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PERSIAN TOMCATS | DAVID CENCIOTTI

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The aviationist

presents

David Cenciotti

Persian Tomcats IRIAF F-14: the world's last flying Tomcats

http://theaviationist.com/



Introduction

During the 1970s, Iran became the only country besides the U.S. to purchase the

Grumman F-14A Tomcat. Although it was cut off from Washington’s support

following the embargo imposed after the 1979 Revolution, the Iranians were able to

use the Tomcat during the 8-year war against Iraq, and then keep their fleet

airworthy and combat capable throughout the years.

With the U.S. Navy retiring the type in September 2006, the Islamic Republic of Iran

Air Force (IRIAF) is today the only operator of the F-14, a type that they plan to fly

until 2030! Through a series of domestic upgrades, Tehran’s Tomcats have been

modernized with new avionics (Radar and Radar Warning Receiver) and weapons,

including the R-73E, AIM-54A, AIM-7E and AIM-9J. Although their effectiveness in a

modern scenario is at least controversial, the Persian Tomcats remain some of the

world’s most interesting and rare legacy combat aircraft.

The stories about the Iranian Tomcats that we’ve published on The Aviationist in the

last years and that you’ll find in this ebook will shed some light on the past, present

and future career of the F-14 in IRIAF service

David Cenciotti Founder & Editor




TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................................................. 4

RUSSIAN SUKHOI SU-27S + IRANIAN F-14S + IRANIAN F-4S = THE MOST EXOTIC FORMATION EVER! .................................................. 4

HOW IRIAF F-14 TOMCATS COULD BE (EFFECTIVELY) USED IN COMBAT AGAINST ISRAELI OR U.S. PLANES OR DRONES ........................... 8

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MILITARY PARADE: IRAN CELEBRATES ARMED FORCES DAY ...................................................................... 11

THIRTY MINUTES TO CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER JET: HOW THE SHAH OF IRAN CHOSE THE F-14 TOMCAT OVER THE F-15 EAGLE ................. 15

IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT FIGHTER JETS GET A MODERN "SPLINTER" COLOR SCHEME ......................................................................... 19

IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT'S "NEW" INDIGENOUS AIR-TO-AIR MISSILE IS ACTUALLY AN (IMPROVED?) AIM-54 PHOENIX REPLICA ................ 20

IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT CRASHED LAST YEAR MISTAKENLY DOWNED BY IRANIAN AIR DEFENSE? ........................................................ 21

IRANIAN F-14S VS UFOS: URBAN LEGEND OR WEIRD DRONES IN ACTION OVER IRANIAN NUCLEAR PLANTS? ........................................ 23

IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT IN "SPLINTER" COLOR SCHEME APPEARS AT ISFAHAN OPEN DAY ................................................................. 26

THE MOST INTERESTING WARPLANES OF THE IRANIAN AIR FORCE OPEN DAY ............................................................................... 28

IRAN STAGES "MASSIVE" AERIAL PARADE WITH F-14, F-4, MIG-29 AND SEVERAL OTHER WARPLANES ............................................... 31

PHOTOS OF WORLD'S LAST ACTIVE SERVICE F-14 TOMCAT JETS OVERHAULED IN IRAN .................................................................... 36




CHAPTER 1

RUSSIAN SUKHOI SU-27S + IRANIAN F-14S + IRANIAN F-4S = THE

MOST EXOTIC FORMATION EVER!

Posted on January 31, 2012

Although some pictures of this unbelievable formation have been already published on some

aviation website, the Russian Knights, Russian Air Force aerobatic display team has released some

more images of the weird formation of Russian Su-27s (with the supporting Il-76), IRIAF (Islamic

Republic of Iran Air Force) F-14 Tomcats and F-4 Phantoms taken during the ferry flight that took

the team home from the Bahrain International Air Show 2012.

A unique opportunity to see some really “exotic” planes flying in (loose) formation over Iran, in a

quite tense period.




