Our Government feels so strongly about this that it’s paying somebody to shred F-14s so that “other countries” can’t obtain the spare parts for their own F-14 Tomcats.
Oh, wait:
Iran is the only country trying to keep Tomcats airworthy. The United States let Iran buy the F-14s in the 1970s when it was an ally, long before President Bush named it part of an “axis of evil.”
Emphasis mine. Read the whole thing here.
Update: Link fixed.Â
And that is why our old tech gets shredded, so it doesn’t upgrade Iranian air capabilities. But I wouldn’t worry about the Iranian tomcats, a wing of F22 Raptors would make short work of them. The only real threat is if they develop a significant air to ship and launch a surprise attack (the Aegis defense system can be overwhelmed with enough missiles).
F22s’ would also make short work of Pakistani F16’s.
Jimro
I work for the company that used to manufacture F-14s. We’ve been approached literally hundreds of times, though clever and not-so-clever intermediaries, for support for those Iranian jets. Fortunately, our management and its associates have always managed to ferret out the identity of the ultimate requestor.
The F-14 is a unique aircraft, a Mach 2 capable, long-range, long-time-on-station platform that can be equipped with six Phoenix missiles. The Phoenix is a fire-and-forget, radar-guided missile that can take out a target up to 200 miles away. It was the principal protection of American carrier battle groups for two decades. If Iran’s F-14s could be reanimated, they would constitute a large threat to American naval forces in the waters nearby — a very large threat.
You simply don’t allow a hostile nation to operate a weapon system like that if you can help it.