Iranian Tomcats

I cannot believe that (IF such a Grumman team existed - source?) they would have had access to all 79 aircraft - which were scattered across several squadrons. Sorry, I dont buy it.

Originally posted by Lonestar24
I cannot believe that (IF such a Grumman team existed - source?) they would have had access to all 79 aircraft - which were scattered across several squadrons. Sorry, I dont buy it.

I watched it on a program on the History channel about the F-14 in Spanish the program is called volando en el tiempo (Flying in Time or something like it in English).
The program stated that before the Grumman engineers were evacuated from Iran they stole critical parts from the planes and that was the main reason they didn't play a major role in the war against Iraq...

I'll try to find something on the net about it

Originally posted by tomcat ha
If i ever get rich i want to get myself a F14.

I would too, well try n save up $38 Million Dollars

Originally posted by Lonestar24
I cannot believe that (IF such a Grumman team existed - source?) they would have had access to all 79 aircraft - which were scattered across several squadrons. Sorry, I dont buy it.

It was the Harris engineers that did the most damage, as they sabatoged the VAST (Versatile Avionics Shop Test) Stations that were used to maintain the avionics. The majority of flight critical systems were maintained by this system, the first comprehensive ATE (Automatic Test Equipment) sytem, and there were no alternate means of bench testing those avionic systems. The normal repair cycle interupted, the up time for the Iranian F-14's is severely limited, and their mission capable status is questionable at best.

[edit on 28/1/2006 by Mirthful Me]

I suppose it'd be relatively simple to reverse engineer and make parts that can get the tomcat flying, though trying to reverse engineer and build new tomcats based on what they had would be another matter. For example, if the automatic control of the wing sweep was sabbed, a manual control could be rigged. (more workload on pilot, but the job can still be done) Which is probrably the only reason Iran has ANY F-14s still in the air.

Edit: found the article on Global Security.org, Which seems to indicate they started the Iran/Iraq was as highly capable fighters...

When the Iran-Iraq War started in 1980, Iran's F-14s, equipped with Phoenix missiles, capable of identifying and destroying six targets simultaneously from a range of eighty kilometers or more, inflicted heavy casualties on the Iraqi air force, which was forced to disperse its aircraft to Jordan and Oman. The capability of the F-14s and F-4s was enhanced by the earlier acquisition of a squadron of Boeing 707 tankers, thereby extending their combat radius to 2,500 kilometers with in-flight refueling.

Iranian F-14 Tomcats were used like miniature AWACS, reporting Iraqi fighter operations to Iranian air defense commanders with their powerful radars. In response, Iraqi Mirage F1-EQ fighters flew high-speed, low-altitude profiles, well below the Tomcat's radar limits. The F1-EQ would pop up directly beneath the Tomcat's orbit, briefly illuminate the F-14 with its radar, and fire one or two air-to-air missiles at it. Iran lost several Tomcats this way.

so, did they run out of missiles, or what?

[edit on 25-1-2006 by Travellar]

I heard that the Iranians were getting russian help in keeping the fleet of f14s air worthy and that they may be gaining new radars and glass cockpits etc though what theese radars would be i dont have a clue, though i did here somewhere that some f14s may have been retrofitted with with flanker variant engines? ,I raised the issue of missiles earlier in this thread,the phoenix missiles supplied originally were a down graded version of the a model with less resistance to counter measures , far as i can tell the missiles ran out in 1986 and from then on the f14s were armed with a mix of sparrows and sidewinders and always escorted by f4s or f5s.
so my remaing questions would be one, does any one know about the russian upgrades and could this be done to a such a degree as to nullyfy the wear and tear on what is quite an old airframe. two any info on proposed weapons fits ,are the iranians developing missiles to replace the sparrows,i fond some brief info on a proposed medium range missile or would the f14 be more likely to recieve russian aams such as the r33 amos which may have been origionally developed with intel provided to the russians by the iranians in the first place .

It's certainly possible, as the Iranians have already retro-fitted the aircraft with a domestic air to air missile. I think engines are usually the first componet expected to reach the end of it's useful life, so upgrading to a Soviet engine is entirely possible. (And I'm not so blindly patriotic to believe the Russians don't have any engines supirior to what we were selling 30 years ago) Airframe stress is the next big factor, but Grumman has a reputation of building extremely solid aircraft, even earning the nickname "Grumman Iron-works". Tires, hydraulic pumps, ect are all easily replicated by Iranian industry. With a steady supply of replacement engines and parts, those aircraft could theoreticly be operated indefinately.

It is widely reported that the Iranian's used the Tomcat as a fighter in the war against Iraq. They have intergrated modified Hawk SAMS as AAMs but that' hardly likely to be a high performance solution.

Recent multi-billion $$$$$ defence deal with Russia involved large numbers of SAMs (SA-15) and upgrade of Mig-29 and Su-24 fleets -so Tomcat looks to be in further decline.

I have a question
What percentage of Tomcats do you think are operation right now? (e.g. the US decided to invade Iran tonorrow how many would be able to take off an intercept B2's, B 52's F-15E, etc.)

The Global security article estimates 7 aircraft, or 10%.

I would be afraid if Iran had managed to somehow keep most of theire F14's working. F14's and Mig25's or mig31's are the best planes you can have against a Awacs.