Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

Hi,

Does anyone know if the F14's from Iran are still flying ?

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Yeah, approx 20 of them still take to the skies.

skrip00 wrote:

Yeah, approx 20 of them still take to the skies.

How much of them did Iran buy?

Quote:

How much of them did Iran buy?

80, but only 79 were delivered prior to the Islamic revolution.
3 crashed between 1976-1979
some were lost in the war with Iraq - shot down, technical failiures, human mistakes...
1 fled to Saudi Arabia in 1986

Estimates are that they still have some 50-55 Tomcats in one piece, about two years ago they reportedly had 26-28 of those still in flying condition.

I've been told by very reliable sources that yes it is true that Iran has Tomcats but they are in no flying condition at all. Story goes that during the revolution when the Iotolla came to power, all Tomcats were "mysteriously" sabotaged by advisors fleeing the country and have been sitting in the desert ever since vitually useless. Obviously the US is not going to supply parts and maintenance to keep them flying. If anybody has any proof as to otherwise please chime in.

Obviously thats not the case since they were used as AWACS aicraft in Iran-Iraq and are still tracked on radar by US forces in the area.

They flew sorties during the war with Iraq and shot down
Iraqi planes - and some are flying now
Want proof? Here it is flying together with an IRIAF MiG-29 (Iran bought Fulcrums in 1990)

EDIT: here's a video of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_aZ7qSg0NY

Actually the Tomcat looks good in these colors ! The Fulcrum's paint scheme is kinda hideous actually - looks like a pre-production aircraft lol.

One must suppose that even if these Tomcats are still flying they mustn't be of any great strategic value against Saudi AF and USAF ?

Well, just attack Saudi Arabia when it rains. Lord knows those Saudi "prince" pilots wouldnt dare fly in anything but sunny and clear skies!

AFAIK there haven't been a photo of a iranian F-14 in flight since 2004 or 2005 during a naval exercise.
Usually they would take part in Army day parades and national day fly overs but haven't happen in a while.

Elite 1K Joined: May 26, 2005 - 08:39 PM Posts: 1496

Anything looks better than the "Navy gray mixed with fuel, hydraulic fluid and grime" that Tomcats had late in their life. In 2004 I was at an air show that had an F-14 on static display. It was just filthy.

Well, obviously they are flying less and less as time goes by.
They have even a smarter paint scheme since 2000 or so - dark sand and light blue
Some pics to get an idea about the new camo...

The thing is, it is believed they no longer have any operational Aim-54's.

They now use an adapted version of the Hawk SAM in its place.

Andy

If your looking for some good info about Iranian Tomcats you should pick up Ospreys book Irainian F-14 units in combat, has some nice pics and alot of info about what they are up to. Also check out Combat Aircraft Vol 7 No 6. nice article about the Iranian AF and the Tomacts.

J. Twisted Evil

Last edited by toan on Aug 01, 2006 - 05:49 AM; edited 1 time in total

Combat Aircraft Vol 7 No 6 (April, 2006):

1. The total number of F-14A in Iranian AF now: 56

2. The number of flyable F-14A in Iranian AF now: 44

3. The number of operational F-14A in Iranian AF now: 29

4. Iranian new weapons for F-14:
a. Fatter WVRAAM.
b. Sedjil BVRAAM (Modification from Hawk SAM).
c. Yasser air-to-ground missile (Combination of M-117 bomb and Hawk missile).
d. Self-restraint AIM-54 BVRAAM (Development had been finished in 2003, and about 30 missiles was built in 2005).

5. Iran bought 270 AIM-54 from USA in 1970s, and about 40% of them was still useful in 1999.

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

Iranian F-14 Tomcats still flying?