Illustrative image. (Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on March 8 that it had destroyed a number of Iranian F-14 fighter jets in strikes at Isfahan International Airport in the heart of the Islamic Republic.
Detection and defense systems that posed a risk to the Israeli Air Force (IAF) warplanes were also hit, according to the military.
The IDF said in a brief statement that the destruction of the F-14s along with the strikes on March 6 that destroyed 16 aircraft used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force at Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport, are part of efforts to strengthen Israel’s control of the skies over Iran.
Iran received at least 79 F-14A/AM from the United States in the 1970s. Despite efforts to upgrade the fighter jets locally and to add new capabilities, the Iranian F-14s suffered some serious issues, with reports suggesting that as low as 20 were still operational by the time the 12-day war broke out in June of last year.
Even operational fighter jets had serious issues. The once-state-of-the-art AN/AWG-9 fire control radar has suffered from low serviceability, with some jets reportedly left without a functioning radar.
The current status of any surviving American-made AIM-54 Phoenix and AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles is also a matter of debate, and Iranian programs to introduce alternative weaponry for the F-14, like the Fakour-90, have had only very mixed results.
Despite all of these issues, F-14s based at 8th Tactical Air Base within Isfahan International Airport took to the sky with the start of the 12-day war with the main task of intercepting Israeli drones. The fighter jets managed to intercept multiple drones, with one even taking down three in a single sortie.
There were also losses, however, with the IDF destroying at least five F-14s, two non-operational at 1st Tactical Air Base within Mehrabad International Airport, and three others at the center of the Islamic Republic. The latter were likely a part of the 81, 82 or 83 tactical fighter squadrons at the 8th Tactical Air Base.
The latest Israeli strikes on Isfahan confirm that, despite all issues, Iranian F-14s remain a credible threat in the eyes of the IAF.
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what will the iranians put in their museum after the war ends if their antique artifacts from the shah’s dollar reycling machine get blown up? think of the children!
probably the famous jooswatter missile and the amerikuntslapper drone.
trumps head for starters.
some top notch medical school in burgerland will want that for groundbreaking research.
y siempre si llegaron los su-35?
israel was bombing drawing of planes by iran. epic trolling by iran
news flash!
israel blows up decoys and paintings of aircraft on the ground.
i was hoping to see some videos of tomcats being blown up. next time i guess.
they’ve gotta get painted first. be patient.
looks like those ground paint jobs have been getting a hammering from the standoff inbreds’ air wing.
more employment for talented graffitists in iran.