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 forcewhich to this day flies American-built warplanes. The best of Irans 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 capabilitythough the reality did not quite meet the Navys public relations hype.
Iran has upgraded its Tomcats with new avionics and potentially new weapons, but only a handful of Tehrans F-14s are in flyable conditionperhaps as few as 20 aircraft. However, other than perhaps 20 Russian-made Mikoyan MiG-29 Fulcrums, the venerable Tomcat is the Islamic Iranian Air Forces most capable fighter. In the event of a war, the F-14 would be Irans 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 speedit can cruise at just above Mach 1.8 without afterburnerswith integrated avionics and extreme agility. The Raptors 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 missilewhich reported has a range of 96 nautical miles when launched from a conventional fighterfrom 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 Raptors stealth. More often than not, the Raptors 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 rateswhich in the F-22s case is greater than 30 degrees per secondand energy addition. The Raptors 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 pilots favor. It would be like clubbing a baby seal.
Of course, thats just in the case that Irans 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.
Without the Phoenix missiles the Tomcats would be hopeless against anything we have in the air.
Maybe they could find some Sopwith Camels and try to come in under the radar.
I sure would hate to see those Tomcats wasted even though they belong to Iran.
They are so old now I bet they have been cannibalized ...............
This entire article could have been summed up in one frakin’ word: NOT!
Iran remembers Praying Mantis. I am certain Trump’s Nat Sec team does as well. Maybe a bit more formidable today, but so are we and Iran knows this.
Look for assymetrical targeting. Then what we do in response.
Another big problem, IMHO, would be to keep the Israelis from going full frontal and converting most of Iran, Lebanon, and wherever Palestinians are to glassified dust particles...
by Robert Beckhusen
Key point: Stealth is one of the most important elements of combat.
Back in 2013, Pentagon press secretary George Little said that an Iranian air force F-4 Phantom combat plane attempted to intercept a U.S. MQ-1 Predator drone flying through international airspace near Iran.
As we reported back then, one of the two F-4 Phantom jets in service in Iran since the Shah came to about 16 miles from the Predator, but broke off pursuit after two American planes escorting the drone broadcast a warning message.
It was a close call.
The March 2013 episode happened only a few months after a two Sukhoi Su-25 attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (the informal name of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards) attempted to shoot down an American MQ-1 flying a routine surveillance flight in international airspace some 16 miles off Iran.
After this attempted interception, the Pentagon decided to escort drones involved in reconnaissance missions with fighter jets: either F-18 Hornets embarked on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, currently in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of responsibility, or F-22 Raptors like those deployed to Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates.
New details about the latest episode were recently disclosed by Air Force chief of staff Gen. Mark Welsh at an annual conference of the Air Force Association. On Sept. 17, the general not only confirmed that the escorting fighters were F-22 stealth fighters but also said that: He [the Raptor pilot] flew under their aircraft [the F-4s] to check out their weapons load without them knowing that he was there, and then pulled up on their left wing and then called them and said you really ought to go home.
If the episode went exactly as Welsh described it, it was something more similar to Mavericks close encounter with Russian MiG-28s in Top Gun than a standard interception.
It would be interesting to know how the Raptors managed to remain in stealth. Did the pilots use radar? Were they vectored by an AWACS? Why didnt an E-2 providing Airborne Early Warning in the area not broadcast the message to dissuade the F-4 from pursuing the drone before the Iranian Phantoms and the U.S. Raptors came close to a potentially dangerous and tense situation?
Anyway, the U.S. pilot scared the Iranian pilots off and saved the drone. A happy ending worthy of an action movie.
The President has stated he does not want regime change in Iran. That is why he fired Bolton, who kept speaking for it in public despite the President's wishes. The longer this goes on without a fight, the less likely there will be any conflict. No fight means Iran looks weak and the U.S. looks strong. No war means we win, for now.
If it comes down to it, the US will take out the Iranian Air Force the same way it took out the Iraqi Air Force. Getting them on the ground or as they try to get away to any country that will take them.
Iran tries to look tough, while avoiding direct confrontation. They do not want the U.S. Air Force and Navy launching an all out attacks on them. For now, they are making threats they have no intention of backing up to save face after the President humiliated them by killing Soleimani and heading off their next wave of terrorism.
The Iranian’s were using their F-14’s as a poor man’s AWAC’s during the Iran-Iraq War. They didn’t very often get up-close-and-personal with Saddam’s MiGs. They made some long-range shots for sure, but mostly they were vectoring in other planes — F-4’s and F-5’s to get in behind Saddam’s planes.
We have more aircraft that are superior in all ways in most states than Iran has in its entire air force.
So, unless it gets down to throwing rocks, because the other armaments have already been used to kill their AF, our guys won’t even work up a sweat...
How this will be handle. The clay pigeons are Irans air force.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnIEev6ncBc
Iran uses the F-14’s as an AWACs
We can use them as target practice................
No need to hypothesize when a video game trained Air Force computer jock based in Tampa can take out every airstrip in Iran over 1000 feet with his keyboard. No runway = no fly zone. No casualties, just more business for the local road maintenance company.
Back in the Desert Storm era, the military didn’t think it was very economical to use expensive bombs to blow up runways, since they could be repaired relatively easily and quickly...........
Iraq was a military powerhouse compared to Iran. Iran has been suffering under sanctions for too long. Being a religious state, they are prone to removing military people who don’t toe the line. Their soldiers are better than Saddam’s but their equipment is complete shiite. Their best stuff is anti-ship missiles and S-400’s. They can hurt us with both.
Six B-52’s carrying cruise missiles can reduce them to cave-dwellers. They’ll be limited to launching SCUD’s at Saudi Arabia and Israel. But invading them will be tricky if not impossible.
Invasion would not be necessary.
Destroying Iran’s military power would allow the citizens to rise up and take control..............
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