WOw check this out on the Iranian Tomcats

[Pilotasso]

http://www.patricksaviation.com/videos/Michaelbrand/1390/

 

Falcon SAMs on the F-14? Am I seeng it right?

 

I thought that was a joke someone said on these boards but after this footage it makes me think if the Iranians have lost their marbles.

 

Does any of their aircraft have any decent missiles on them?

[MBot]

Actualy these are I-Hawk missiles. This was a trial programm run at the end of the first gulf war. The stock of AIM-54A was shrinking and the IRIAF was looking for a future substitute. The Hawk SAMs were widely available to the IRIAF then.

The programm showed insufficient results tough, especially with the Tomact-Hawk datalink, and was therefore canceled.

[Corsair7662]

Yeah, the IRIAF comes up with a whole ton of stuff. They have been doing this since the 80's. One of the latest they were trying was called "Project Sky Hawk" with made it able to carry the HAWK sam missle. Here is some information of what Iran has been up to in the past.

 

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian air force F14s succeeded in carrying and launching Hawk missiles during the third stage of the country's extensive war games codenamed 'Blow of Zolfaqar'.

 

 

Now, how did they do that...?

 

Basically, to a missile, it doesn't matter if it's fired from a flying aircraft, or some kind of a launcher on the ground. Or, if it does, then only in so far, that when air-launched, it flies further, then it already has some speed and level (that of the launching aircraft) - so there's no need for it to spend fuel to gain either.

 

What matters is the method of guidance.

 

In the case of their Project "Sky Hawk", from back in 1986, the Iranians attempted to make the homing head of MIM-23B I-HAWK compatible with CW-illuminator on AWG-9. It didn't quite work. One of the problems they encountered (so I was said), was with the data-link required for communication between the AWG-9 and the MIM-23.

 

What we've learned then was that they dropped the idea around 1987 or so.

 

Anyway, few years back, the "AIM-23C Sejil" re-surfaced again on a defence show in Tehran. This time as an official designation of an Iranian-made air-launched version of MIM-23B.

 

Back in the 1970s, namely, the Iranians have built whole works required for licence production of MIM-23s at home. They only did not manage to get these operational in time to be useful for the original Project Sky Hawk.

 

The AIM-23C is now in series production and in service on IRIAF F-14s.

 

The question remains, of course, "how did they manage that"?

 

Well, given that over 60% of AWG-9's elements on IRIAF F-14s today are not what they used to be back in the 1970s (not even the cooling system is the same, not to talk about ADC), as well as that Iran meanwhile has well-developed IT-industry, they have certainly not had any major problems to accomplish this task. At least they've had much less of a problem to do this then back in the mid-1980s.

 

I have heard that the Iranian aircraft industry were currently upgrading Iranian F-14A(I)s to zero-flight hour status. It is also said that they are making the PW-30 engine, as well as the AIM-54 Phoenix, which the IRIAF used to great effect in the Iran-Iraq War.

 

Didn't the Israelis try a similar thing with their Hawk missiles and the F-4E Phantom II? I believe they got it to mount on the airplane but they never test fired it.

Yep. As a matter of fact, the Iranian "Project Sky Hawk" was very much based on Israeli projects "Distant Reach/Distant Thunder", from 1970s. These have seen attempts to fit MIM-23s on IDF/AF F-4Es.

 

Project Sky Hawk was even launched with help of an Israeli team...

 

 

 

The IRIAF has a new Commander, Brig.Gen. Ahmad Miqani.

 

Miqani is a former F-14-pilot, trained in the USA, with plenty of experience from the war with Iraq. As a young 1st Lieutenant, he clocked several dozens of combat sorties on F-5s (based at Vahdati), before in 1983 qualifying on F-14s. He should have flown something like 1.500 hours on CAPs for the rest of the war. Majority of these from TFB.8 (Esfahan), where he served for most of the 1990s as well.

 

Back in the 1980's, Iran sold 2 F-14's to Russia. I can try and find the picture I saw of them both flying with Russian emblems.

[Guest IguanaKing]

Cool info Corsair. :D One thing though, an existing airframe cannot be brought back to zero-hour status...no matter how hard someone tries. :smilewink:

[Corsair7662]

Check out the altered underbelly pylons also!

 

 

 

Yep, things are changing through times...

 

- In the case of Iranian Tomcats, it's not only the camo that changed, but also some of duties. Namely, like in the USN, IRIAF F-14s have been tasked with flying "Bombcat" missions. In fact, the Iranians have used their F-14As for attack purposes (and have done so in a war) well before the USN came to the idea, namely already since 1982 (this is something even the Iraqi sources confirm).

