With potential conflict brewing with Azerbaijan and Turkey, Babak Taghvaee reports on the airworthiness of Iran’s F-14A Tomcats
As tensions rise in the volatile region surrounding northwest Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) has been placing its fleet of Grumman F-14A Tomcat fighters on a war footing. When this article was written in January 202133 of these 61 fighters were airworthy. The aircraft serve the 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS) and 83rd Tactical Training Squadron (TTS) flying from the 8th Tactical Fighter Base (TFB). The 81st TFS was put on high alert back on October 22 in response to the security crisis on the country’s borders with the conflicting nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. As a result, the squadron conducted several CAP sorties in the area for almost a week.
Political cross-fire
Iran and its military have been the subject of international attention for several years, notably from the US.
From the start of his presidency in 2017, Donald Trump was unhappy with the nuclear deal that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, had struck with Iran. The Trump administration, which left office on January 20 this year, believed the deal did not suf…