Image credit: Sergei Shcheglov Russian Knightsvia




HOW IRIAF F-14 TOMCATS COULD BE (EFFECTIVELY) USED IN COMBAT

AGAINST ISRAELI OR U.S. PLANES OR DRONES

Posted on March 16, 2012

A previous article about the theoretical Israeli strike on Iran with the rendering of an F-15I dropping

bombs on Tehran got a lot of attention and sparked debate. Someone criticized it for not being

enough realistic, even if I had explained that the image had to be taken as such even if contained

one (or more) wrong details. It was not supposed to be accurate that’s why I didn’t ask Al Clark, who

designed it, to correct some elements of artist freedom.

In this article, a new Al’s artwork below gives me the opportunity to write something about one of

the most famous aircraft in IRIAF inventory: the F-14 Tomcat.

According to “IRIAF 2010“, the book published by Harpia Publishing and written by Tom Cooper,

Babak Taghvaee and Liam F. Devlin, that I consider one of the most detailed sources about Iran’s Air

Force, due to the lack of some spare parts, the fleet of more than 40 Tomcats is roughly divided into

“airworthy” and “fully mission capable aircraft”.

The first fly without primary weapon systems and/or no AWG-9 radar; the second can perform QRA

(Quick Reaction Alert) and air defense missions.




These aircraft are based at TFB.8 (Tactical Fighter Base 8) Baba’i near Eshahan, in central Iran.

Hence, although IRIAF officials have described the current fleet of F-14s as “completely overhauled”

and “improved”, and referred to it a a “new generation of bombers” in the recent past, only a small

amount of Tomcats can be used for air defense purposes in spite of the large amount of spare parts

that Iran was able to clandestinely collect after the type was retired by the U.S. Navy and the efforts

of various domestic companies to produce some specific parts and subsystems.

What is the role the Tomcat could play in a hypothetical war against Israel?

As already explained in the blog post about the possible long range strike on Iran’s nuclear program,

IRIAF interceptors, should play “hide and seek” with the enemy forces: they could hide from the

incoming packages and try to achieve some kills during the egress phase. They could be effective by

simply disturbing the strike packages to let them “feel” the threat and waste some gas.

The Tomcats could somehow be effective against isolated targets, like drones, mainly before or after

the first waves of air strikes: even a UAV kill could play a role in the psychological war against Israel.




For sure, radar activation would be reduced to a minimum: during the most intense part of the air

campaign their AWG-9 radar would be either jammed (although it was domestically modified or

locally upgraded to make it more jamming-resistant) or detected as soon as switched on, with the

latter hypothesis implying the risk of interception by enemy fighters.

Obviously, just in case: before the whole thing starts the planes should be dispersed on one of the

several Iranian airbases to prevent them from being destroyed on the ground at TFB.8.

Image by Al Clark for The Aviationist




ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MILITARY PARADE: IRAN CELEBRATES ARMED

FORCES DAY

Posted on April 17, 2012

Just a couple of days after North Korea displayed its military hardware in Pyongyang, during which

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivered his first public televised speech since the failed rocket

launch, a new military parade took place in one of world’s most hot places: Iran.

On Apr. 17, Iran commemorated National Armed Forces Day with a ceremony attended by President

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and several of high-ranking military officials.

According to the Mehr News Agency, thousands goose-stepping soldiers took part to the parade in

which some military vehicles and equipment were displayed, including the new generation of the

Zolfiqar tank, the Samsam tank, the Borragh personnel carrier, the Naze’at missile launcher, the

Misaq 2 missile launcher, the Badr tank transporter, and advanced radar and missile systems.

Several planes attended the “show” as well, including IRIAF F-14s, and Su-24s (performing aerial

refueling), even if, to be honest, nothing comparable to the 70 F-15Es launched yesterday by the

U.S. Air Force from Seymour Johnson AFB.