 

Here two brand-new stills from a video showing an IRIAF F-14 inside a HAS, together with Mk.82s - the later equipped with Mk.15 Snakeye retarding fins, if I'm not wrong:

 

- Another interesting snap-shot from the same video stream: a young IRIAF RIO boarding the cockpit of his "Ali-Cat" (note the F-14-"triangle"-patch on his right shoulder):

 

Proving that the Iranians not only love their Tomcats, but also know how deadly they are...

 

Iranian Man Charged With Arms Export Violations

 

MIAMI — Federal agents have arrested an Iranian man for violating arms export laws and trying to sell spare weapons parts to Iran's government.

 

Based on information from the Department of Homeland Security, Fox News has learned that agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau said before they arrested the 40-year-old man, they told him what he was planning on doing was illegal.

 

The arrest took place last Friday inside a room at the Embassy Suites hotel in Miami. According to federal officials, Serzhik Avasappian was arrested for violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations Act. He apparently did not have the required export license from the State Department.

 

ICE agents had reportedly been in contact, undercover, with Avasappian since January 2002. Federal officials said he told them he was a broker based in Tehran and was trying to buy spare weapons parts for the Iranian government.

 

The United States has placed Iran on its list of countries that sponsor terrorism, and that nation is strongly thought to be conducting secret nuclear weapons programs.

 

On Thursday, weapons inspectors from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency reportedly found more traces of highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium in Iran. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes.

 

Back in the 1970s, the United States sold dozens of F-14s to Iran but severed all ties once the shah was overthrown in 1979.

 

Federal officials say Avasappian was trying to buy nearly $800,000 worth of parts for those F-14 jets, as well as electrical parts for C-130 cargo planes and helicopters.

 

Avasappian didn't know he was dealing with undercover agents.

 

"Keeping sensitive U.S. military components from falling into the wrong hands is one of the highest priorities of the ICE," ICE interim Special Agent-in-Charge Jesus Torres said in a statement. "While these components may appear relatively innocuous to the untrained eye, they are tightly controlled for good reason. In the wrong hands they pose a potential threat to Americans at home and abroad."

 

Avasappian was being held without bond at the Miami Federal Detention Center. He made his first appearance in federal court Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It was unclear whether an attorney had been assigned to him.

 

*******************************************************************************

 

This is another article, but deals with the same situation...

 

Mullah's agent indicted on charge of trafficking

Dec 5, 2003

Jaime Hernandez

 

Iranian indicted on charge of trafficking in U.S. fighter jet parts

Sun-Sentinel

 

Iran news - A federal grand jury indicted an Iranian man Thursday on charges he tried to export almost $800,000 worth of F-14 Tomcat fighter jet parts to Iran, a country considered by the U.S. government to be a sponsor of terrorism.

 

Serzhik Avassapian, 40, is charged with conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act, which prohibits the unauthorized sale of military equipment to other countries; engaging in brokering activities with a prohibited country; and making false statements to a federal law enforcement officer. If convicted of all three counts, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

 

Avassapian has tried since February 2002 to obtain the parts illegally and send them to Iran, the indictment said. He acted on behalf of the Iranian Ministry of Defense and the Iranian government, and sent letters to undercover U.S. agents asking for price quotes on more than 130 F-14 parts, prosecutors said.

 

Avassapian was arrested at a Miami hotel on Sept. 18 after a meeting with U.S. agents, who showed him several F-14 parts he thought he was going to buy, the indictment stated. Officials said he did not have the required export license from the State Department.

 

Prosecutors said Avasappian told the agents the parts would be sent to Italy after they warned him they could not legally be shipped to Iran, prosecutors said. The parts then would have been sent from Italy to Iran.

 

In July, federal agents seized records from Brandex Components in Sunrise as part of a national investigation into 18 companies that were suspected of selling prohibited military parts to Multicore Ltd., a London-based company that passed the goods on to the Iranian military.

 

Iran and the United States have not had diplomatic ties since the shah of Iran's overthrow in 1979. Washington has recently accused Iran of harboring al-Qaida members and pursuing a nuclear weapons program, charges that Tehran denies.

[MBot]

Back in the 1980's, Iran sold 2 F-14's to Russia. I can try and find the picture I saw of them both flying with Russian emblems.

 

Cool info Corsair :) Only the last part is as far as I know wrong.

 

The F-14As was superiour over any soviet equipment the Iraq could muster during the Iran-Iraq war. Especially the F-14s top secret "Combat Tree" system, wich could activate the soviet IFF transponders, meant a immense advantage over any soviet aircraft. The Soviet Union rushed many up-to-date hardware, instructors and even pilots to Iraq in order to counter the superiority of the western hardware/tactics/training of Iran.

It would have been very foolish from Iran to give away their techical superiority to one of the sponsors of their enemy.

[Kusch]

Hawk

 

 

And Sattar-11?

