American accused of trying to sell F-5 to Iran

Source: Philadelphia Enquirer

When a certain F-5 Tiger fighter jet outlived its military use years ago, it was sold for surplus, and the plane became the toy of a rich Californian. He leased it as a big prop for Hollywood movies.

This year, the fighter jet became the star of a real-life sting - against an American accused of trying to sell it to Iran.

The F-5 is the centerpiece of an undercover Homeland Security investigation that stretched from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to Budapest, Hungary.

An arms broker from California has been charged with trying to sell the jet for $3.6 million to Philadelphia-based agents who were pretending to work on behalf of the Iranian military.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20101216_American_accused_of_trying_to_sell_F-5_to_Iran.html

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The "unidentified wealthy owner" of the plane has not been implicated or charged.

wouldn't want to sully their name or anything.

he might have just hired the arms broker to sell it and didn't know the broker was trying to sell it to iran.

I doubt it would be too much of a threat to national security, particularly if as stated it had outlived it's military use and was "civilianized".


Seems like more security theater to me.

Certainly not a security threat to the country.

NO! It could be retrofitted and armed with nuclear warheads that Iran doesn't have. It could penetrate U.S. airspace because we'd never be looking for an F-5 to attack us (they've always been our friends), and then wham-o! The smoking gun becomes a mushroom cloud, and then all you libruls would be really sorry then, boy. And then--and, and, and then . . .

Jeez, why doesn't Fox pay me for giving them these great ideas for scaring the numbskulls who watch them?

he was just following the lead of elected officials
he was just trying to help bring down the trade deficit

Seriously, this is total crap.
A civilianized version of this plane would be largely usless to any foreign military.

Iran's air force has a decent number of F-5s currently in use and with the embargo they can't get parts for them such as engines, landing gear, etc.

It's possible that particular frame is relatively unused by comparison to the Iranian front-line aircraft. They may wish to tack all their parts onto it and retire an older frame.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/irans-new-saegheh-fighter-enters-service-02596/

Chuck Yeager was hauled in to endorse another cousin of the F-5, the F-20 Tigershark. As a cheap and relatively dumb 9G dogfighter, it could have swarmed the skies by comparison to the more expensive replacements ordered (which have yet to arrive in large numbers).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa0V_5Eo_8s

Another cousin of the F-5 is the much loved T-38 trainer/chase plane.

Not to be confused with the Chinese J-5, which was sold abroad as the F-5, which is actually a MiG-17.

Edit: I should add that unless fielded in huge numbers and centrally guided over a secure communications system, the F-5 is outclassed by virtually every other fighter in the sky--it simply can't get close enough to anything to hurt it. If the Iranians are seeking out individual frames, it seems certain that the swarm idea ain't gonna happen any time soon.

Is this plane still even capable of flight? If it is someone deserves and incredible amount of credit for being able to keep the airframe in good condition and being able to procure spare parts.

As far military aircraft are concerned, the F-5 is nearly a relic. It's almost a Sopwith Camel of fighter jets. I could understand if this person tried to sell off technical schematics for an F-18 or F-22. But a F-5 which is practically pre-Vietnam era. This is pure BS.

Not only that but the guy tried to sell manuals for an F-4 Phantom, another aircraft that had long since been retired from major military service. I would suspect that some are still in use in the reserves or in some state air-national guards. The last one I saw sitting on a flight deck of a retired aircraft carrier with both engines and cockpit instruments removed. Some threat.

It almost sounds as if the plane's owner kind of thought he could dispose of the plane like an old car, and thought this broker could save him the headache of trying to sell it. He probably should have done some due diligence first.

Heck, if some guy has enough discretionary income to put down on a demilitarized fighter jet as recreational toy, someone is making way too much money.

And another 60 F-4s. As to how many are capable of operations due to lack of parts is another question.

:silly:

I seriously doubt any actual Iranian was involved in the process, because trying to sell them an obsolete F-5 is about as sensible as trying to sell them a Zeppelin.

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Source: CNN

The arrest followed a seven-month government sting operation, authorities announced.

Marc Knapp, 35, also was charged in a criminal complaint with two felony counts of attempting to export other aircraft parts and controlled technology


In July, Knapp allegedly sent a contract for the fighter jet to the undercover agent and demanded a $3.25 million purchase price. Knapp was arrested in Delaware in July while negotiating plans to fly the aircraft from California to the East Coast, where it subsequently was to be crated and shipped to Hungary and eventually Iran, the documents state.

During their meetings, Knapp also informed the agent that he had various defense parts and allegedly admitted procuring an F-14 ejection seat, which was sold to the agent by another source. Over the course of their interaction, Knapp provided the agent with various lists containing items for sale, including fighter jet emergency manuals, survival radios and antigravity suits, according to court documents.



Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/12/17/california.iran.sting/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

It pumps air into bags at the legs to keep blood from leaving the upper body during high G maneuvers.

Actually, it's not even much of a suit. It's a couple of air bags in the calf and thighs.

Iran makes their own a/c based upon the f-5 (1960's technology) according to what I have read on the net. I suspect this was a sting from the get go for this guy.

much less, afford to fly the thing? It sucks up fuel at an amazing rate, and I find it difficult to believe this thing could be flown across the country and not be identified an a whole fist full of radars. Wouldn't someone question landing on a civilian field, (Certainly, using a military field would bring hordes of MP's/AP's/SP's etc...This is right out of some weird sci-fi scenario.

I find this astounding if this guy really believed he could get away with this...:eyes:

caveat: I recall when in stationed in Germany I read about a Russian in East Germany selling high quality steel to a recycler for vodka money. He had swiped a T-74 and was stripping it down a piece at a time and using the cash to purchase cases of vodka. In another case, a GI fired up an M60-A3 and drove it on a drunken rampage in small town, the thing was combat loaded, the only things missing were the machine guns and the electric firing mechanism for the main gun...but you really don't need them to create carnage, the tank alone squashed some 20+ cars and tore out the corners of numerous buildings. I remember there was a Court-Martial for the GI, and I think he got 25+ years in Leavenworth, but I may be off on the # of years. The government was on the hook for about $16 million in damages. The kid ran over a chicken coop and not just the chickens counted in the tracks and other avian corpses were counted, they calculated the cost of eggs based on the ages of the chickens in how much was owed...:eyes:

Probably bought it at a gun show.

might make a good ride at a Theme Park; w/o the attending F-14 it's pretty worthless other than that...:D

saying anything about it, this guy could steal an F-14 from an airforce base and fly it to the east coast where he would land on another airforce base and tow the thing to a hanger, box it up, put a ribbon on it, have a truck come in and use a crane to load it, then put it on a ship to send to Iran just as easily.

One question. Did he want the 3.25 million in American Money?