Posted on 04/05/2015 8:55:11 AM PDT by pinochet
Did You Know that American advanced F-14 Tom Cat Fighter Jets, helped to keep Ayatollah Khomeini in Power during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s? When Iran was under the pro-American Shah of Iran, America sold 79 F-14 Tom Cats to Iran in 1974-1978. The world's most experienced combat pilots in the F-14 are Iranians. According to Wikipedia:
"...In 1980, an Iranian F-14 shot down an Iraqi Mil Mi-25 helicopter for its first air-to-air kill during the Iran–Iraq War. According to research by Tom Cooper, within the first six months of the war Iranian F-14s scored over 50 air-to-air victories, mainly against Iraqi MiG-21s and MiG-23s, but some also against Su-20s/22s. In exchange, one F-14A was lost to a MiG-21.
Between 1982 and 1986 Iranian Tomcats were to see use in a series of slowly developing campaigns: mainly tasked with patrolling the skies over objects vital for the survival of Iranian regime and economy, like Tehran or Kharg Island. Most of these patrols were supported by Boeing 707-3J9C tankers, and some lasted as long as 10 hours with up to four in-flight refuelings. Time and again, they were involved in new air battles, and performed well but their main role was intimidating the Iraqi Air Force. Cognizant of previous heavy losses in battles against Iranian F-14s, the Iraqis avoided any engagement with them, so that the sole presence of a Tomcat over the target area was enough to force Iraqi formations to abort their attacks. Because of this, and because of the precision and effectiveness of the Tomcat's AWG-9 weapons system and AIM-54A Phoenix long-range air-to-air missiles, the F-14 maintained air control over a lengthy period of time.
Iranian ace Jalil Zandi is credited by Tom Cooper with shooting down 11 Iraqi aircraft during the Iran–Iraq War, making him the highest scoring F-14 pilot. By 1987, the Iraqis had suffered such heavy losses to Iranian Tomcats that they were forced to find a solution with which they could engage them under equal circumstances. In early 1988 France delivered Mirage F.1EQ-6 fighters, armed with Super 530D and Magic Mk.2 air-to-air missiles, to Iraq.
Overall, Tom Cooper claims that Iranian F-14s shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the Iran-Iraq War, which include 58 MiG-23s, 23 MiG-21s, nine MiG-25s, 33 Dassault Mirage F1s, 23 Su-17s, one Mil Mi-24, five Tu-22s, two MiG-27s, one Dassault Mirage 5, one B-6D, one Aérospatiale Super Frelon, and two unknown aircraft..."
Nixon sold them the F-14’s
I remember when the USA finally stopped the training of Iranian jet pilots. All their American girl friends were weeping and wailing as the pilots were put on a plane and given the heave ho.
Apparently not. In addition Iran has reverse engineered the F-14, so parts from the U.S. are no longer necessary. So I guess my first statement may have not been completely correct. If so I stand corrected.
Yes, I read the same information after I made that statement.They even reverse engineered the AIM 54.
I found Iranian Engineers to be the same.
After two years he suddenly got walked out of the building.
Sanctions went into effect when the Shah was removed. Meaning spare parts were banned.
Iranians tried to manufacture spare parts but could not, especially electronic components.
Also, spare engines are scarce and banned from import (sanctions, you know, the same sanctions obozo wants to lift).
This means the once “mighty” fleet of Iranian F-14’s is nothing more than a few that can fly and none that are what can be considered “operational.”
A decade ago they had less than five flyable jets and those that could fly were nothing more than hulks flying along. No teeth.
Software and radars are old, trashed and non-functional.
Especially weapons software. . .protected even back then with anti-tamper limitations. Try and re-code the fire-control software/system and poof, the whole code dissembles like pulling on a thread to a sweater. . .just falls apart. This results in non-fucntioning fire-control software. . .and radar and engine controls being screwed up.
Occasionally you will see propaganda photos published by the Iranians showing the F-14 with come “new” weapons capability, but that is all it is. . .fake propaganda. . .like when they strapped a Hawk missile on the under-wing and called it a new weapon capability. . .like a Hawk could just be strapped to a jet and there you have it. . .a new weapon. Software update, what software update. . .
Foreign military sales (FMS), or “Security Assistance” comes with special technology limitations and the Iranians were never sold the top of the line jets with software.
It is obozo that is trying to lift sanctions so the Iranians can re-arm, reconstitute and re-launch their military, too include the F-14.
Good for its time but no today. I used to engage the F-14’s with my F-15. . .no even close most times.
No hits. . .?
Don’t think so:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e3Fu2zeido
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBdBV3lXrp8
Carter gave them to the Mullahs
You call it whatever you like to get rid of them. Throughout training they were never allowed to fly alone even on “solo” flights. Our aircraft were simply too valuable. On those “solo” flights by the way, the “safety engineer” was not allowed to touch the controls unless the aircraft was in imminent danger.
The aircraft were F-14s but listen to the audio-the first Libyan was hit with a “Fox one”, i.e. a Sparrow missile. The second was hit with a “Fox two”, a Sidewinder. Listen to the pilot complain he can’t get a tone (from the infrared seeker locking on), then he does and fires. Phoenix missiles were “Fox three.”
