Iranian F-14's are escorting Russian bombers over Syria. Pretty wild to see a Tomcat protecting a bear.
https://youtu.be/ascSnBbxfaU?t=1m30s
>>27938058
Those bastards are still flying? Glorious.
>>27938070
hint: limited time air frames are bullshit lies sold by Boe-Mart for mo taxpayer monies
>>27938058
timecode 1:28-1:30 in the video
>tfw dirty persian faggot gets to take the highway to the dangerzone and you don't
>>27938058
peace peace
>>27938058
>Unarmed F-14's
Though that got me thinking, are the Iranians still using outdated AIM-54's from the 60's? They have no one to supply them with new shit, so what are they using on the Tomcats?
>>27938107
The AIM-54 is still one of the most capable AA missiles in service. 100 miles at Mach 5.
>>27938058
the russians carpet bomb?
Its like ww2 all over again
>>27938116
It is a joke against anything but strategic bombers.
>>27938088
I'll take Metal Fatigue for $400, Alex?
You can keep something flying indefinitely with enough maintenance and repair money and time. Though it starts getting prohibitive if you are a nation that can afford to buy new airplanes.
>>27938107
I'm sure they have rewired them to use Communist or French missles, by now.
>>27938058
>Iranian F-14's are escorting Russian bombers over Syria.
This is pretty awesome. Seeing all these countries fighting together for the greater good is cool, like something out of a Tom Clancy novel.
>>27938154
>Its like ww2 all over again
No, it isn't.
>>27938088
You know that the US airframes of the tomcats were MUCH more stressed than the iranian ones because a life time of carrier landings is much harder for an airframe than landing on airfields, right?
There WERE no limited time frames left in the us inventory
>>27938070
Current estimates on how many they have flying vary pretty wildly. I think a Janes report back in the 90s put them as having somewhere in the 40s. Other estimates are usually in the 20s.
Gotta remember they got some of the first Tomcats, the F-14As.
Coalition illegally flying in Syrian airspace
>>27938058
I had no idea any of the F-14s they had still flew, I thought they were out of spare parts and left to rust away.
This is too cool and so weird to watch.
>>27938058
I'll never tire of lots of free fallers. Fuck yea.
>>27938440
They've got F-4s and F-5s as well. It's like looking into a time machine.
>>27938440
Mostly likely they've been keeping them flying using bootleg/smuggled parts as well as cannibalizing existing Tomcats.
>>27938568
No more smuggled parts since the US shredded all of them they could find (the tomcats you see in museums have everything ripped out of them).
I've heard they've managed to machine some spare parts for them, the main limitation is probably engines. No way they're making any more of those.
>>27938088
>muh boe-mart JEWISH SHILLS OMG crap
>ignorance of material properties
>ignoring the difference between Tomcats shot off a carrier deck frequently vs Tomcats flying occasionally off a land airbase
>>>/pol/ might be more your speed
Iranian Tomacata also carry modified HAWK SAMs as well. Kind neat actually
>>27938107
>>27938190
They made an air-launched derivative of the Hawk SAM to replace the Phoenixes
>>27938609
>>27938630
Ninja'd
>>27938630
>>27938609
I wouldn't really call it a replacement. It's got, what, a quarter the range of a Phoenix? I think they're claiming they reverse-engineered the Phoenix a few years back anyways.
>>27938160
but that's wrong
>>27938058
First Kh-101, now this. Neat.
>>27938107
>are the Iranians still using outdated AIM-54's from the 60's?
No, and it's really weird to see F-14 with Russian missiles.
>>27938160
Iran have used them against Iraqi fighters just fine.
"AIM-54 is only useful against big slow bombers" meme really need to die.
>>27938160
>People legitimately think that the US Navy adopted an air-to-air missile that could only kill bombers.
The AIM-54 was a beast all-around. It could airburst and take out multiple opposing fighters with one missile.
>>27938440
I mean any machine shop should be able to pump out any broken part. Are the metal alloys that unique?
>>27939108
Are R-27 still as horrible as they were in Ethiopia?
Seriously, how many confirmed BVR kills were there so far?
Why even an escort? Just for publicity I guess. It's not like the rebels have aircraft and the US has no reason to.
>>27940828
I thought the AIM 54 was radar guided
>>27938088
Northrop shill detected.
>>27938202
Same the bastard isnt still alive. I love his books.
That Paris attack was something out of Rainbow six.
Just imagine, all of tom Clancy's characters team up to take own this threat.
>>27940864
Because it gets pilots experience and flight hours so why not? You have to run drills anyway so you might as well do them in a place where they might be useful. The USA does the same thing by putting F-15s at Space-X launches despite the miniscule odds of a an aerial attack.
>>27940881
The Rainbow Six in that new game don't seem as operator as the ones in that book.
>>27940905
Not even close. Fucking the Patriots one looks and seemed operator more than the new one. Shame it was scrapped.
bear bomb load is pretty pathetic
>>27940971
It can't use bombs at all, I thought. Only cruise missiles.
>>27938154
Apparently they are taking advantage of this conflict to burn off their Soviet-era stores.
DCS F-14 can't come out soon enough.
>>27941112
CUM HISTORIA
>>27938058
I like how the planes take off from a snow-covered airfield, bomb targets in a desert and then return to the land of ice for a respite, a testament to the range of these aircraft.
>>27938107
>>27938058
Why doesn't Big Brother Russia or China sell Iran some new jets
>>27941112
Wait, wut? Is that the next DCS? Muh jizz.
>>27941377
Yeah bro. The back seat driver can be either AI or another player.
>>27938154
>the russians carpet bomb?
>Its like ww2 all over again
Implying the ruskies was the one that did the carpet bombing in ww2.
>>27941407
>>27941421
That island will know better now.
>>27938088
>limited time air frames are bullshit lies
Go to engineering school then tell us that. Or even better, save yourself a few years and read a book on metal fatigue.
>>27940856
Try "pumping out" a whole new airframe.
>>27940856
They don't have the expertise to make proper new engines, wings, control structures, etc.
>>27941400
>The back seat driver can be either AI or another player.
>another player
This is literally what me and my friend have been waiting on for two decades.
>>27940868
it is, and it's not never shot down a an actual fighter from a real air force
>>27940828
The artists face when he painted an inert AIM-54 missile instead of a live one
>>27941476
an airframe is literally a collection of individual parts
>>27939108
>F-14 with F-4 in background
it's like the US Navy in the 1970s
>>27938096
That's ok. Ten years later the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Lone Star (minus Barf, sadly), and Cousin Eddie killed aliens on the 4th of July.
>>27938495
and MiG-21s and Mirage F1s.
>F-14
>Mig-29
>Mirage F1
>F-4
>bootleg F-5s with cooler-looking twin tails
you know, I like what Iran has in their air force.
>>27944861
>>27941785
You realize that screenshot is from a decade-old Ace Combat game, right?
>>27940868
>>27944100
you guys are missing the big picture, which is that it's noseart and any noseart is cool and unique in this day and age.
noseart was always autistic and cringey. that's the point.
>>27944937
That air museum owns btw
>>27944112
Yeah, try "pumping it out"
>>27944861
Does Iran have the most Ace Combat air force ever?
>>27939041
It's harder to deny it now. That sure looked like one.
>>27938116
But those are too old to be serviceable, honestly.
