Against all the odds, and despite Western sanctions, Iran has somehow managed to keep its fleet of F-14 Tomcats operational and relatively up-to-date. First ordered in the mid-1970s as a deterrent against Soviet attack, these iconic fighters are still flying over Iranian skies today, but with increasingly obsolescent capabilities.
There’s more than a whiff of a Cold War spy thriller about the tale of Iran’s F-14s. When the Shah of Iran ordered 79 Tomcats, he hardly could have imagined that the planes would outlast his regime to become emblems of Iranian grit. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Islamic Republic held on to the fleet, and many of its pilots remained behind to fly them. During the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, with their sophisticated radar and Phoenix missiles, the F-14s would sometimes simply scare off opposing pilots.
Iran has kept these older interceptors operational through a combination of stored parts, reverse engineering, and acquisition via black markets. The retirement of US Navy F-14s in 2006 and the scraping of their fleet by 2009 to prevent the parts from reaching Iran inadvertently pushed Iran into producing its spare parts, thereby starting upgrade work under project BABAIEE. This program is tasked with restoring more than half of the Tomcat fleet to operational status for Iran.
Of the many adaptations, one of the biggest has been that of surface-to-air refitting as air-to-air variants, with another being the Fakour-90, an indigenous version of the Phoenix missile. Notwithstanding these efforts, these missiles and the new upgraded radars may not rank with the state-of-the-art models used by any potential adversaries.
Some pictures pop up on social media with stripped-down Tomcats undergoing extensive enhancements and renovations. These small glimpses raise the question of whether having such aircraft makes any sense within the framework of the most stringent sanctions.
Thus, the resourcefulness and will to hold on to at least the pretense of air superiority with dated machinery have been reflected in keeping Iran’s fleet of F-14s airworthy. Against modern concepts of next-generation, network-centric fighter jets and weapons, Iran’s F-14s would be outclassed with their older systems and indigenous modifications. This begs the question of how effective such a counter can be against sophisticated opponents who are fielding modern radars and air-to-air missiles designed to fight within the contemporary network-centric warfare environment, the United States.
Iran has confirmed plans to purchase Su-35 fighter jets from Russia as part of an effort to renew its aging air force. If completed, it would be among Tehran’s largest known defense purchases since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranian Air Force Commander Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi said at a news conference that the procurement of Su-35 fighters was on the agenda, although the final decision has to be made by the army and the Army General Staff Headquarters.
The Su-35 is a deeply modernized variant of the Su-27, rated as a 4th-generation fighter, and brings together 5th-generation technologies on a 4th-generation airframe. It features super-maneuverability, improved sensors, high supersonic speed, long range, and a large variety of munitions. If the deal goes through, the Su-35s would be the most significant modernization for Iran’s air force in decades.
Indigenous Iranian aerospace efforts have been a mixed bag. It relies on its most powerful fighter: the F-14 Tomcat, which it first received in 1976. After the Iran-Iraq War and withstanding various bans, Iran’s remaining F-14s remain some of the region’s most impressive combat aircraft. Cut off from American spares, Iran has managed to upgrade its F-14s with new radars, radios, and navigation systems, and even adapted them to fire Russian-made R73 missiles and the indigenously produced Fakour-90.
However, Iran’s combat aircraft are aged, with some airframes more than 40 years old. The last time Iran bought modern combat aircraft was in the 1990s when it acquired MiG-29A Fulcrum fighters from Russia. In light of this, the creativity and determination demonstrated so far by Iran to keep its F-14 fleet in operation and up-to-date, despite ongoing sanctions and technological barriers, are impressive.