Zephyr Net

certain sources I've come across lately have stated that Iran is in the middle of refurbishing and up-grading their fleet of F-14As which will be completed sometime next year. What could they be upgrading? They aren't able to get parts from the U.S.? I've seen some random blog postings about Iranian F-14As with Russian engines and the ability to launch anti-ship & GBU units? How true could that be...

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Perhaps the single most overated aircraft in the world are the Iranian F-14s. They didnt even do all that well against Iraqi aircraft durig thier border war being used more as AWACS than fighters. They have managed to get a maximum of 20-25 of them up for an airshow some years ago and most of them were probobly just barely functional and not combat capable. Add to that the fact that most of the Iranian techs who knew what they were doing have been executed in various purges and the near lack of training ( due to maintainance problems ) and you dont have much of a fighting force. The AMERICAN electronics would be 30+ years old, whatever home built or Soviet electronics have replaced them would certainly be considered inferior. The RADAR might still be working properly with Soviet help but everything else is likely a mess including the fire control systems. The Iranians CLAIM to be able to manufacture 100%of the Tommys parts localy but if that were true we wouldent have had yet another arrest of guys trying to sell them parts earlier this year. In any conflict with the U.S. they would all be destroyed while still on the ground with the rest of their A.F.

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I had read something along those lines recently, also; it was in a recent issue of "Combat Aircraft". I'll see if I can't dig it up tonight and post it.

Up until now, the Iranians have been using their few flyable F-14's as high-speed AWACS platforms; sounds like they actually want to use them as fighters again.

IM NOT ARGUING... im just asking, what makes you think the Russian avionics that replaced the american technology in the tomcats would also be out of date?

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I would think that it would be less expensive for them to actually purchase Su-27 family of aircraft then to try to interchange Russian avionics for the US avionics in their F-14s.

Considering none of the other onboard systems or databus would be functional with Russian equipment I doubt that it would actually occur. More then likely they simply modified them to allow the use of RUssian weapons.

The Iranians have shown a willingness to completely fabricate their own parts to keep these aircraft operations, though in very limited numbers.

However, the recent sting that caught a group trying to sell stolen F-14 avionics parts to Iran seems to point to their continued need for US built replacement parts...

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I'm not arguing anything.
However Russian avionics=out of date.

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+1 on the Su-27s, they are mostly superior compared to whatever capbilities the Iranian F-14s still have.

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Fighting for justice with brains of steel

Let your anger be like the monkey which hides inside the piniata.

i've also heard rumours that some MiG-31 been upgraded to MiG-31BM standard with NIIP Zaslon-M AESA radar. I think Armada magazine briefly makes reference to it as well, could that system be used in a tomcat or is that too an outdated system?

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Well considering the USN used the cost of updating just the databaus on the F-14 as one of the main reasons to retire the entire fleet, I would have to say that the cost to replace the entire avionics, data system, radars, and associated electrical systems would be outrageously expensive and cost well beyond what it would to simply buy newer aircraft, with much more return on investment with new fatigue lives on the airframes...

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The Zaslon is a decent RADAR but I THINK it's a bit too big for the F-14, not sure though. The Fox series ( Bat and Hound ) are HUGE aircraft.

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CAG: "I would think that it would be less expensive for them to actually purchase Su-27 family of aircraft then to try to interchange Russian avionics for the US avionics in their F-14s."

I think the Iranian Air Force is recieving 250 SU-30MKs sometime soon...

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You mean whenever they decide to pay the Russians first for their nuclear fuel?

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hmmm, if that happens, I wonder how Iranian SU-30MK would be designated, b/c "I" is for India, maybe "P" for Persia?

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