All,
Just a quick question for those who might know: are the remaining Tomcat squadrons only used for strike missions, or do they still load up for CAP or escort missions with only air-to-air ordinance?
Regards,
-Drew
I heard somewhere (must have been at the IPMS Belgium show) that the Iranians are still flying… It did surprise me quite a bit, but apparently, spares are not that difficult to get…
Can anyone confirm…?!
Sorry, Drew, not much to do with your question…! (to which I do not know the answer…)
I just saw a “new” 1 hr segment on the History Channel about the Tomcat and the pilots were talking about their training consisted of air to air and bombing runs. So, I guess they are like the F/A-18’s and do what ever is required.
I understand that the Iranian Tomcats are still flying and remarkably well maintained all things considered.
Whats the projected American retirement date for the Tomcat anyway?
I believe it was in that same segment that they said that the Iranian Tomcats fell into disarray shortly after the techs left and were grounded. They were sure however that “someone” had removed the missle targeting chips from the planes. -course these were the same folks who would a show an F-4, F-20 or a F-16 in place of a Mig. [:p]
-fish
The information I got about the Iranian Tomcats was from one of the major aviation magazines in the past month or so (the exact one escapes me) It wasn’t a big article, just a sidebar really. It stated something to the effect, that despite rumors to the contrary, Iran has managed to keep their fleet of Tomcats operational to one degree or another continually since they were obtained and that the death of Ayatolah Komeni made it much easier to keep them flying at top notch or near top notch condition as his death did somewhat ease political tensions between Iran and the international community.
To my understanding, the only part of Iran’s Tomcat package that is no longer operational is the Phoenix missiles, Iran opting to use a full Sparrow armament instead. I’ve also heard that the Iranian Tomcats have had numerous systems upgrades and developments carried out by Iran’s own aerospace industries and that they are quite current in avionics by Western standards
Fish,
Oh, I noticed when they would show the targeting pod it was hung under the F-15E and not the F-14! There were plenty of the wrong aircraft shown when talking about another!
The Tomcats are still used for fleet defense, strike missions and recce missions. Although the Air Wings (ship based) are being cutdown to size to give way for the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet since these is the Tomcats replacements. I read in a “aircraft” magazine )can’t remember if its combat aircraft or another that for every Air Wing there will be only 1 or 2 navy squadron unit for Tomcats and the rest will be mixed models of F/A-18s (combined navy and marines) squadrons.
But the VX wings will still continue to use the Tomcats as test birds. The NSAWC “topgun” still has there inventory of F-14s.
Check out the issues of “Combat Aircraft Magazine”, im about 80% sure its there.
Upnorth, thanks for that…! Considering the tensions between the Western world and the Arabic world, it’s not surprising that that kind of info has been kept ‘out of our ears’ for so long… Yet surprising that the Iranians have kept it quiet too… Governments and politicians are soooooooo ‘two-faced’ it’s not fun anymore…! Sickening. But that’s not the point of this forum, nor of this question.
As far as Iranian F-14s are concerned, the Phoenix missiles supplied by the US together with the planes have long passed their shelf life and are no longer usable. However, according to Airforces Monthly in one of their previous issues, the Iranians has produced a locally manufactured equivalent of the Phoenix missile through reverse engineering. It could not be confirmed however, if the locally developed version of the Phoenix performs as good as the original.
I was down at NAS Fallon this past summer participating in Desert Rescue VIII (CSAR Exercise), and can confirm that NSAWC is still flying their F-14A’s. We even used them for RMC and RESCAP a few times. There were also some TAD F-14D there.
sal, could you speak english ? my USAF isnt very good [:P] im not a hardcore millitary buff, but all i can say is that i will be sad to see a great looking bird getting retired. F-35s and F-22s just dont do it for me.
Hi all,
Thanks for the great information. I’ve got two F-14Ds that I’m going to build, and I was wondering if it was still accurate to put air-to-air ordinance on them. I’ve got aftermarket decals for VF-31 from when they participated in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, so I may buy the Hasegawa weapons set and put air-to-ground stuff on that plane. But the other one I’ll put air-to-air on. 
More information is coming out on the Iran-Iraq war and apparetly the Tomcats, and especially the Phoenix, acquitted themselves very well. I have some links that I’ll post if I can find them.
Regards,
-Drew
Regards
[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]
[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]
Can I buy a vowel?
Frank
Hey Oldhooker;
CSAR means Cover, Search And Rescue, and I heard the old Bombcats are due for retiremant around 2020 or so so they’ll be around for a while
NAS Navel Air Station
CSAR Combat Search and Rescue.
RESCAP Rescue Combat Air Patrol
NSAWC Navel Station AirWarfare Center
RMC???
TAD???
Sorry for the acronyms guys…being in the “Biz” I sometimes forget who I’m talking too. Besides as knowledgable as you folks are I figured you would understand. Here goes:
CSAR…Combat Search And Rescue (PR Personnel Recovery is the new buzzword replacing CSAR. Some officer probably got a promotion for that one.
RMC…Rescue Mission Commander. This is the Navy equivelant to AMC (Airborne Mission Commander). Basically the overall boss (flying wise) in a rescue mission. Think of him as the quarterback.
TAD…Temporary Assigned Duty. Navy speak for TDY which is USAF for Temporary Duty Assignment. Basically going on trips for exercises, training or deployments.
NSAWC…Navy Strike Air Warfare Center. Think Top Gun. They moved to Navy Air Station Fallon Nevada.
RESCAP…Rescue Combat AIr Patrol. pointy nosed guys orbitting and sweeping an area where a CSAR mission is being conducted.
Thanks to Sled 71 and others for trying to help out. I’ll try to spell things out in the future.[:D]
OldHooker…Shame shame compadre! You know that the Army has the same alphabet soup that the USAF has (but nobody beats the Navy…COMSUBPACFLT???)
I might add that while I like to watch them fly and model them, we consider the pointy nosed guys as customers (heh, heh…I’m sure I’ll pay for that one). A-10’s are WONDERFUL watching our six.
Hmmmmm I always thought TAD=Traveling Around Drunk?..
Oh well guess things change, BTW that didnt come from a Marcinko book though he to likes to use the term, My legal father has been using that term long before ole Dickie ever thought about writting a book…
HAHAHAHA!!! Makes perfect sense except lately…it seems like were doing more trips to dry countries (no liquor). Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Especially when you bring your own aircraft (lots of hiding places for stuff in HC-130’s & HH-60G’s).
Good old American ingenuity.