How Iran Flies the F-14 Tomcat Like in Top Gun: Maverick
The F-14 Tomcat, a legendary U.S. Navy fighter jet, remains in service with Iran decades after its introduction. Originally acquired during the 1970s under the Shah of Iran to counter Soviet MiG-25 incursions, Iran's fleet of Tomcats survived the Islamic Revolution.
by Maya Carlin · The National InterestF-14 Tomcat and Iran Ties: The F-14 Tomcat first entered service more than five decades ago. While this fighter platform, infamous for its role in the blockbuster hit Top Gun, has been replaced by next-generation successors in the U.S., it remains in service with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Now a top adversary of Washington, Tehran first acquired this then-coveted platform before the fall of the Shah and the onset of the Islamic Revolution. The fleet of Tomcats still flown by Tehran has been modified over the years to remain relevant in the modern age of aviation.
An Overview of the F-14Tomcat
The Tomcat was born in the late 1950s as a byproduct of the Navy’s Tactical Fighter Experimental program. Under this guidance, the Navy and Air Force were tasked with selecting a singular platform that could achieve the mission sets required by both services.
In other words, the new platform had to be able to operate as a fighter bomber and as an interceptor. Manufacturer Northrop Grumman was eventually awarded the contract to build the resulting F-14 prototype, which became an air-to-air fighter that could reach speeds over Mach-2.2.
In terms of ordinance power, the Tomcat was designed to be lethal. Each jet was armed with a General Electric Vulcan M61A-1 20mm gun with 675 rounds of ammunition. The fighter was also equipped with eight hardpoints for carrying ordnance, including short, medium, and long-range air-to-air missiles AIM-9, Aim-54, and AIM-7. Additionally, the jet can carry air-to-ground ordnance like the CBU cluster bombs and Rockeye bombs.
How did Iran Get its Hands on the F-14 Platform?
Based on its stellar capabilities, the Tomcat instantly became a coveted airframe when introduced. The fighter was particularly the ideal jet for Iranian pilots since it could effectively challenge the Soviet-era MiG-25 Foxbat fighters that were flying over Iranian territory around the 1970s.
Then-U.S. President Richard Nixon was also seeking allies during this period in the Near East region and eventually opted to deliver seventy-nine operational Tomcat fighters to Imperial Iran.
Following the fall of the Shah, the U.S. wanted to cut off the Islamic Republic’s aerial fleet. Over the years, Iran has successfully been able to circumvent these roadblocks set up by Washington through reverse-engineering parts for the airframe and smuggling in other components. In 1988, an Iranian-American was arrested by federal agents in New York after being charged with attempting to purchase parts for the Tomcat’s engine.
Last year, “The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) charged a U.S.-Iranian citizen for attempting to illegally export, “four types of aerospace components,” into Iran,” according to the Aviationist. The individual was allegedly attempting to smuggle nearly three dozen such aircraft components since early 2023.
As tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to escalate in light of the ongoing war in the Middle East, the remaining Tomcats in Iran only become more problematic.
Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.
Image Credit: Creative Commons and/or Shutterstock
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