The F-14 was only ever exported to Iran under the Shah, 79 were delivered between 1976 and 1979 and shortly after the Iranian Revolution and the seizure of American hostages in their embassy in Tehran, shortly afterwards the US and the west put aside the rules that govern how states behave by aiding Saddam Hussein in his bloody war against Iran and spreading propaganda one of the most famous ones to this day was the status of Iran's fleet of F-14's, which were told be sabotaged and left useless.
These lies changed from the whole IRIAF being inactive by 1984 and the air war remaining "uninteresting" according to US sources, however the post revolution Iranian air force the IRIAF had;
* scored the first kill for an F-14 in September of 1980 against an Iraqi Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship using it's Vulcan cannon!
* Managed to service and maintain the Tomcat's air frame and keep a hefty amount of the fleet active throughout the war, this was a big burden considering they were under complete arms embargo from most of the world and the F-14A's they had had the TF30 engines which were a problem even for the IIAF!
* Shot down over 159 adversaries, and saw more air to air combat than the entire USAF and US Navy saw in the Vietnam War!
However as the US mainstream media made several claims sometimes contradicting each other, for instance in 1987 stating Iran no longer even had an air force which was followed by an engagement (one of several over the course of the war) in which a single F-14 ambushed an Iraqi attack force of eight MiG-23's, downed one in plain sight and scared off the rest!
After nearly 20 years of declaring the IRIAF dead and not a threat the US Navy had all of their F-14's destroyed to ensure Iran didn't get spare parts required for their air force, proving how much of threat the US considers the "long dead" IRIAF to be!
Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat
2 comments:
Plagiarizing is ugly. Why don't you quote your sources?
Iran shows off upgraded F-14 A fleet with new weapons and avionics
The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) says it currently owns a new generation of F-14 fighter aircraft with domestically-built radars and improved engines.
The Iranian fleet of Grumman F-14 Tomcat aircraft was purchased from the United States during the late 1970's. Iran received 79 jets and used them extensively in the war with Iraq, losing only a few and achieving a kill ratio of 1:6. IRIAF started the F-14A upgrade progam in 2002 under project Khorshid. The current fleet with over 50 operational jets boasts Iranian made Fatter (AIM 9X) and Phoenix AIM 54 BVR missiles.
Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the US has placed an arms embargo on Iran, which includes the sale of new F-14 aircraft to the country.
Aziz Nasirzadeh, a top IRIAF official, described the current Iranian fleet of F-14 as “completely overhauled” aircraft.
He also said the aircraft have been improved so that they now own a new generation of bombers which could not be installed before. The fleet life has been prolonged to well beyond 2020.
The US announced in January 2007 that sales of spare parts for F-14s would be suspended due to concerns that they could end up in Iran.
Nasirzadeh said Iran was now capable of producing radars for the F-14s and improving the aircraft's engine without dependence on imports.
He added that Iran was now moving on the road to “independence” in producing aircraft parts as the country does not expect foreign countries to provide it with supplies.
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