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IRIAF Tomcat loadouts


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I'm building a 1/72 IRIAF F-14A and using the hi-decal sheet for it. The sheet notes that a typical loadout for IRIAF birds was two Phoenix, three Sparrows, and two Sidewinders. My question was, does anyone know which stations the weapons were mounted on? I'm guessing that the Phoenixes and Sidewinders went on the two shoulder pylons, with the Sparrows on the tummy, but can anyone confirm or refute this? Help me ensure the accuracy of a model that only I, my wife, and a cockatiel will see!

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I asked the same question a while back when I was working on an iranian Tomcat. Apparently your suggested load out was a realistic one, but also possible was to carry the two phoenixes under the forward fuselage, two sparrows on the wings and the remaining sparrow under the belly. I choose the latter since it looks more interesting I think.

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Yep, looks like two -54s on front belly, 2 -9Ps on shoulder, but don't see -7s...

Initial Tomcats just have SUU-20 on front left position...

Have they made the IFR probe fixed?

OH, and the shots of Maverick's and/or Iceman's bird(s) kinda throw off the whole "show"... :whistle:

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Since all the other perfectly airworthy Cat's have been chopped into pieces at AMARG, these are all that are left. Let's hope they keep on flying for many years to come, perhaps under more peacefull circumstances.

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AIM-9P on the shoulder stations

AIM-7 either on belly stations or wing pylons

AIM-54 either on belly or wing pylons.

Basically, the normal loadout you would see on USN Tomcats.

This pic comes from Wikipedia;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Irani_F-14_Tomcats_carrying_AIM-54_Phoenixs.jpg

The second Tomcat in this photo carries a Hawk surface-to-air missile, an adaptation the Iranian AF created. How well it worked I don't know ;)

Edited by Niels
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The Iranians never received any AIM-7 Sparrows. It was planned (AIM-7F), but dumped when the Shah was kicked out. Same with Sidewinder AIM-9L's. So any pics with Sidewinder would be the Air Force variant. They also modified some of their Hawk missiles to be carried by the Tomcats. There are a few pics out their with these as part of a load-out. Someone will need to dig through the archives to see if any were carried and used during the Iraq-Iran war. BTW the AIAM-7E missiles were never set up to be used on the F-14. Doubt that Iran had any capability to update the software unlesws they could make a deal with the Mugu folks

Ciao!!

Henry Blecha

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The Iranians had Sparrows! They may not have had AIM-7Fs, but they had up through AIM-7E-4 models (which look almost identical externally to F models except for some possible variations in the nose cone shape). As I recall, the US supplied them with Sparrows when they bought the F-4s as the jets and missiles were intended as interceptor defense against Soviet aggression along their border with the USSR (primarily because the US was flying covert RF-4 flights along that border as well).

I am currently looking at a color picture of an Iranian F-4 Phantom from 1982 in my Osprey "Iranian F-4 Phantoms in Combat" showing it with two Sparrows in the aft bays. There are also at least a couple pictures out there of an Iranian F-14 carrying Sparrows on the glove pylons.

Edited by Jay Chladek
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Also see the photo I linked to in my earlier post - clearly showing AIM-7's on both Tomcats. So Iran did get AIM-7's, no doubt about it :)

As for Hawks for wing pylons, I know WolfPack did such a set in 1/48, check out their 1/72 line aswell; http://www.wolfpack-d.com/

The Hawk was carried on a modified AIM-54-pylon, so basically you have what you need in the kit + (aftermarket) Hawk missile.

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The only way you would ever see that missile combination on an F-14A would be with the two Phoenix mounted on the forward belly pallets. Two Sparrows would be on the wing pylons and the third would be in the aft centerline position. The reason for this is that the AIM-54A required cooling from the aircraft, and the cooling units were inside the Phoenix pallets on the fuselage. Plumbing to the AIM-54A on other stations came from those pallets. AIM-54C missiles can be mounted on the wing pylons without the pallets because they don't require external cooling systems. So you might find photos of a USN F-14D with AIM-54C mounted only on wing pylons, but you won't find an F-14A with AIM-54A loaded like that. The Iranian AF never had AIM-54C.

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The reason for this is that the AIM-54A required cooling from the aircraft, and the cooling units were inside the Phoenix pallets on the fuselage. Plumbing to the AIM-54A on other stations came from those pallets.

(...)

So you might find photos of a USN F-14D with AIM-54C mounted only on wing pylons, but you won't find an F-14A with AIM-54A loaded like that.

So... technically, could AIM-54A's be carried on the wing pylons only if the fuselage pallets were fitted, cooling being vented from them to the wing pylons?

Cheers,

Andre

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So... technically, could AIM-54A's be carried on the wing pylons only if the fuselage pallets were fitted, cooling being vented from them to the wing pylons?

Cheers,

Andre

I would say unlikely. The plumbing is probably not designed for that.

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I don't think the HAWKs could be considered a "typical" load? Wasn't the Hawk just an experiment that did not work out that well?

What I meant by "typical load" is what I've seen in photographs of the load out.

it very well may have been an experiment, but honestly I'm not 100% for sure. My research on Iranian F-14's is mounting, but I have seen several photos with the HAWKs attached to their tomcats.

