'playing too much WT';

'I hope they pull domestic copies of the Tomcat out of their ass some day';

'>>61583904
Is the f 14 tomcat a good plane?';

'>>61583914
No, but it's the soul that matters';

'>>61583889
It's what they got, and what they can produce domestically (Allegedly) despite sanctions.
With Russia now busy building for their own use rather than export i guess so it will continue, wasn't Iran trying to buy some sort of Flankers?';

'>>61583889
I dont think they care about their air force that much, it's very weak and with international sanctions they must be struggling a lot already with needed pieces and maintenance. No wonder they're focusing on missiles instead. In reality I don't think their old fleet serve any purpose other than recon or bombing some shit in Iraq';

'>>61583889
>be GE
>be awarded an USAF contract to develop a small turbojet that for a drone that only need to last 1 hour
>the new engine is cheap, reliable it can last +10,000 hours
>some autistic guys of a corpo designing weird planes ask you if you could add an AF
>they design a "smaller F-104" supersonic trainer with better aerodynamics
>they make a small Mach 1.666 fighter based on that trainer
>still making spares for 2040s and beyond';

'>>61583935
There was some back & forth but apparently they did get some Flankers in the end although it's unknown how many and when they'll get them
Probably not in exchange for Shasneeds tho';

'testing';

'>>61583889
It’s what they had when those dirty yukes attacked.';

'>>61583914
the F-14 Tomcat was an amazing aircraft at it's role and in it's time, but is ancient history today and was a maintenance whore (but we love her)';

'It's the cheapest jet fighter you can have, right? Numbers and appearances.';

'>>61583889
At the time they bought them en masse the F16 wasnt available to non Nato and the export version hadnt come out yet. The F5 was the best bang for their buck. Its smol size meant it could get performance similar to the early F16s of that time, albeit with much less payload and range, but also meant that it couldnt fit all the upgrades over the years that keep the F16 competitive.';

'>>61584222
It would still be dick-exploding levels of good if they had upgraded it as much as the F-15 has been. Huge space for radar, payload, engines, optimized for carrier ops and keeping up supersonic speeds, good climb, good turn. If the US Navy had seen what was coming in the Pacific they wouldn't have been eager to get rid of it only to buy 'F-18 but actually way larger and essentially a different plane anyway'.

Just imagine the shit you could pack on its radome. It'd be able to microwave Chinese balls from three timezones away.';

'>>61584737
The Navy and F/A18 didn't kill the Super Tomcat, Dick Cheney did. Navy would have kept F14s in service if it was their choice, just the same as they would have had their own program instead of JSF if they had the choice.';

'>>61583889
Are any of their “new” F-5 clones actually new builds, or are they all refurbished airframes?';

'They should've called them Mig-28s instead of that thirdie garble';

'>>61583914
Tornado but worse basically.';

'>>61586284
the more you look at the tornado the more you realise how nuts it actually is/was for the time it was designed and built.

Its like the pinnacle of what a cold war strike /bomber/ fighter were supposed to be';

'>>61586284
Don’t be silly anon. The Tornado’s swing wings were manual for gods sake.
Also
>turbojets';

'>>61589907
>turbojets
What? Both the Tonka (RB199) and Tomcat (TF30 or F110) had turbofans';

'>>61589819
enlighten me';

'>>61592666

NTA mr Satan but the Tornado was peak cold war tactical bomber. It was space age in the 80s even if nothing it did was grug-tech by todays standards:

>extremely accurate and advanced for the time flight computer and intertial navigation system
>integrated with the HUD, radar and weapons system allowing them to easily navfix, change targets on the fly and automatically weapon release by just holding the trigger .etc
>optimized for low level high speed 400 knot+ rolling into targets at 50ft
>building over previous terrain following systems like TERNAV the Tornado used a TERPROM (terrain profile matching) and TFR (terrain following radar) system connected to the autopilot where the plane would automatically avoid things like mountains and powerlines using both a built in profile map of what should be in the way and a radar ground proximity system of what actually is in the way to avoid shit while flying at low level in 0 visibility.
>the autopilot as well as the TFR also would automatically follow the waypoints and time on target (including automatically speeding up to maintain ToT if they had to avoid a mountain) meaning a pilot could theoretically fly an entire bombing mission wouldn't touching the stick after takeoff.
>it had a really good DECM pod that worked great in the gulf war
>great internal range and weapon payload compared with modern aircraft
>it was tasked with the extremely cool missions of interdiction behind enemy lines, runway cratering using its unique JP-233 anti-runway cluster munition and tactical delivery of nuclear weapons
>the A and B models got the additional cool shit of infra-red SLIR cameras for low level night photo-recon and Sea Eagle AShMs respectively
>Looks extremely sexy and everyone loves all weather interdiction so even the nerdy nav-twinks in the back seat got more pussy than Harrier or A-10 pilots.';

'>>61593023
>even if nothing it did was grug-tech by todays standards

I mean if nothing it did would be considered more than grug-tech now';

'>>61592666
Procuring for Hell's navy, eh?';

'>>61586284
How can you make a plane worse than the Tornado?';

'>>61593023
>Tactical nuclear weapons
>For fucking up runways
There is no kill like overkill.';