 

[Corsair7662]

Only the last part is as far as I know wrong.

 

Oh really? cause it appears that Iran exported at least one F-14 to the Soviet Union in the late 1980's, which was used in the development of the MiG 31 Foxhoung. Russian engineers have recently been refitting Iran's F-14's with new avionics and engines, and the Iranian press has reported that several are being tested as attack aircraft with anti-surface missiles.

[Guest IguanaKing]

The MiG-31 entered service in 1981. So the Iranian F-14s were probably not used by the Soviets to develop that aircraft. IRIAF aircraft were doing occasional battle with aircraft of the VVS in that time period, with a few kills. :smilewink:

[Corsair7662]

Think what you want but the IRIAF gave an F-14 to the Soviet Union cause I saw the picture of it with a different paint scheme and russian markings. And that F-14 was used to upgrade the MiG-31's avionics, radar, and engines...why do you think it is pretty similar to the tomcat?

[Guest IguanaKing]

You didn't say anything about upgrading, you said "used in the development of the MiG-31". How is the MiG-31 similar to the Tomcat? Would it be the PESA radar that the Tomcat has never had? The Soviet Union really didn't have much interest in Western avionics until recently, which I, personally, think is a mistake unless they are willing to really shell out the cash to get something that actually works in harsh conditions...they should stick with their tried and true avionics systems. The engines are based on all kinds of things that Russian engineers have learned and developed on their own. Besides...I sincerely HOPE that they didn't think the TF-30 was some wonderful technological advancement. :music_whistling:

[Alfa]

Think what you want but the IRIAF gave an F-14 to the Soviet Union cause I saw the picture of it with a different paint scheme and russian markings. And that F-14 was used to upgrade the MiG-31's avionics, radar, and engines...why do you think it is pretty similar to the tomcat?

 

The Zaslon radar of the MiG-31 has bugger all to do with the AWG-9 and is far more advanced tech :D . The AWG-9 has a mechanically scanned flat plate antenna, while the Zaslon is an electronically scanned phased array :) .

 

And engines.....ROFL. The MiG-31 is based on the MiG-25 which was a MACH 3+ capable interceptor, while IIRC exactly the engines have been the single biggest problem(underpowered) for the F-14 throughout its service life.

 

Get real Corsair! :D

 

- JJ.

[Alfa]

Darn - you beat me to it IK :D

 

- JJ.

[D-Scythe]

The Russians were probably more interested in the AIM-54A if anything. Saying the development of the MiG-31 was based on IRIAF F-14s is like saying the Su-27IB was developed from captured F-15E/I/S airframes - you have to be smoking some real good stuff to believe that.

[LawnDart]

Corsair, Viper or "Tailhook" (as we know him) sure likes his Tomcat and with lots of pun intended :smilewink: ... "The entire USAF's inventory is based on Tomcat technology"! ... Oh, wait... that was a Navy bird. Doh! :doh:

 

LMAO!

[Groove]

Afaik this Hawk AAM are mockups and not operational.

[MBot]

There was once a photo floating around showing a F-14 with russian markings. But this has been a fake as far as I know ( altough Corsair might refere to a different photo ).

[Maverick-90]

There was once a photo floating around showing a F-14 with russian markings. But this has been a fake as far as I know ( altough Corsair might refere to a different photo ).

maybe the one i attached?

that should be a fake ;)

[britgliderpilot]

maybe the one i attached?

that should be a fake ;)

 

Could be shopped. Could be real. Dunno.

 

 

Call me paranoid, but I'm wondering what the MiG's doing so conveniently in that picture :P

 

For why would a Tomcat be flying around, gear down, with a MiG turning away, close by, in the same frame . . . unless it was to prove a point?

 

 

From the spying point of view you can learn just as much - maybe more - from tearing down an airframe/avionics system as you can from actually flying it.

 

 

It's not conclusive by any means . . . either way.

[Corsair7662]

ok first of that that picture IS real. And that is another picture I have seen. First of all, you cant photoshop a picture that old, also, you can see the exhaust out the back of the tomcat anyways and you cant shop that. The mig in the back, I cant explain that though

[hitman]

You sure that pic wasnt taken during an NSAWC training mission?

[Guest IguanaKing]

maybe the one i attached?

that should be a fake ;)

 

 

That's easy...NFWS and NSAWC. They DO have a few operational MiG-29s at bases in that area as well. Let's see some of these "Iranian-sold F-14s in Russian hands" up-close, and we'll see if they have Russian stencils near the GPU connector.

 

Edit: DOH!!! Hitman beat me to it! :D

[LawnDart]

Viper (Corsair), I'm not trying to tear you apart here bud, but you can PhotoShop almost anything including heat blur, old photos and more. It's all just pixels and "1's and 0's". Ever see them transform a chubby lady into a Supermodel? Yes, it can be done and I've seen a tutorial of it in PhotoShop of how it's done. It's way easier than you think! Heat exhaust... piece of cake in comparison!

