We recently posted Koker 1, Iran’s VTOL UA offering. Daily I am seeing stories claiming it to be a worlds first in class.
When I first saw it I knew it was something I had seen before but just could not think where. It had stuck in my mind because it looks like they used Easystar wings! I am sure they are not, just very similar.
I sat down this morning to add something about why the Koker 1 is not the worlds first of this type and remembered the original platform.
Its the Quad Tilt Wing or QTW UAV a project that came out of The Chiba University in Japan, in collaboration with composite company GH Craft the airframe had its first flight in 2008 and was said to be able to carry a 5kg payload for 15 minutes at 81kt.
Now this is where I had seen the image before
http://mec2.tm.chiba-u.jp/~nonami/english/research/uav/gal.html
Perhaps the Iranians have purchased one of these platforms to experiment, or maybe somebody has been handy with Photoshop I will let the reader decide.
Iranian press release image
(cough) Chiba University Image
Made me smile on a Friday morning!