If I were to choose between the IRIAF current fighters and the 70 F-15Es of the 4th FW, most

probably I’d pick the Strike Eagles.




Image credit: ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

Addressing the military personnel, Ahmadinejad said:

“Security in the Persian Gulf will be promoted with the participation of regional countries, and the

interference of foreigners will bring nothing but insecurity,” he said.

A message to Israel, U.S. and some regional allies, in anticipation of a possible (imminent?) attack

on Tehran’s nuclear program.




Image credits: AP Photo/Vahid Salemiand ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images




THIRTY MINUTES TO CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER JET: HOW THE SHAH OF

IRAN CHOSE THE F-14 TOMCAT OVER THE F-15 EAGLE

Posted on February 11, 2013

Despite all the skepticism about the actual airworthiness of Iran’s new stealth fighter “Qaher 313”,

one thing is certain: Iran is still flying the iconic Grumman F-14.

More than 6 years after its last flight with the U.S. Navy, the Tomcat is still in service in a small

number of examples with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), to such an extent, Iran has

recently tested a brand new air-to-air missile dubbed “Fakour”, for the combat plane made famous

by Top Gun.

In fact, 80 F-14s were ordered by the Shah and 79 were effectively delivered. The procurement of

the Tomcat to Iran was very important not only for Grumman, which was facing serious cash flow

problems due to the difficult development of the aircraft, but also for the future of the fighter itself,

since at the time F-14’s program was affected by schedule slippage and cost overruns.

When the Shah announced his intention to replace the old F-4 Phantoms in service with the Imperial

Iranian Air Force, it was clear that both the USAF’s new F-15 and the Navy’s F-14 would have had

the same opportunity to become Iranian’s main fighter.

So, after briefings held by USAF and Navy personnel in the Shah’s palace in Tehran, Iranian officials

decided that it would have been the flight demonstration at Andrews Air Force Base, near




Washington DC, scheduled in July 1973, to determine which one between the two fighters, would

be the best to satisfy the then Imperial Iranian Air Force’s requirements.

The flight demonstration was scheduled not to exceed 30 minutes from the first take off to the

landing of the second aircraft.

The base was closed for that short time in which at the presence of the Shah, the two U.S. fighters

had to fly their demonstration: it was decided that the USAF’s F-15, piloted by Irv Burrows

(McDonnell Douglas’ test pilot), would have performed first, while Don Evans and Dennis Romano

(Grumman’s test crew) with their F-14, would wait their turn after the Eagle.

While the F-15 taxied onto runway, Don and Dennis started engines of the Tomcat ahead of the

schedule and burned down fuel in the warm up area during the Eagle demonstration, to reduce the

difference in thrust to weight ratio between the two fighters. However F-15’s demonstration was

spectacular, not only for the raw power of the aircraft but also for pilot’s skills: Burrows was a great

pilot and that day, he showed all his ability.

The flight demonstration was the same for both aircraft: it consisted in a sequence of maneuvers

beginning with a high performance take off followed by an Immelman turn and climb-out, then a

descent to a high speed fly-by, two high-g low altitude turns followed by a slow speed fly-by in the

landing configuration and last, the landing.

Since the F-15 has a higher thrust to weight ratio than the F-14A, the Eagle performed a really

impressive flight profile during which it pulled an incredible 7-g 360 degree turn.




After the F-15 had finished its display, everyone was waiting for the underpowered F-14A

demonstration: the Tomcat’s TF-30 engines would have not given to the aircraft the same thrust to

weigh ratio of the Eagle.

However, during the F-15’s performance, Evans and Romano burned down a great quantity of fuel

and now they had only 2,500 pounds of remaining gas: while this little quantity was only sufficient

to accomplish their flight demonstration, 2,500 pounds was also one eight of the Tomcat’s internal

fuel capacity and thanks to this fact the Tomcat had the same thrust to weight ratio of the Eagle.

