Why Iran Really Bought F-14 Tomcats

War is Boring ^ | July 25, 2017 | Tom Cooper

[tophat9000]

Phoenix missile system included a radar that could independently track

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that why i was refering to the “system”.. it integrated with the radar ...if i recall the missile is not fire and forget but data linked and guided by the aircraft radar ..if i also recall the missile can be handed of from one aircraft radar to another but i could be wrong

[Calvin Locke]

I recall the F-14 required something on the order of 80 maintenance man/hours per flight.

In college, we got a secondary computer, a 24bit Harris, that was originally designed to reduce aircraft maintenance on a carrier aircraft. It ran Unix.

[Calvin Locke]

IIRC, then-SOD Cheney ordered Grumman to destroy the tooling, too.

[ExNewsExSpook]

They have; necessity being the mother of invention, the Iranians have tried all sorts of “science projects” down through the years, much like the Iraqis did.

In one experiment, the Iranians were searching for a replacement for their dwindling supply of AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. They noted the frequency range of HAWK surface-to-air missile was similar and voila: Iranian technicians figured out a way to mount them on the bottom of the F-15 and tweaked them to work with the AWG-9 radar. However, the HAWK was larger than the Phoenix, so the modified SAMs had to be staggered on the centerline mounts of the Tomcat.

On a good day, no more than a half-dozen F-14s in Iran and flyable, and it takes extensive cannibalization to keep them in the air. Not a job I’d like to have—flying or fixing them.

[pfflier]

The Phoenix missile was actively guided by following the F-14 radar lock-on until it reached a point where it initiated it's own radar terminal guidance.

One cool thing was that it rose to about 80K AGL then dove on the target leaving no smoke plume for the target to evade.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The Phoenix missile was actively guided by following the F-14 radar lock-on until it reached a point where it initiated it's own radar terminal guidance.

One cool thing was that it rose to about 80K AGL then dove on the target leaving no smoke plume for the target to evade.

Kind of thing that happens when you are launching at really long range.

It’s kind of the inverse of what happens when a SAM is launched at you. Looks like it’s aimed at someone in front of you - until suddenly it went right past you from the front . . . unless it didn’t.

[Bookshelf]

One aspect of the Dolittle raid on Tokyo that I don’t think has ever been explained was the travel of a bomber crew that made it to the Soviet Union’s Far East. Somehow or other the crew managed to escape Soviet captivity and flee across the border to Iran. Now, how did they get that far west? And what were the Ruskies doing there?

[TalonDJ]

“Now, how did they get that far west? And what were the Ruskies doing there?”

That has been explained. The Ruskies were neutral with respect to Japan but owed the US big time for lend lease. So they shipped the ‘prisoners’ to a ‘prison’ near the Iranian boarder (the USSR had plenty of boarder area with Iran) and had some locals help them ‘escape’.

[Bookshelf]

I need a source for your report, if you will.