The Grumman F-14 Tomcat has served with the United States Navy and the Imperial Iranian Air Force, then the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force [1] after 1979. It operated aboard U.S. aircraft carriers from 1974 to 2006 and remains in service with Iran .

Dec 4, 2020 · That’s how, starting in the mid-1970s, Iran became the only country besides the United States to operate arguably the most powerful interceptor jet ever built — the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, a...

Mar 12, 2025 · Before the U.S. Navy retired the F-14 Tomcat, it was the premier bomber hunter. Its after-burning turbofan engines –whether General Electric or Pratt & Whitney's power plants– let it exceed...

Apr 29, 2024 · The F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic, twin-engine, variable sweep-wing strike fighter built by Grumman Aircraft Corporation. Their main missions are precision strikes against ground targets, air superiority, and fleet air defense, and they …

Mar 26, 2025 · During the Iran-Iraq war, which lasted from 1980 to 1988, Iranian F-14 Tomcats played an important role for the Islamic Republic as a potent air superiority asset.

Oct 1, 2024 · What You Need to Know: Introduced over 50 years ago, the F-14 Tomcat was once the pinnacle of U.S. naval aviation. While the U.S. Navy retired the jet in favor of newer models like the F/A-18...

Jan 28, 2025 · Russia is supplying perhaps 24 Su-35S Flankers to Iran and it is expected that when they arrive, Iran will finally retire its F-14 Tomcats. The War Zone calls the Su-35S an "obvious replacement" for the Tomcats, noting it represents …

The F-14 was judged by the Iranian Air Force to better suit the country's military needs than the F-15, and Iran soon after became the Tomcat's first and only foreign client. An order was placed for 80 Fighters, several hundred AIM-54 Phoenix missiles among other compatible munitions, and ten years worth of replacement engines as well as ...

Dec 3, 2024 · Iran’s F-14 Tomcat era ends with the arrival of new Russian Su-35SE fighters. According to Flugrevue on November 29, 2024, Iran received its first two Sukhoi Su-35SE fighter jets from Russia as part of a deal to replace aging US-made F-14 Tomcat jets.

Iran’s armed forces remain on high alert after an alleged encounter with a U.S. spy drone near Iranian airspace. According to reports from Iranian state-run media, an American unmanned aerial...