The last proposed versions of the Super Tomcat which were rejected in favor of the Super Hornet were clearly superior in every performance category and would have had modern avionics and FBW controls which would have negated the Super Hornet’s maintenance advantage. In short the Super Hornet was selected purely due to politics and not due to any real considerations as to the superiority of the platform. Today, the Super Hornet has great avionics but in terms of performance is inferior in almost every aspect to the latest F-15s, F-16s, Typhoons, Rafaels and the latest Sukhois as well.
Even the last operational version of the F-14 was far superior to the Super Hornet:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/595147/posts
I don’t think that is correct. The terminology “Fox One” means one missile fired. “Fox Two” indicates a second missile is fired. It has nothing to do with the type and it was SOP to fire two missiles at a target in those days in quick succession.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_(code_word)
I think that the “FOX” code, followed by the number is a way of letting the friendlies know what type of weapon was released — to minimize fratricide.
The F-14 was built for a new P&W engine, but “prototyped” (first 17 aircraft) using the old P&W TF-30 developed for the F-111. However, the Naval version of the new P&W engine was cancelled - and the F-14 was, for most of its career, saddled with a markedly inferior engine. The only reason it was competitive with all others was its swing wing, and the fact that if the engines didn’t stall, the F-14 could fly at extreme angle of attack without departure.In the mid-80s the GE F-101 DFE (derivative fighter engine) was tested and adopted for use in the F-14. The late version of the F-14 with the GE engine would, according to my understanding, not have been inferior to F-15s or anything else.
None of those late model aircraft would have been available to Iran, of course . . .
The F-14D had a modern avionics suite as well as the modern engine, and had markedly superior legs to the F-18 - including the E/f version of that plane which was actually an almost entirely different plane with little commonality with earlier versions.
Nixon sold the Tomcat to Iran. If you mean Carter allowed the mullahs to come to power, and stay there. Yea. But Nixon sold the birds to them. The only foreign power to get them.
Which is why when we retired ours, they sent most of them to the scrap heap, to keep parts out of the ragheads hands. Damn frick’n shame too! The airframe was just starting to come into its potential.
.
Oh, and Cheny had the tools and dies destroyed. And I like Cheny. But not for that. The navy would have a long legged, fast moving, kick ass F/A on their hands with E, F and who knows what models that could have followed.
Gruman had a super cat in the works, or at least on the drawing board.
Damn shame. Think of a Cat with super cruise and its load out. Screw stealth. Stealth will be defeated as long as you have to move through air, at any speed, and produce heat in the process.
You fire one missile and see if it tracks, then fire another if it doesn't. Sometimes you would fire two radar-guided missiles if the shot was BVR.
They telegraphed their energy state because of auto-wing sweep. Wings coming forward and it was time to take the fight vertical.
Correct. The F-14D had a better thrust to weight ratio than the F-15C and was its equal in air combat maneuvering.
If the US Navy ever has to go up against a modern adversary in air to air combat, they will wish they had stuck with the 14 and not the 18.
All the 18 has is good avionics. But avionics doesn’t solve everything. If you put the Super Bug’s avionics package in a C-130J, you still don’t have a fighter. From the article I linked:
“Owing to its high drag and weight (and probably other factors), the F/A-18E is significantly poorer in acceleration than the F/A-18A. Also, its combat ceiling is substantially lower, and its transonic drag rise is very high. We have stayed in touch with some pilots at the Navy’s test center and have gathered some mind boggling anecdotal information. Here are some examples:
An F/A-18A was used to “chase” an F-14D test flight. The F-14D was carrying four 2,000-pound bombs, two 280-gallon drop tanks, two Phoenix missiles and two Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. The chase airplane was in a relatively “clean” configuration with only a centerline fuel tank. At the end of each test flight, the chase airplane was several miles behind the test airplane when the chase airplane reached “bingo” fuel and had to return to base.
An F/A-18E Super Hornet is tested using the same chase airplane, an earlier model Hornet, in the same configuration. The chase airplane does not need full thrust to stay with the test airplane.
An F/A-18E/F in maximum afterburner thrust cannot exceed Mach 1.0 in level flight below 10,000 feet even when it is in the clean configuration (no external stores). At 10,000 feet, the F-14D can exceed Mach 1.6.
A quote from a Hornet pilot is devastatingly frank: “The aircraft is slower than most fighters fielded since the early 1960s.””
. . . which suggests the use of manual control if you thought your adversary would cue on your wing sweep. But, that would certainly be a distraction for the F-14 pilot.A signal advantage of the F-14 was its legs - about half again as much fuel as a 15 - let alone an F-18. Fuel state can certainly be an important mission constraint. If you are bingo and the other guy is nowhere near it, a draw could easily turn into a loss.
Speaking of fuel state, the Shah of Iran considered the F-15 when he bought the 80 F-14s, and there was a competitive aerial display conducted between the two for his benefit. Both planes were required to start from a given fuel state before taking off. The F-15 flew first, and Don Evans then put on the demonstration which sold the F-14.
In his telling, he was in the F-14 rapidly burning off fuel to lighten ship all the while the F15 was performing . . .
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