Deep Intel on the Smugglers Who Keep Iran's F-14s Flying

We find it interesting that the USN shot down 6 enemy aircraft with the

F - 14. Iran was able to shot down 159 aircraft in the Iran - Iraq War with

the F -14 Tomcat.

The F -14 Tomcat was a great aircraft indeed.

The F-14s were not just picked because of that famous fly off with the F-15 but because Iran was having significant problems with radar coverage as most of their ground based radar systems were old American systems that didn’t work due to the heat and age and Iran’s mountainous terrain also caused large gaps in coverage. A study launched in the early 70’s concluded a flying radar station was far more effective and would be helpful if this radar station could defend itself, leading to only the Tomcat as the best aircraft for this task. The Shah himself had also been granted secret access to early blueprints of the Tomcat and when he heard the F-14 program was experiencing financial difficulties he encouraged Iranian banks to provide loans to Grumman to help allow the F-14 program to reach production status. It’s also important to mention that although the Iranians were working hard to acquire F-14 and Aim-54 parts from the black market it was also worth mentioning how far their efforts went to produce their own parts which was so shocking to the Americans that a secret operation called “Night Harvest” was launched by the CIA to convince 3 F-4Es and an F-14A to defect from Iran and have the aircraft flown to Saudi Arabia for a thorough inspection and they found a number of components that were made in Iran, confirming the Iranian aircraft industry had advanced significantly, so much so that in 1996 the began full aircraft overhauls and its why to this day their F-14s still fly and even with the old ex US Navy aircraft scrapped its made no difference to the Operational capabilities of the Iranian Tomcats. Hoping one day I get to write a book on the F-14 in Iranian service as I find the stories of the Persian cats so utterly fascinating.