Edited by VFA-103guy
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What I meant by "typical load" is what I've seen in photographs of the load out.

it very well may have been an experiment, but honestly I'm not 100% for sure. My research on Iranian F-14's is mounting, but I have seen several photos with the HAWKs attached to their tomcats.

Well, I am far from being an expert, and as I understand, this is wildly debated out there on the internet. Some claim that the modified HAWK was a success and worked fine, and therefore a perfectly valid alternative to the Phoenix missile. Some claim that it is just a PR-stunt, and that it was never meant to work. I tend to believe that the truth is somewhere in between. I read somewhere that the Iranians indeed did modify some HAWK missiles, but that it worked poorly, with few hits on non-manoeuvring targets. But I also tend to believe that the Iranians really want us to believe they actually managed to get it to work, so they still some times hang a HAWK missile on a Tomcat just to make us wonder.

One clue to what is actually the truth could be an answer to the question: Do Iran produce any other AAM, of their own design, or copy? I don't know.

But anyway, since there ARE pictures of various Tomcats, brown and grey, carrying the HAWK, one could say it's a typical load. If it is a working load or just ballast, that is irrelevant. So I guess you´re right. It is a typical load.

In any way, it's a very unusual load, so I will not hold it against anyone who builds an IIAF Tomcat if they decide to go with it.

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The only way you would ever see that missile combination on an F-14A would be with the two Phoenix mounted on the forward belly pallets. Two Sparrows would be on the wing pylons and the third would be in the aft centerline position. The reason for this is that the AIM-54A required cooling from the aircraft, and the cooling units were inside the Phoenix pallets on the fuselage. Plumbing to the AIM-54A on other stations came from those pallets.

Wait a sec, if the AIM-54A couldn't be glove pylon carried, than how the heck did the Navy do its famous Operation 6 on 6 drone shoot down experiment with a single Tomcat carrying 6 Phoenix missiles and engaging 6 target drones in the 1970s?

To my knowledge, AIM-54As could be glove carried in Navy use, but seldom were in fleet use since although a Tomcat could launch with six AIM-54s from the deck of a ship, it couldn't land that heavy. Iran looks like it had some of those Phoenix glove pylons though since it operated its entire Tomcat fleet from land anyway (pilots didn't like that configuration though because the plane was a slug in dogfights).

There is also evidence to suggest that Iran's Phoenix missiles, even though they were designated AIM-54As might have been a little different as they were essentially hand built rather than manufactured on the production lines being used for the Navy's missile procurement. And given how DoD procurement procedures tend to be pretty cut and dry as to what can and can't be done during ordnance manufacturing, it wouldn't surprise me if Grumman and the Phoenix manufacturer in association with the Shah's air force before the revolution was using the Tomcat fleet to help trial some equipment they couldn't get Navy funding approval for. The Shah wanted Phoenix capability as quickly as possible to help trump Mig-25R Foxbat overflights from the USSR.

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Wait a sec, if the AIM-54A couldn't be glove pylon carried, than how the heck did the Navy do its famous Operation 6 on 6 drone shoot down experiment with a single Tomcat carrying 6 Phoenix missiles and engaging 6 target drones in the 1970s?

To my knowledge, AIM-54As could be glove carried in Navy use, but seldom were in fleet use since although a Tomcat could launch with six AIM-54s from the deck of a ship, it couldn't land that heavy. Iran looks like it had some of those Phoenix glove pylons though since it operated its entire Tomcat fleet from land anyway (pilots didn't like that configuration though because the plane was a slug in dogfights).

There is also evidence to suggest that Iran's Phoenix missiles, even though they were designated AIM-54As might have been a little different as they were essentially hand built rather than manufactured on the production lines being used for the Navy's missile procurement. And given how DoD procurement procedures tend to be pretty cut and dry as to what can and can't be done during ordnance manufacturing, it wouldn't surprise me if Grumman and the Phoenix manufacturer in association with the Shah's air force before the revolution was using the Tomcat fleet to help trial some equipment they couldn't get Navy funding approval for. The Shah wanted Phoenix capability as quickly as possible to help trump Mig-25R Foxbat overflights from the USSR.

The carriage of "wet" Phoenix missiles on stations 1B and 8B (lower glove stations) is addressed in great detail on Z5's "Jet Modeling" F-14 FAQ.

In a nutshell, the F-14A and B could carry operable AIM-54As on those stations with some caveats... Mainly that the forward belly rails are installed with or without ordnance.

As far as the AIM-7 question is concerned, any questions over whether they were carried can be answered very clearly in Osprey's "Iranian F-14 in Combat" book... I think I got the name right- it's not in front of me at the moment. There are pics of AIM-7 carriage all over the book from multiple timeframes.

HTH

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That very same book claims that IIAF bought AIM-7E-2 and AIM-7E-4, but were not cleared to buy AIM-7F's. I have no idea what this means, since I am not an expert on the Sparrow missile system. But I think there is enough evidence around that proves that they indeed had Sparrow missiles on their Tomcats.

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