; wig
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To: Army Air Corps
These Ekranoplan things have their place, and that is for moving more high-value cargo or personnel than an airplane can carry, faster than a ship can sail. Ground-effect flight is quite efficient. If you need to carry a battalion of special forces across the Caspian sea in two hours, the Ekranoplan is just what you need.

Only a raving idiot would use these monstrosities as an offensive weapon to attack an American carrier battle group. They'd be blown to matchsticks in the harbor as soon as they got up to speed.

-ccm

41 posted on 04/04/2006 11:13:54 PM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order)
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To: demlosers
These look to have virtually the same silhouette.


42 posted on 04/04/2006 11:16:34 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (Freedom isn't free--no, there's a hefty f'in fee--and if you don't throw in your buck-o-5, who will?)
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Hey Iran:

I don't care if all the weapons you BOUGHT from NON-MUSLIM Russia, North Korea, China etc. work as they say they will.....

They still won't save you when you force the civilized world to act.


43 posted on 04/04/2006 11:31:49 PM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: LibertarianInExile
Good catch!

Iranian developed flying boat my #ss.
44 posted on 04/04/2006 11:43:24 PM PDT by demlosers
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To: Army Air Corps

That ones close to destroyer sized too, they made monster WIG craft.


45 posted on 04/04/2006 11:44:01 PM PDT by Axenolith (Got Au? Ag?)
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To: demlosers

All it needs is some carpet.


46 posted on 04/05/2006 12:12:36 AM PDT by HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath (My Homeland Security: Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper)
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To: Fedora

That was more advanced in the '60s. It could split into four independently controllable sections, after all.


47 posted on 04/05/2006 12:14:45 AM PDT by Rastus
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To: demlosers
Super secret lranian lawnchair-balloon anti-ship discombobulater

48 posted on 04/05/2006 12:56:55 AM PDT by sully777 (wWBBD: What would Brian Boitano do?)
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To: demlosers

Call me dumb, but it sounds as if they want US to believe that they have formidable weapons and are itching to use them. Isn't that what Saddam convinced us about Iraq?


49 posted on 04/05/2006 1:51:05 AM PDT by Ruth A. (we might as well fight in the first ditch as the last)
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To: sully777

Fruit of the Loom appears to be diversifying...


50 posted on 04/05/2006 2:03:35 AM PDT by Gunny P (Gunny P)
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To: sully777
American response...


51 posted on 04/05/2006 2:37:56 AM PDT by RaceBannon ((Prov 28:1 KJV) The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.)
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To: demlosers

I thought Jesse James already built this on Monster Garage.


52 posted on 04/05/2006 3:30:17 AM PDT by Bluedaddy
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To: demlosers

"...Maverick, you've got your bogey...."


53 posted on 04/05/2006 4:02:52 AM PDT by Victor (If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert." -David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister)
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To: sully777

How did you get that photo of the super secret Iranian airborne forces?


54 posted on 04/05/2006 6:02:57 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (The UN 1967 Outer Space Treaty is bad for America and bad for humanity - DUMP IT)
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To: demlosers
"super-modern flying boat"???

Only to someone with a 6th century worldview.
BTW, did the Iranians hire Baghdad Bob as their new military spokesman?

55 posted on 04/05/2006 7:06:24 AM PDT by Klatuu
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To: presidio9

56 posted on 04/05/2006 7:16:19 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Conscience: the inner voice which warns us that someone may be watching. - H L Mencken)
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To: LibertarianInExile
Unless the Iranians have some major aeronautical talent they're not telling anyone, this may not be a very stable flying configuration, based on accident history. From Forbes, 10/1/2001:

A Wing and a Prayer
Monte Burke, 10.01.01

Would you be willing to commute in a flying ferryboat?

William Russell thought his dream of a hybrid boat-plane was finally taking off as he saw his Flarecraft rise above Long Island Sound one recent morning. Within seconds the five-seat winged craft was zipping 5 feet over the water at 60mph. It was a proud moment for Russell, who watched along with an executive from Lockheed Martin, which had agreed to buy two of the unlikely vessels.

Less than a minute into the demo, the Flarecraft pitched up into the air, crashing on its side in a shower of water and plane parts. The pilot wasn't hurt, but it was another setback for Russell, 53, who has spent 14 years and $10 million trying to revolutionize water travel.

With a 225hp Continental aircraft engine, 21-foot wingspan and an airplane-shaped body, the Flarecraft can travel 350 miles in three and a half hours on 47 gallons of fuel. Before taking off it floats like a seaplane on pontoons attached to its wingtips. At 20mph it begins to lift the pontoons, and at 60mph it's airborne, skirting the water by 1 to 10 feet. It works by using "wing-in-ground effect." The shape of the Flarecraft's wings slow down air under the wing, lifting the craft while decreasing drag--similar to the way a bird uses the air when it swoops near water.

A former investment banker, Russell dreamed of a newfangled commuter craft while schlepping to Wall Street on the subway in 1987. A sailboat racer and radio-controlled-plane junkie, he fantasized about a small, Jetsonesque vessel that could travel by air but take off and land in water like a seaplane. Then a friend mentioned the late Alexander Lippisch, a German who discovered wing-in-ground effect. Russell licensed the patents from Lippisch's widow for an undisclosed royalty.

He had German firm Messerschmitt Bolkow Blohm develop ultralight planes, but scrapped them when he discovered the bodies were too heavy. Russell then worked with boatmaker Merrifield-Roberts. In 1994 the four-seat Trainer, with a Lycoming 160hp engine, was featured as a $250,000 pleasure craft in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog. Despite 400 inquiries from well-to-do thrill seekers, Russell backed out of selling the Trainer, fearing liability. Merrifield bowed out, too. "We didn't feel it was a viable vessel," says John Merrifield, cofounder of the boatmaker. "It wasn't properly engineered."

Russell refocused on slightly larger craft that companies could use as ferries--assuming the risks themselves. He coaxed $5 million from investors and manufacturers, including Ticom, a former Northrop Grumman unit, to develop the current model, which adds a seat and boosts the payload to 1,200 pounds.

But as Lockheed learned, the latest version is still far from perfect. Surface tension in the water can sling the craft out of control or cause it to bounce violently. There's also a tendency for the craft to pitch nose up. Such problems have led to five wrecks. In April a customer wiped out spectacularly in Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay after altering the design of the plane. The pilot was injured and the plane destroyed. The same month the Coast Guard banned civilians from the craft and restricted the times and areas in which it can fly.

Russell is trying to drum up another $10 million to develop a 12-seater. The idea is to compete with island ferryboats in places like Greece and the Bahamas. By his math, some 300 Flarecrafts could generate $1 billion in sales charging $1 a mile per seat. It might be easier to put a pig into self-propelled orbit.
57 posted on 04/05/2006 7:34:47 AM PDT by Yossarian ("If you're going through hell, KEEP GOING!" -- Winston Churchill)
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To: demlosers

bump for later reading


58 posted on 04/05/2006 8:09:36 AM PDT by laotzu
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To: HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath


Super Duper Iranian Stealth Floor Covering and Personal Aviation Vehicle
59 posted on 04/05/2006 8:13:32 AM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: Army Air Corps
Yes, the Ekranoplan. This one was designed to carry and fire anti-ship missiles.

AKA, the "Caspian Sea Monster". It was one big bugger, as you can judge by the relative size of the cockpit windows.

60 posted on 04/05/2006 9:11:26 AM PDT by El Gato
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