The Israeli Air Force Has Destroyed Rare Iranian F-14 Tomcat Fighter Jets

The operation was part of a broader campaign to neutralize Iran's defense infrastructure.

Israeli aircraft hit two F-14 Tomcat fighter jets of Iran's air force in pinpoint airstrikes on military installations near Isfahan. The operation was part of a broader campaign to neutralize Iran's defense infrastructure.

The strike targeted key elements capable of defending central Iran's airspace and coordinating offensive operations, said columnists The War Zone, citing Israeli military sources.

The footage released by the Israel Defense Forces shows a pair of F-14A Tomcat fighter jets being destroyed by air-to-ground munitions.

The fighters were stationed at Shahid Babai Air Base, the main platform for F-14 operations in Iran. According to military analysts, both aircraft were likely inoperable at the time of the strike and had not been in the air for an extended period of time.

Iran remains the only country operating the F-14 Tomcat outside the United States. These aircraft were delivered to Tehran in the 1970s during the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Iran received a total of 79 machines. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, deliveries were halted, and subsequent decades of sanctions have made it much harder to maintain the fleet.

At the peak of operational status, in the 1980s, Iranian F-14s were used extensively in the Iran-Iraq war. However, the technical condition of the fleet deteriorated over time. Resilience to AN/AWG-9 radar failures became a major issue, with some of the aircraft having full radar performance and some with greatly reduced capabilities. There were also questions about the safety of the American AIM-54 Phoenix and AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, which once formed the basis of the Tomcat's strike capability.

According to various estimates, in recent years there have been anywhere from a few units to about 25 aircraft in flying condition, but in recent years their combat capability has been questionable. Now, as a result of effective action by Israeli forces, the career of the F-14 Tomcat has finally come to an end, as the U.S. Navy - the only other operator of these aircraft - has scrapped them.

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