Iran attacking Israel

[Jack Flash]

Still a capable aircraft in the right hands...but maintenance is suspect. Against the IAF with more modern aircraft flown by among the most capable, motivated and trained pilots in the world...the Iranian Air Force will have an exciting but short life.

Not only is maintenance questionable, but don't forget that the avionics haven't been updated since 1979.

 

[LVSteve]

Not only is maintenance questionable, but don't forget that the avionics haven't been updated since 1979.

Not with anything willingly supplied by the US, anyway. However, I wouldn't underestimate the Iranian's ability to source stuff from other places and adapt it.

 

[s&wchad]

It's a good thing Israel and their allies have the holy hand grenade of antioch and know how to use it.

This conflict has been going on for centuries.

 

[Rustyt1953]

The DoD hasn't seen fit to confer with me since June of '75 so I am pretty much in the dark Intel wise.

As LCDR "Tom" Dodge said: "Hey! I'm just guessin' here".

 

[cmj8591]

Not with anything willingly supplied by the US, anyway. However, I wouldn't underestimate the Iranian's ability to source stuff from other places and adapt it.

Well there was an 8 year period there where they might have gotten an upgrade.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

All the frozen funds released to Iran could buy a lot of smuggled technology.

 

[biku324]

Not sure the 34 or 35 F4s Iran has that are still airworthy are a gamechanger.

 

[MRB1]

Nobody should sell Iran short. They can be a real pain when the time comes. Money can buy anything china or russia has to offer, and that includes a nuke or two. If it means the destruction of the US or Israel, the sales to a terrorist country is a bargain for them. That's why I believe that Israel will give them no quarter when the sparks begin to fly.

 

[16thVACav]

IIRC, the Iranian air force is still flying F 4 Phantoms.

And F-14 Tomcats from the pre-revolution days, but it is not known whether any are still operational.

 

[Jack Flash]

Fighter planes are high performance machines. Things tend to break. Lots of spares are required to keep them operational in peace time, let alone when they go into combat for real. Naturally, these parts are not something you would go pick up at the local hardware store or order from Amazon.

I'm not sure McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) still supports these aircraft, nor if they do, would they be inclined to for a country like Iran. More and more of Iran's F-4s are no doubt being cannibalized to keep a shrinking number airworthy.

No doubt the Russians or perhaps the Chinese could modify current technology to function in these elderly machines, but that would require a team of engineers to get the hardware and software created, installed and extensively tested. Very expensive to do something like that.

There's a big difference between getting something just barely flying and having it perform in aerial combat. Israel would sweep them from the sky or blow them apart on the ground. They would have to run away to Afghanistan and hope they could land somewhere more or less friendly, much like Iraqi jets did in Desert Storm.

Personally, I'm surprized the Russians/Chinese haven't supplied them with MiGs.

 

[biku324]

Iran has a few ChiCom J7s and MiG29s. Neither are modern.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Iran is the only country other than ours that used F-14 Tomcats. Outside of a few gate guards and museum examples all US F-14s were destroyed to keep parts being smuggled to the Iranians. Who knows how many Iranian Tomcats are airworthy much less capable of any serious combat?

 

[LVSteve]

Iran has a few ChiCom J7s and MiG29s. Neither are modern.

Were those MiG-29s "donated" by Iraq in the early 90s, perchance?

 

[biku324]

Many were.