At this point the F-14 had one thing that the F-15 didn’t have: variable geometry wings that would

have made the difference for the grace of the flight demonstration.

Don and Dennis pushed both throttles to full zone five afterburner (which was the maximum

afterburner thrust setting for TF-30 engine) and took off to perform the same demonstration of the

F-15: the sequence of the maneuvers was just like the Eagle’s one, but the Tomcat’s crew, during

the knife-edge pass, decided to sweep the wings from fully swept to fully forward and then they

executed a turn at the maximum Tomcat’s performance, producing a large cloud of vapor off the

wings due to the shock wave..

Then approaching the mid with the wings swept at 40 degrees, the Tomcat went into a full

afterburner 360 degree 8 ½ g turn accelerated to 400 knots, very impressive to see. To end the

demonstration, Evans and Romano added a touch-and-go landing: when the main landing gears

came in touch with the runway they inserted full zone five afterburners and the Tomcat climbed in




vertical. At this point, while they had almost ran out of fuel, they made a spectacular carrier landing

approach and they fully stopped in one thousand feet of runway.

Once the show ended, the Shah literally ignored the Eagle and walked directly towards the Tomcat

speaking for some minutes with the crew still sat in the cockpit of the fighter: he’d chosen the

Tomcat, saving the Grumman and assuring a future to the F-14.

Image credit: Grumman/IRIAF, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy




IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT FIGHTER JETS GET A MODERN "SPLINTER"

COLOR SCHEME

Posted on September 04, 2013

The photo in this post depicts the first Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-14AM (“Modernized”)

landing at Tehran Mehrabad International Airport in April 2012.

Iran still operates some Tomcats that are being modernized to extend their operative life. Domestic

upgrades include avionics, weapons (R-73E, AIM-54A+ “Fakkur”, AIM-54A, AIM-7E and AIM-9J are

among the air to air missiles adapted to the aircraft’s fire control system) and color scheme: indeed

the plane was give a three-tone Asian Minor II camouflage pattern resembling the one adopted by

Russian 4th and 5th generation fighter planes and U.S. Aggressors.

Image credit: Babak Taghvaee




IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT'S "NEW" INDIGENOUS AIR-TO-AIR MISSILE IS

ACTUALLY AN (IMPROVED?) AIM-54 PHOENIX REPLICA

Posted on September 26, 2013

Among the hardware on display during the annual military parade in Tehran, on Sunday Sept. 22,

2013, Iran not only displayed a new indigenous passive phased array radar system for detecting

stealth targets and cruise missiles, but it also showed the country’s latest home-made missile

productions, including the Fakour-90.

The Fakour-90 missile is one of latest “state-of-the-art productions” of the Iranian Armed Forces

which can be mounted on F-14 fighter jets. It’s almost identical to the AIM-54 Phoenix and, more

than a brand new missile, is just a domestically upgraded, partially reverse engineered version of

the famous long range missile carried by the U.S. Navy Tomcat.

The AIM-54 was developed in the mid-sixties and the IRIAF has operated some of them. Even if we

can’t talk of a “new missile”, we can’t but notice that the Iranians managed to keep them in service

and, maybe, upgrade them a little bit. What’s even more surprising is that Tehran managed to keep

the F-14s airworthy, considered the sanctions on Iran and the consequent lack of spare parts for the

Tomcats.

The different component is hidden inside the missile’s nose cone and is (probably) a semi-active

homing system of the Shalamcheh surface-to-air missile - once again a reverse engineered,

improved version of the U.S. MIM-23 Hawk SAM.

Image credit: FNA, PressTV




IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT CRASHED LAST YEAR MISTAKENLY DOWNED BY

IRANIAN AIR DEFENSE?

Posted on November 04, 2013

In the early morning hours of Jan. 26, 2012, an Iranian F-14A (serial 3-6062 that can be seen here)

was scrambled to intercept a ‘UFO’ near the port city of Bushehr in south of Iran. Less than 5 minutes

into the flight, the mighty ‘Tomcat’ disappeared from the ground control radar. The pilot and RIO

both lost their lives in the crash.

