click photos to enlarge
Prep work on a F-4E Phantom II inside a hardened air shelter
F-4E moved by Schopf tow tractor beyond hardened air shelter
F-4E armed with AIM-9P Sidewinders; equipped with 600 gallon centerline fuel tank and two 370 gallon wing tanks
A pair of F-4Es armed with AGM-65 Mavericks
F-4E, possibly 91 TFS "Sharks" based at
TFB.9/Bandar Abbas (OIKB)
F-4D Phantom II strike fighters of 101 TFS
based at TFB.10/Chahbahar (OIZC)
Photos:
Ali Hashemi at Fars News Agency
Amir Hossein Khorgoui at Iranian Students News Agency
Abdul Rezvani at Mehr News Agency
Ali Hashemi at Fars News Agency
Amir Hossein Khorgoui at Iranian Students News Agency
Abdul Rezvani at Mehr News Agency
The shark nose paint job looks pretty cool and lethal on the IRIAF F4E. It may be carrying an Iranian made Fatter AAM (similar in performance to an AIM-9X). The pristine factory condition of all Iranian military equipment, particularly planes and ships speaks volumes about the techical skills of Iranian techicians and engineers and the high quality of military industrial manufacturing. Iran has had ZERO access to US or British spares since 1979 and has managed to upgrade every major complex weapons system due to its own ingenuity. The last of the US supplied "Peace Roll" inventory of spares at Doshan Tappeh for F4/F5 and F14A had been exhausted by the end of 1981 due to heavy useage during the Jange Tahmili. In 1982 the IRIAF started its own scrounging and embryonic domestic spares manufacturing program that quickly proliferated and by 1990 it had become almost self-sufficient. Today Iran even manufactures its own copies of AIM-54 Phoenix for the F-14A. Remarkable achievement for a country under a total spares "embargo" for over 31 years.
ReplyDeleteSo-called Sharks are from 6th airbase Bushehr. There is no operational AGM-65s left in Iran
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