'>>61584737
>>61584749
I watched an old RIO on a Tomcat do a walk around (iirc the guys name and yt channel is Ward Carrol) and when he pointed out doing something as simole as taking a panel off the side of the bird required no less than 5 fastener changes I knew why the F-14 was retired. Grumman were retards in the physical building of that bird but did a great job designing things like the radar which to this day is really the only thing I still respect on the old cat. The navy going over to Hornets just made sense since they only had to have one MOS type for mechanics, could stock more spare parts for those airframes. Is the Hornet the best at anything? No. But the Hornet can do everything.';

'>>61594938
meant to write simple* phone posting in bed. video btw:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LcuBmucjyUI&pp=ygURd2FyZCBjYXJyb2xsIGYtMTQ%3D';

'>>61593023
luv me autism that is the Tornado F3
It seemed kind of late to the party though compared to the foxbat and tomcat';

'>>61593023
>maintain ToT';

'>>61594979
kek';

'>>61594919
not him, but what is wrong with the Tornado? I know very little about them other than they were a joint development program for a strike fighter between the Bongs, Germs, and Pastanigs.';

'>>61595034
>three countries that never made a good plane post-WW2 create an aircraft because lobbyists at home got pissy over the the fact previous governments bought the F-4 instead of a native design
>Out of 53 coalition aircraft lost during Desert Storm six were Tornadoes despite making up a minority of aircraft involved';

'>>61595034
They were originally designed to be high speed, low level bombers which was a role that was already pretty obsolete with the advent of long range PGMs as well as more sophisticated SHORAD systems that made such bombing runs highly dangerous.';

'>>61595137
>Ground attack is dangerous
Woah.';

'>>61583914
The Tomcat was the deadliest dogfighter built before the F-22, but that is marred somewhat by how difficult it was to fly in it's regular environment (off the carrier) and the very high skill threshold to get the most out of the airplane. It beats out the F-15 which is also very lethal due to the sheer amount of bullshit experienced Cat drivers could pull out of their ass with assymetric thrust, manual wing sweep, and the huge lifting body. It was retired too early in US service but now can't compete evenly with 5th generation fighters although if it survives to the merge somehow it will have a surprisingly high chance of splashing even a Raptor or Lightning (not that making it to the merge is likely). It was also pretty insanely expensive, about 230 million per copy in inflation adjusted dollarinos.';

'>>61595551
The F-14 is not, and never will be, a dogfighter. It's a big fat fucker designed to sling big fat missiles at big fat bombers, it just happens to be agile enough to not get raped by enemy fighters if they show up.';

'>>61583889
NATO isn't going to Iran, kike.';

'>>61583889
Because it's the western Mig-21, small simple jet fighter that does the job well enough and its easy to maintain, repair and replace.
They love it because it is doing exactly what it was designed to do, which is be an actually quite capable and dangerous shoestring budget supersonic fighter.

It's F-16 at home, but it still compares favorably to all its regional opponents. Obviously The US, UK, French, Israelis and Saudis can defeat them air to air pretty easily, but their simple existence complicates any campaign against Iran and against many of their smaller neighbors an actual airforce is a trump card in a war that might pop up.

If the Mig-21 is the AKM of Jet Aircraft then the F-5 is the Stoner Rifle, better, but still nearly as cheap and moddable. And anyone who has a choice picks the stoner rifle.';

'>>61599327
>easy to maintain, repair
>engine full life cycle of 500 hours';

'>>61599664
sure but the engine itself is small, simple and easy to replace. Its not some ultra modern supercruising wonder engine with monocrystal compressor blades, its a very basic 70s style afterburning turbojet that they probably produce domestically and thus can simply wear out and replace.

For a state like Iran the fact they can produce the thing locally with domestic materials is a big deal and frankly quite an accomplishment. The list of nations that produce their own supersonic jet fighters is very short, even if its a shameless copy. It means that no matter how isolated they get or which of their benefactors they piss off they can in theory still produce and operate meaningful tactical aircraft, that puts them head and shoulder above 3/4 of the world in terms of military capability. Who knows how the things actually fly or how good the pilot or how good the weapons they carry are, but the fact they exist means Iran will for example probably win an isolated(No america theoretically) war against Saudi, simply because the Saudis rely on external supply of weapons for their air arm and the Iranians do not. Eventually, again in theoretical war where America does not intervene, The Suadi airforce will run out of parts and then out of airframes, while the Iranians will not, because they make their own shit, even if that shits cheap and of lower quality. It's simple existence as a domestic product is a huge advantage in a strategic sense, because they can depend on it being there long term.

Like don't misunderstand me Ive got no love for Iran, they're fuckers, but as an American I love to see a self contained domestic arms program that empowers a nation to defend itself without anyone else "permission". It blows my mind how many states have scrapped their domestic arms programs in favor of just buying shit from a small handful of producers, like sure its more cost effective but what if the sides change or the supply gets cut off. It's a form of enslavement.';

'>>61583894
Tigers get clobbered by Sparrows in WT though. If I see an F-5 from my F-4S I know it's a free kill.
>>61586284
Shut the FUCK up European';

'>>61595551
The F15 is everything that the tomcat wishes it was but fails to be.
Never shot down in aerial combat, not being retired until 2040.
The tomcat goes to sleep and dreams he's an Eagle.
F14 is big pathetic
Fuck your mother boomer';

'>>61583889
Why the fuck do you think NATO is gonna go into Iran?';