Posted on 01/06/2020 10:59:24 AM PST by Red Badger
Not a fair fight.
Key point: It would be much smarter for Iran to use asymmetric means to take on the United States instead of challenging America in the air.
With the United States withdrawing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Iran, a war with Tehran seems to be a distinct possibility. In the event of a military conflict between Washington and Tehran, there is also the ever growing possibility that the White House might seek regime change in Iran.
A full-scale military campaign against Iran would require the United States to destroy the Iranian air force—which to this day flies American-built warplanes. The best of Iran’s decrepit fighter aircraft fleet is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The Imperial Iranian Air Force purchased 80 of the powerful fourth generation fighters before the 1979 Islamic revolution, but deliveries were halted at 79 aircraft. Additionally, Iran had purchased 714 Hughes (now Raytheon) AIM-54A Phoenix long-range semi-active/active radar guided air-to-air missiles, which have a range of roughly 100 nautical miles.
When the F-14A was developed, it was amongst the most capable fighters developed by the United States during the late 1960s. The jet entered service with the U.S. Navy in 1974 equipped with the AWG-9 long-range pulse Doppler radar, which had a range of over 115 nautical miles and was the first American radar set to incorporate a track while scan mode to allow for a multiple shot capability. Coupled with the AIM-54, the AWG-9 could target six enemy bombers simultaneously. On paper, the Tomcat provided the fleet with a potent capability—though the reality did not quite meet the Navy’s public relations hype.
Iran has upgraded its Tomcats with new avionics and potentially new weapons, but only a handful of Tehran’s F-14s are in flyable condition—perhaps as few as 20 aircraft. However, other than perhaps 20 Russian-made Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrums, the venerable Tomcat is the Islamic Iranian Air Force’s most capable fighter. In the event of a war, the F-14 would be Iran’s first line of defense against an American onslaught.
The stealthy Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor air superiority fighter would almost certainly lead an American attack. Compared to the antiquated F-14, the Raptor is a technological marvel and is equipped with some of the most sophisticated sensors ever developed for a military aircraft.
The F-22 combines extreme stealth and sustained supersonic speed—it can cruise at just above Mach 1.8 without afterburners—with integrated avionics and extreme agility. The Raptor’s Northrop Grumman AN/APG-77 (V)1 active electronically scanned array radar and ALR-94 passive electronic support measures suite would spot an F-14 from many tens of nautical miles away before the Tomcat had any idea that an F-22 was in the vicinity.
The Raptor, having detected a flight of Iranian F-14s and given the go-ahead to engage, would likely turn toward the enemy and launch its Raytheon AIM-120D AMRAAM missile—which reported has a range of 96 nautical miles when launched from a conventional fighter—from high supersonic speeds exceeding Mach 1.5 and at altitudes well above 50,000ft. It would be all over for the Iranian F-14s before anyone in the enemy formation would have any idea they were under attack.
Even if the Raptors had run out of AMRAAMs and were forced to engage within visual range, the F-22s can use their stealth to close in unobserved to less than 1000ft to either kill the F-14s with Raytheon AIM-9X Sidewinders or 20mm Vulcan cannon fire. Indeed, F-22 pilots flying during exercises such as Red Flag or Northern Edge will often sneak into guns range to make unobserved kills from very close distances by taking advantage of the Raptor’s stealth. More often than not, the Raptor’s quarry is caught completely unaware.
However, if by some bizarre circumstance the F-22 is embroiled in a dogfight with the F-14, the chances are the Raptor will kill the Tomcat unless the American pilot suffers from extremely bad luck or makes a serious error. The Raptor holds all of the cards in terms of instantaneous and sustained turn rates—which in the F-22’s case is greater than 30 degrees per second—and energy addition. The Raptor’s incredible specific excess power and sheer maneuverability combined with its new AIM-9X missiles makes it so that the odds are grotesquely stacked in the F-22 pilot’s favor. It would be like clubbing a baby seal.
Of course, that’s just in the case that Iran’s leaders are foolish enough to take the United States head-on. It would be much smarter for Iran to use asymmetric means to take on the United States instead of challenging America in the air.
This first appeared in May 2018.
Just to make it a fair fight bring back Maverick and the crew and F-14s.
“a war with Tehran seems to be a distinct possibility.”
Uh - no.
Trump is fortunately smarter than the Bushes. There are other options beside direct confrontation.
this is why iran will NOT take on the US because their air power will be decimated, their tanks destroyed, and the gov there will be vulnerable to takeover by the citizens that want to overthrow the dictators- They aren’t going to risk a civil war and coup when they get weakened by the US in my opinion
Russia does not want their aircraft in DIRECT confrontation with US aircraft.
Bad for sales.......................
Take out the banks and bankers in Lebanon.
<>Politico story
<,>https://www.politico.com/interactives/2017/obama-hezbollah-drug-trafficking-investigation/
<...>https://www.thedonald.win/p/3wgSkkK/the-secret-backstory-of-how-obam/c/
The Iranians saw how quickly and thoroughly we took out Sadaam's forces. They are unlikely to have any interest in any sort of conventional fight.
...or the US could take out their supply depo and destroy their aviation fuel and the planes would be sitting ducks on the ground.
Other targets would be their command and control center, radar installations, electrical grid, and infrastructure.
These could be done with drones.
There are so many possibilities.
What ever option the President chooses I don’t believe the first strikes will be to destroy Iran, only weaken them.
If however Iran decides to begin bring the war to the US mainland I don’t believe President Trump will show any restraint.
It has been close to 80 years since one nation fought an unrestricted war with another, I hope Iran chooses not to open that door...
“It would be much smarter for Iran to use asymmetric means to take on the United States”
Iran would be wise to bury the remains and put up a fancy grave marker.
If Iranians like electricity, the Iranians should act accordingly.
Or
Standoff weapons destroy the tomcats and SAM sites. While the raptor pilots enjoy smoothies on the beach
Anything Iranian that gets airborne would immediately get shot down.
They would be better off leaving their planes lined up on the tarmac and at least saving their pilots.
This first appeared in May 2018.
Thanks Red Badger.
Like clubbing a baby seal...
No wonder the libs are all upset about the possibilities of war with Iran.
Indeed. I would think that President Trump will hit oil installations to further cripple their economy. Also hit nuclear sites.
If they still don’t stand down, then maybe all bets are off. I’ve mentioned on other threads that Hiroshima was insufficient. We needed to follow-up with Nagasaki before the Japanese really got the message. I don’t expect us to use nukes. But if we hit them really hard, and they STILL don’t get it, then I would expect the US to hit them really, really, really hard.
As you note, we’ve been pussy-footing for close to 80 years. I don’t think President Trump wants to continue that.
Wholeheartedly agree. And the likelihood is, the entire Iranian airforce would be destroyed on the ground by drone strikes.
Only if the US gives them that option. We also have a vote. Just because they attack in say in South America doesn't mean we won't take the fight directly to their homeland.
In fact that would be my initial response, make it so expensive that they pull back or risk inhalation. No more games.
That's correct, the only proven use of Iranian airpower is shooting unarmed civilians from the air.
“The best of Iran’s decrepit fighter aircraft fleet is the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.”
All THREE of them, each with a fire control system that hasn’t worked since the mid-90’s.
“Iran has upgraded its Tomcats with new avionics and potentially new weapons,”
Who supplied those? Hard-over sanctions
Worthless due to their THREE F-14’s having no functioning radar, non-functioning fire control system. . .just an aircraft where the engines are barely operating. . .flying junk unable to fire missiles or drop bombs,
lol
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