Flying Above the Controversy: Boeing’s Latest Tech

Many years ago, I asked my Dynamics class Professor why a company in Mexico would want to buy a thoroughly worn-out processing plant (sugar, in this case) that was so old that there were no longer any original construction plans.

He responded that (Mexico) could take it apart, piece-by-piece, draw their own plans, and then be able to make any number of brand-new plants that they chose to finance.

So, just how many (benefits) to Iran's aircraft, military, and missile technologies do you think Iran will gain from following a similar plan-of-action?...

Just to clarify, NO, this type of sale should not happen with Iran because we've already given them way too much cash, haven't we???...

There is a big difference between a sugar plant and a modern jet with modern electronic systems.

This isn't China we are talking about, do you really think Iran has the technology, ingenuity and interest in reverse engineering the plane's technology? If so who would honestly be interested in purchasing Iran-made knockoffs?

Even IF Iran was interested in reverse engineering the plane for use in its own market do you really think they could do it any cheaper or better than Boeing?

They wouldn't be reverse engineering and selling Boeings secrets to other countries either. Those that would be interested would already be able to obtain the IP easier by just buying the plane and doing it themselves (eg-China, Russia).

So, just how many (benefits) to Iran's aircraft, military, and missile technologies do you think Iran will gain from following a similar plan-of-action?...

I wasn't aware that the new Boeing planes were going to be armed?

Seriously thou, as you pointed out about subsystems being potentially reverse engineered to assist in improving Iran's military there are easier ways of getting these, like buying them direct from Russia (or possibly China), but again Iran just doesn't have the capability to use anything they could get from a commercial plane to meaningfully improve a military system unless they redesigned and built something almost from scratch, again which they don't have the capability of doing and atleast matching the original quality of the equipment they had.

Obviously, all based on my opinion.

What?...

You don't think Iran would be verrrrrry interested in becoming able to build better (jet) engines for their own military aircraft and longer-range rocket engines, do you???

Interested, of course, capable noooo.

Some examples.

Their recent supposed stealth jet was a hopelessly embarrassing fake mock-up that was even too small for a pilot.

irans-photo-shop-team-hard-at-work

There missile systems didn't work properly, never mind Photoshop to the rescue.

Faked missile test

Their reverse engineering of the good old 50 year old American Cobra attack helicopter they say is better than the modern American AH-64 Apache <sic>.

introducing-irans-newest-attack-helos

And their reverse engineering of the American F-5, again a 50 year old American design fitted with obsolete Russian weapons, again they say is comparable to the American Hornet.

irans-f-5-knockoff-fighter-now-at-squadron-strength

Iran had American F-5's for over 40 years and have only recently re-produced knockoffs of them.

Iran is not a threat to any of the major powers from a military equipment point of view, they just don't have the design and engineering capability to catch up.

Reverse engineering things like jet engines and military systems is not simple. Major powers are smart enough to hold on to their military IP, which is much more of a threat if it got into the wrong hands.

Back in the '60s, we laughed at the import cars from Japan, etc.

Now, Toyota, Honda, etc., are some of the world sales leaders, and I'm not laughing now...

Iran-wise, that is how it starts...

Enjoy your denial, while it lasts...

This isn't an apples for apples comparison. You only have to look at China to see just how hard it has been for them to develop and modernise their military to compete with American and Russia from a technology and build quality point of view, and they had virtually limitless resources in comparison to Iran and access to western and Russian military IP (through various means).

Iran is not going to noticeably (if at all) increase its conventional military threat level if Boeing sells them some modern commercial air planes. You can take that as my personal opinion as an Engineer and military defence contractor.

(When was the last time you read anything about Chinese history?...

It makes ''Game of Thrones'' look like a pleasant afternoon tea party...

Their J-20 is a (vanilla) copy of our F-35, and it is not a coincidence...).

But, back to the topic of the original Post:

The mistake I made back in the sixties was that I did not fully appreciate that Japanese car makers had to face stiff competition directly with each other in order to compete successfully for car sales in Japan, before they ever expanded their sales efforts to the USA...

By your own list of Iranian efforts to similarly (mimic) our military technologies, they are clearly in the early stages of trying to similarly compete directly with us...

By your own list of Iranian efforts to similarly (mimic) our military technologies, they are clearly in the early stages of trying to similarly compete directly with us...

As we have both said of course they are. I will go further and say my assertion is that they don't and will never have the resources and ability to match the equipment coming out of America, Russia or China. Not in superiority or in quantity. Not unless you expect Iran to suddenly develop into a first world country, but I don't see this happening due to numerous reasons.

Again just my personal opinion, and that IS me taking into account the rise and development of Japan and China into the powerhouses of industry and development they are today and (very importantly) how they got there.

I honestly don't see the same happening for Iran like you are thinking, not unless their was a MAJOR political and culture change that rocked the very foundation of the country and pushed them on a different and focused path (as happened with Japan).

Also I think you may be missing that their is a big difference between commercial car sales and military equipment sales. Yes you can grow and develop a market by selling internally, learning and refining designs and techniques before expanding out to other markets but you cannot do this with small run military equipment like you can do it with low cost commercial vehicles. It just isn't sustainable.

If we were talking about commercial products like cars then I would be far more conservative in my doubts about Iran's ability.

Soooooo, getting back to the original question I personally don't see selling some modern commercial airlines to Iran as being a big IP theft problem.

By your logic, New Zealand should never have developed the capacity to compete successfully for the America's Cup in 1995...

Point taken, but still not a true apples to apples comparison in my opinion. Again, point taken.

We could go on, but I believe Boeing and the US government have already made the final decision as to whether or not this constitutes a threat to American and NATO interests in the area.

North Korea's long range missile and nuclear programs, now that is a threat.