 

I have no idea whether the photo is real or not, and honestly, it doesn't make any difference to me. I'm sure the Russians have had their hands on a Tomcat at some point, but your arguments for authenticity are about as water tight as Titanic. ;)

 

Cheers!

[britgliderpilot]

ok first of that that picture IS real. And that is another picture I have seen. First of all, you cant photoshop a picture that old, also, you can see the exhaust out the back of the tomcat anyways and you cant shop that. The mig in the back, I cant explain that though

 

Hehehe . . . you do make it easy :P

 

 

You can't photoshop a picture that old, can you? Right . . . . .

 

You CAN take a modern photo (with exhaust), shop the insignia, drop the MiG in for the "OMG it must be taken in Russia!" look, turn it back to black and white, and pixellate it, though. This forum could probably replicate a pic like that in less than half an hour ;)

 

 

You COULD do all of the above. If you so wished.

 

Of course, the fact that you COULD do it doesn't prove that it HAS been done. But it's not as watertight as you seem to think.

 

 

Y'know chaps, sometimes I think Corsair is just a forum-raiding troll :P

 

 

Oh, edit to hammer the point home :P

 

 

[uhoh7]

"When the Iran-Iraq War started in 1980, Iran's F-14s, equipped with Phoenix missiles, capable of identifying and destroying six targets simultaneously from a range of eighty kilometers or more, inflicted heavy casualties on the Iraqi air force, which was forced to disperse its aircraft to Jordan and Oman. The capability of the F-14s and F-4s was enhanced by the earlier acquisition of a squadron of Boeing 707 tankers, thereby extending their combat radius to 2,500 kilometers with in-flight refueling.

Iranian F-14 Tomcats were used like miniature AWACS, reporting Iraqi fighter operations to Iranian air defense commanders with their powerful radars. In response, Iraqi Mirage F1-EQ fighters flew high-speed, low-altitude profiles, well below the Tomcat's radar limits. The F1-EQ would pop up directly beneath the Tomcat's orbit, briefly illuminate the F-14 with its radar, and fire one or two air-to-air missiles at it. Iran lost several Tomcats this way"

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/airforce.htm

Out of 77 original about 20 are reported airworthy today. BTW they have a bunch of SU-25s now too.

 

This also caught my eye:

 

"Around FY91, with the onset of Desert Storm, more than 350 advanced aircraft were bought or made operational including, Russian MiG-27s, -29s, -31s, TU-22M3 Backfires, Russian Su24s, -25s, -27s, IL-76 transports, and French Mirage F-1s. In this period close to $2 billion was spent on foreign weapons systems.

 

At least 115 combat aircraft flew to Iran, out of the total of 137-149 aircraft flown to Iran or crashed enroute [including 15 Il-76s and some number of civilian airliners]. According to an official Iraqi statement, the aircraft included 115 combat aircraft, among them 24 Mirage F1s, 4 Su-20 Fitters, 40 Su-22 Fitters, 24 Su-24 Fencers, seven Su-25 Frogfoots, nine MiG-23 Floggers, and four MiG-29 Fulcrums. Reports that Saddam Hussein ordered 20 Tu-22 bombers to Iran appear unfounded. In 1993 it was reported that Russia was to provide Iran with spare parts, armaments, and operating manuals for the Iraqi jets that flew to Iran during the Gulf War. In 1993 it was reported that China had bought an unknown number of these MiG-29s from Iran, in exchange for Chinese missile technology and a nuclear power station. The two countries had reportedly reached agreement on the exchange in late 1992, with Iran having delivered some of the MiG-29s by the end of 1992. In 1998 Iraq and Iran had high-level meetings to discuss ending their state of war and other matters, including Iraq's request to have its airplanes back. Iran denied it had used any of the Iraqi fighter planes. If Iran had kept the Iraqi planes grounded for the entire time, they are probably nonfunctional -- the Iranians may not be able to start the engines or operate the hydraulics. Other reports suggest that some Su-24s have been added to Iran's existing inventory, some Su-20/22s were in Revolutionary Guard service. The Iraqi Su-25s, MiG-23s and Mirage F1s were thought by some to be not in service, due to age, low capability (MiG-23s) or too few numbers (Su-25). Other reports suggest that Iran had overhauled Iraq's fleet of 24 Mirage F-1B fighters and placed them into service."

 

 

Watching that vid makes me think the Iran-Iraq war would be an interesting basis for a sim. Probably the the hottest most extended non-guerilla clash of modern weapons post WW2. For all that hardware they got stuck in the trenches....