SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - One less F-14 to worry about.

Stealhead · 01-26-12, 09:05 PM

The top picture in the 5th post must be very old because American employees of various companies working on the Shahs new US supplied military equipment they managed to destroy all the systems that make the AIM-54 usable before they left Iran in 1979.They also sabotaged the ability of the Iranian AH-1s to fire TOW missiles.I think that they are lying about the success rate of the F-14s against Iraq.I have read in variuos places that they mainly used older F-4s in 1980-88 because the F-14s where basically unflyable for the most part and they did not want to risk losing the few that flew (very likely with little or no AIM-54 capability) due to no spare parts They also flew F-5Es alot as well.

With all the engine problems that the early model F-14s had I highly doubt any remaining Iranian F-14s are ultra paper tigers that are soaking wet.Of course supposedly some folks in the US have been busted trying to smuggle F-14 parts to Iran so who knows for sure.The AIM-54 would be much harder to keep in service after so many years I think after 30 years they would probably simply drop of the rack and fall if they do use them they must have found a way to re-manufacturer them.I also wonder how they manage to maintain all the ground support equipment needed to keep these planes going I worked with this myself in the USAF and this gear needs as much maintenance as an aircraft they cant get the spare parts for this gear from the US and the F-14s use it all so they must have come up with a way to produce their on own new support equipment no way a gas turbine generator made in 1978-79 at the most recent is going to last 30 years without serious overhaul at least and that is pushing it the oldest gas turbine generators I saw where built is 1987 and had received major overhaul in the mid 90s.Based on my experience in the USAF working on the flight line it is very clear that Iran has come up with effective ways to counter the effects of embargo on their US supplied equipment if that is the case one should not underestimate them all though I personally think that they do not even bother to use the AIM-54s anymore.

01-26-12, 09:05 PM	#14
Stealhead Navy Seal Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Kentucky Posts: 5,421 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	The top picture in the 5th post must be very old because American employees of various companies working on the Shahs new US supplied military equipment they managed to destroy all the systems that make the AIM-54 usable before they left Iran in 1979.They also sabotaged the ability of the Iranian AH-1s to fire TOW missiles.I think that they are lying about the success rate of the F-14s against Iraq.I have read in variuos places that they mainly used older F-4s in 1980-88 because the F-14s where basically unflyable for the most part and they did not want to risk losing the few that flew (very likely with little or no AIM-54 capability) due to no spare parts They also flew F-5Es alot as well. With all the engine problems that the early model F-14s had I highly doubt any remaining Iranian F-14s are ultra paper tigers that are soaking wet.Of course supposedly some folks in the US have been busted trying to smuggle F-14 parts to Iran so who knows for sure.The AIM-54 would be much harder to keep in service after so many years I think after 30 years they would probably simply drop of the rack and fall if they do use them they must have found a way to re-manufacturer them.I also wonder how they manage to maintain all the ground support equipment needed to keep these planes going I worked with this myself in the USAF and this gear needs as much maintenance as an aircraft they cant get the spare parts for this gear from the US and the F-14s use it all so they must have come up with a way to produce their on own new support equipment no way a gas turbine generator made in 1978-79 at the most recent is going to last 30 years without serious overhaul at least and that is pushing it the oldest gas turbine generators I saw where built is 1987 and had received major overhaul in the mid 90s.Based on my experience in the USAF working on the flight line it is very clear that Iran has come up with effective ways to counter the effects of embargo on their US supplied equipment if that is the case one should not underestimate them all though I personally think that they do not even bother to use the AIM-54s anymore. Last edited by Stealhead; 01-26-12 at 09:36 PM.