Source: voidstomper on Instagram
Somewhere over Iran, an Iranian fighter (likely from the Basij Militia) engages a U.S. Navy Lockheed-Martin F-35C Lightning II in a low-level dogfight. The Iranian Air Force was already an aging fleet of aircraft that included Grumman F-14A Tomcats and McDonnell-Douglas F-4D and F-4E Phantom II fighters and so far, some 30 aircraft of various makes have been destroyed. In order to make good on the promise of “American soldiers and their equipment will be destroyed...” made by Iranian military spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has deployed a heretofore unknown aerial vehicle in their arsenal; the flying carpet. Commonly associated with Middle Eastern tales, the flying carpet also appears in Chinese and Russian folk tales. However, until now, it was believed flying carpets remained confined to the pages of story books.
From appearances, the militiaman is using a Tabriz style Persian rug configured as a flying carpet. Size is difficult to determine with any accuracy but a good estimate is 9 feet long and 6 feet wide. The carpet is likely made up of high quality wool or silk with a cotton foundation and hand woven and knotted. The carpet is piloted by a crew of one who uses vocal commands for the carpet start sequence and to maintain flight control and direction. The carpet can be remotely piloted though the operator has to be within 2.5 feet of the carpet at all times due to being vocal controlled.
The average flying carpet can attain a maximum speed of 55 miles per hour with only the pilot while larger flying carpets can only muster 20 miles per hour. Here, the IRGC flying carpet is clearly capable of keeping up with a F-35C which has a maximum speed of 806 miles per hour at sea level. It remains unknown what system(s) permit the pilot to remain upright at such speeds.
The IRGC flying carpet carries no armor protection for either itself, the pilot, nor any passengers the carpet may be carrying. At high speeds, as evidenced here, risk of injury from bird strikes and debris is very high and it can be assumed that flying at high speed through dust and sand choked airspace would not be pleasant. Speaking of passengers, a flying carpet of the estimated size given above has a total carry capacity of 800 pounds. It is believed that the system(s) which permit the pilot to remain on the carpet during flight, also keep cargo or passengers from being ejected off the carpet at speed.
In addition to supporting no armor, the IRGC flying carpet is also completely unarmed outside of weapons carried by the pilot and/or passengers. In this instance, the pilot is armed with a 7.62x39mm AK-47 assault rifle. Assuming the standard 57-N-231 steel-core bullet (designed for personnel and unarmored weapon systems), the round has a 2,356 feet per second muzzle velocity and at 300 meters, a competent shooter can land at least half of the shots fired in a 75mm circumference circle. At 300 meters, the round can penetrate 6mm of steel plate. This is likely not enough to get through the F-35C's aluminum and titanium alloy skinning. In addition, the Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 turbofan engine is protected by armor plating and the F-35C is equipped with redundant systems to account for any amazingly lucky shot that actually hits a system. As the 57-N-231 round's accuracy falls off after 300 meters, the pilot would need to close to within at least 300 meters in order to land any hits but this makes the flying carpet susceptible to wing tipping in which the F-35C slips a wing underneath the carpet then effects a roll, flipping the carpet over and ejecting the pilot. The F-35C pilot could also pull in front of the flying carpet, creating a significant volume of local turbulence and if combined with usage of the F135-PW-100 engine's afterburner, then maintaining control of the flying carpet would become extremely difficult (let alone the intense thermal increase that would easily overwhelm the pilot's natural layers of dermis protection).
In a dogfight, the IRGC flying carpet is vulnerable to the F-35C's GAU-22/A 25mm 4-barrel rotary cannon in which a successful hit to the pilot would result in catastrophic damage and the carpet would lose control and drift to the ground. Hits to the carpet itself would not immediately cause any degradation in capability as the rounds would simply cause a hole in the material. Only a concentrated burst beneath the pilot that rapidly compromises the material has the potential to bring down the carpet when the pilot has to shift focus to prevent himself from falling through. The F-35C could engage the IRGC flying carpet with a AIM-9X Sidewinder air-to-air missile as the pilot's infrared signature is enough for the missile's imaging infrared seeker head to lock on to but at a cost of around $400,000 per missile, it is an expensive method for a kill in comparison to using the cannon.
To date, there have been no verified shoot-downs of U.S. military aircraft by IRGC flying carpets though IRGC propaganda has released AI generated content showing flying carpets successfully shooting down U.S. fighters.
