Iran accused of ‘faking it’ in Photoshopped fighter jet blunder

By AL ARABIYA
Iran accused of ‘faking it’ in Photoshopped fighter jet blunder 640x392_56764_266089

Iran has been accused of misinformation after a posted picture, showing a fighter jet patrolling the sky, was called a fake.

The picture intends to show a Qaher-313 jet soaring over a snow covered mountain and was posted on the Iranian site Khouz News, the Telegraph reported on Wednesday.

Iranian bloggers claim the image was doctored using Photoshop.

The reflection of light on the plane and the angle of the image appear similar to a publicity shot taken at the jet’s unveiling earlier this month.

The background image is akin to a scenic view of Iran’s Mount Damavand, a photo which is widely available on the internet.

The jet, which was introduced to the public at a ceremony attended by President Ahmadinejad, is said to be the second plane produced by Iran.

The plane is said to pool the distinctive features of the U.S.’s two main fighter aircraft, the F-35 and the F-22.

Iranian Defense Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, says the plane has the ability to fly low enough to avoid being detected by radar. It can supposedly also carry a weapons payload and was constructed of “high-tech materials,” boasts the official.

Experts have voiced an opinion suggesting the plane shown at the unveiling was more likely a model replica rather than a working prototype.

According to them, the plane looks as though it was made out of plastic and lacked characteristics such as rivets and bolts that all aircrafts, including stealth ones, feature, reported the Telegraph.

David Cenciotti, who writes for the Aviationist blog, added, “the air intakes are extremely small whereas the engine section lacks any kind of nozzle: engine afterburners could melt the entire jet.”

Foreign Policy’s John Reed said, “It’s seriously unlikely that such an aircraft has room to carry the avionics, radars, electronic countermeasures, heat masking gear, and, most importantly for a fighter, the weapons that make modern stealth jets effective.”

The jet was shown to a crowd of at least one million people at the Feb. 11 rallies, held to commemorate the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Iran is no stranger to accusations of fakery.

Earlier this month the country was accused of lying about sending a monkey into space as “before and after” photos seemed to show two different monkeys.

Tehran claimed the news agency that published the first image mistakenly used the wrong photograph, denying international media allegations of Photoshop fabrications.

Iran has been known to fake such advancements; it previously claimed to have built the world’s first vertically launching drone, the Koker 1.

The vehicle was actually built by a team from Chiba University in Japan in 2008.