So far the Iranian regime has attributed the cause of this terrible incident to some unknown

technical failures.

But that was not the case.

The ‘3-6062’ F-14 was one of the best maintained aircraft in the Iranian Air Force’s inventory

assigned to critical ‘QRA’ duties in the important port city of Bushehr where Iran’s sole nuclear

reactor is also located.

But what was the cause of this mysterious crash?

The Iranian regime has not revealed much beyond its official line that the crash was due to technical

issues. But now it can reliably be said that the ‘Revolutionary Guards’ air defense near Bushehr 6th

tactical air base shot this valuable ‘Tomcat’ down.




The regular air force officers I spoke with over the past week claim that the IRGC’s air defense

personnel are “totally unfamiliar” with the type of aircraft flying for their own country. One of them

told me that the ‘IRGC’ AAA personnel fire at anything that might scare them. Although my guess is

that they fire at all high speed flying objects out of fear of getting reprimanded for not actually

fighting.

This story exposes an existing gap between the regular armed forces and their more radical

revolutionary guards’ comrades. A gap that could be exploited during a coalition air strike to de-

fang the Iranian regime and its nuclear weapons facilities.

Winston Smith for TheAviationist.com

Top image: IRIAF




IRANIAN F-14S VS UFOS: URBAN LEGEND OR WEIRD DRONES IN

ACTION OVER IRANIAN NUCLEAR PLANTS?

Posted on November 10, 2013

Retired by the US Navy more than seven years ago, the iconic Grumman F-14 remains in service with

the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF). Iran extensively used its Tomcats in the Iran-Iraq War

and the F-14A is still today the backbone of IRIAF air defense.

In the last years the “Persian cats” have reportedly flown against a very particular threat: the

Unidentified Flying Objects, universally known as UFO.

More detailed information about this weird use of the last operational Tomcats can be find in the

October 2013 issue of Combat Aircraft.

An interesting article written by Babak Taghvaee gives an exclusive overview of IRIAF F-14s missions

conducted to intercept UFOs. But according to Taghavee these unknown flying objects didn’t

conduct any extraterrestrial activity: “When Iran’s suspicious nuclear program was revealed to the

public, Western nations, led by US and Israel, warned it to abandon its nuclear activities. The US

attempted to gather information concerning the activities at three important Iranian nuclear

facilities: the reactor of Bushehr, an additional reactor in Arak and the fuel enrichment plant at

Natanz. A number of reconnaissance UAVs were sent to collect intelligence to help prepare for a

possible attack.”




To intercept UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), IRIAF F-4Es and F-14As, based to Bushehr to serve as

QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) interceptors, were scrambled several times. But the American drones

have astonishing flight characteristics: “Including an ability to fly outside the atmosphere, attain a

maximum cruise speed of Mach 10, and a minimum speed of zero, with the ability to hover over the

target” as explained by Taghavee. These performances along with their powerful ECM make the F-

14s unable to operate their weapons.

But, according to Taghavee, at least one time a Tomcat was able to come very close to an

engagement with one of these “UFOs”: “In one case over Arak in November 2004, the crew of an F-

14A armed with two AIM-9Js and two AIM-7E-4s spotted a luminous object flying near the heavy

water plant of the Arak site. When the beam of the jet’s AN/AWG-9 radar painted the object, both

the RIO and pilot saw that the radar scope was disrupted, probably due to the high magnetic energy

of the object increasing the power of the reflected radar waves. The pilot described the object as

being spherical, with something like a green afterburner creating a considerable amount of

turbulence behind it. The Tomcat crew achieved a lock-on when it was flying a linear and constant

flight path. Once the pilot selected an AIM-7E-4 to launch against it, the object increased its speed

and then disappeared like a meteor.”

