Forum: Off-topic

Last edited by falcon17 on Feb 03, 2012 - 06:36 PM; edited 1 time in total

How do they manage to keep those old tomcats flying or even overhaul them? Shocked

My apologies for the typo. Meant to say Iran not Iraq.

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Very, very carefully...

Not ALL the Tomcats there still live. Many have given their lives so the others can survive. Reverse engineering will get you some 'new' parts, but many things, especially engine components, are extremely difficult to manufacture. Processes down to the way metals are mixed, heated, and formed can be all the difference in a turbine blade that lasts and one that creates a rather large aluminum lined crater.

Politics aside, I have to give their 'engine guys' some credit; how many decades has it been without support of the TF30, and they still have some that operate.

Keep 'em flyin' Thumb

TEG

Most, if not all, of the Tomcats at AMARG were scrapped and shredded to keep the Iranians from getting replacement parts from 3rd and 4th party channels.

Their WEPS people did a neat trick some time ago by hanging an old Hawk SAM off one of the underwing pylons. Yeesh! Laughing

(from militaryphotos.net)

There was nothing on the Iranian version of the F-14A that could not be cloned, especially with help from the Israeli intelligence community. If not for the Israelis the Tomcats probably would have been replaced with Fulcrums a couple of decades ago.

Huh? In what universe would the Israelis and the Iranians work together in anything weapons-related?

We don't really know what their tomcats are even capable of. For what its worth they could literally be on the verge of falling apart and be restricted to a load of 3 Gs. Still, the Iranians are probably very careful with their fighters as replacement parts for them are being made as difficult as possible to come by and most of their own fighters have probably already been cannibalized for parts just to keep one or two squadrons flying.

And if their Tomcat drivers are told not to over-exert the jets that are still air worthy, then by extension the drivers themselves may not be on the same level qualitatively with western pilots when it comes to pushing their jets in a combat scenario. If you haven't trained to fight your jet aggressively then you're in for a big surprise when ya go cranium-2-cranium with someone who has. I'm not saying the Iranian Tomcat pilots are slouches. But if they try to get into an engagement with someone who's had even rudimentary experience at one of our Flag events then it's gonna get real ugly for the Tomcat.

Roscoe wrote:

Huh? In what universe would the Israelis and the Iranians work together in anything weapons-related?

It's old news. Apparently you aren't from this world.

Well, there was one less in January and it took the 2 pilots with it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mid ... story.html

The Pakistanis were putting F-86 seats and radios in their F-6s to keep them flying back in the 80's. Flying them and fighting with them are two totally different things.
fisk

Forum: Off-topic

How does Iran manage to keep the old F-14 Tomcats flying?