This kind of flight were suspended after several attempts to intercept the US UAVs were made by F-

4Es and F-14A over the Bushehr, Arak and Natanz plants, but, as reported in the article, another

mission was launched around the 04.20hrs on January 26, 2012, when “an Iranian Air Defense




Command radar site near Bushehr identified an unknown aircraft flying towards the area. An F-14A

was ordered to scramble. At 04.30hrs it took off from TFB.6, ( 6th Tactical Fighter Base, placed near

Bushehr) but seconds later the fighter exploded, killing both crew instantly. The reason for the

incident remains a mystery, and the aircraft involved was one of the fittest IRIAF Tomcats, with the

lowest flying hours in the fleet.”

This Tomcat was the serial 3-6062, the one that could have been shot down by the “Revolutionary

Guards” air defense as explained recently by The Aviationist. So if this was the cause of the

“incident” (several sources believe the F-14 was not shot down by “friendly fire”), it becomes clear

that there wasn’t any UFO involved in this mishap and it remains unexplained only the nature of the

drones involved in the intelligence activity over Iranian nuclear plants.

We can affirm that while many times in the last years several UAVs flew over Iran to gather

information (such as the stealthy RQ-170 captured in December 2011), a drone with flight

characteristics like those described by Taghvaee is still unknown, unless we assume the SR-72, a

replacement of the SR-71, or something similar, is already covertly flying.

But again, Taghvaee has no doubts about the nature of these unidentified flying objects, since in his

article he says that “After two years of research on the objects flight profiles and examination of

remnants of a crashed example recovered in 2006 (in both Iran and then by experts in Russia), the

Iranian Army specified that they were US intelligence drones.”

Dario Leone for TheAviationist.com

Image credit: IRIAF Facebook page




IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT IN "SPLINTER" COLOR SCHEME APPEARS AT

ISFAHAN OPEN DAY

A DOMESTICALLY UPGRADED IRANIAN F-14 TOMCAT WEARING A THREE-TONE ASIAN MINOR II COLOR

SCHEME TOOK PART IN THE FLYING DISPLAY.

Posted on February 21, 2014

The photos in this post were taken last week at the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) Open

Day at Isfahan International Airport – TAB 8 airbase.

They show one of the F-14AM (“Modernized”) aircraft that have been reportedly updated with

modern avionics, and indigenous weapons, that took part to the flying display with some flybys.

As previously noted, the modernized Tomcats wear a camouflage pattern resembling that invented

by the U.S. Marine Corps.

How many Tomcats have already received the new paint job is still unknown




Image credit: MEHR News Agency




THE MOST INTERESTING WARPLANES OF THE IRANIAN AIR FORCE OPEN

DAY

EVERY YEAR FROM MAR. 21 TO MAR. 31 THE REGULAR IRANIAN AIR FORCE HOLDS AN OPEN HOUSE

AND EXHIBITION SIMILAR TO THOSE ONE MIGHT SEE IN NORTH AMERICA OR EUROPEAN NATIONS.


The Open Day of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force is a legacy left from the former Imperial

Iranian Air Force where military installations were opened to public more often than not.

Actually, the recent air show at Dezful 4th air base also coincides with the Persian Norooz and the

annual trips to former Iran-Iraq warfronts/trenches taken by the enthusiastic Iranian public.




Among the aircraft on display, obviously, several U.S. types locally modified, including the legendary

IRIAF F-14 Tomcat, the F-4E Phantom (like the two involved in a close encounter with an American

F-22 over the Persian Gulf last year) and the F-5 Tiger.

The IRIAF still operates some Mig-29 Fulcrumsas the one depicted in the image below.




Su-24 Fencer:

Image credit: Danial Behmanesh/nahaja.aja.ir




IRAN STAGES "MASSIVE" AERIAL PARADE WITH F-14, F-4, MIG-29

AND SEVERAL OTHER WARPLANES

THE TRADITIONAL MILITARY PARADES AT MAUSOLEUM OF THE LATE FOUNDER OF ISLAMIC REPUBLIC, IMAM KHOMEINI, SOUTH OF CAPITAL TEHRAN SAW THE FLYOVER OF SEVERAL WARPLANES, INCLUDING

THE LEGENDARY F-14 TOMCAT.


On Apr. 18 Iran celebrated the National Army Day with a traditional and interesting fly past of most

of its active warplanes. Eight formations for an overall 27 aircraft took part in the aerial parade: not

really “massive” as some Iranian media wrote, still an interesting opportunity to see the majority of

the IRIAF (Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force) fighters and bombers in the air.




The fly past featured F-5F Tiger, F-5E Saeqeh, FT-7N, Mirage F.1EQs, F-14A Tomcat, F-4E Phantom,

Mig-29UB Fulcrum and Su-24Mk Fencer divided in 8 formations.




One of the formation was a mixed flight made of a Mig-29UB, an F-4E, an F-14A, a Mirage F.1BQ-3

and a Su-24Mk.




As highlighted by a member of the ACIG.org forum, both Mirage F.1BQ-3s were carrying F-5E/F

external fuel tanks thanks to domestically designed and manufactured underwing pylons.

Obviously, no sign of the famous F-313 Qaher stealth jet.




Along with the fixed wing aircraft, 26 helicopters of their Iranian Army Aviation performed their fly

past which included AB-206Bs, AH-1Js, Bell 214As and CH-47Cs.

Image credit: IRNA News Agency




PHOTOS OF WORLD'S LAST ACTIVE SERVICE F-14 TOMCAT JETS

OVERHAULED IN IRAN

THE IRANIAN AIR FORCE IS THE LAST OPERATOR OF THE LEGENDARY F-14 TOMCAT.

Posted on March 01, 2015

The photos in this article were recently released by FARS News Agency.

They show some Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-14 Tomcat jets be overhauled at an unspecified

location (Tehran Mehrabad International Airport according to some sources).




Iran still operates some Tomcats that are being modernized to F-14AM (“Modernized”) standard to

extend their operative life until 2030. Domestic upgrades include avionics (radar and RWR) and

weapons: R-73E, AIM-54A, AIM-7E and AIM-9J are among the air-to-air missiles adapted to the

aircraft’s fire control system.




The Iranian Tomcats can also carry the AIM-54A+”Fakour-90” missile: a domestically upgraded,

partially reverse engineered version of the famous AIM-54 Phoenix long range missile of the U.S.

Navy F-14s.




The IRIAF F-14s are also being given a three-tone Asian Minor II camouflage pattern loosely

resembling the “splintered” one adopted by Russian 4th and 5th generation fighter planes and U.S.

Aggressors.




Tehran is believed to operate a fleet of about 60 F-14seven if the number of combat capable aircraft

is unknown. According to some rumors, there would be plans to use the Tomcat in the air-to-ground

role as well.




Anyway, in some way or another one Tehran managed to keep the F-14s airworthy, a significant

achievement considered the embargo on Iran and the consequent lack of spare parts for the

Tomcats.




Image credit: FARS News agency

H/T to user “ASFTD” on ACIG forum for the heads-up




avid Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome,

Italy. Born in 1975, he’s a private pilot, a former 2nd Lt.

of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) and a

graduate in Computer Engineering. Since 1996, he has written

for major worldwide media outlets and magazines, covering

aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and

cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and

Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces.

His work has appeared on Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft,

Global Aviator, War is Boring, Revista Força Aérea, Fighter

Tactics, Aeronautica & Difesa, Airline, RID, Rivista Aeronautica,

Airplanes, Jack, Tech News Daily and Innovation News Daily and

he's regularly interviewed by newspapers, televisions and

radios. He's the founder and editor of The Aviationist, one of

the world's most read and followed military aviation blogs, and

he has written four books and contributed to several

publications.

D




http://theaviationist.com


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