Saudi Arabia orders 84 more F-15s

Looks like the Boeing F-15 line will be busy with another order. I hope we don't regret this in the future...look at Egypt and all of the American equipment they purchased or manufacture locally. Just a concern....


U.S. Finalizes Sale Of F-15s To Saudi Arabia | Fox News


The sale of $30 billion worth of F-15SA fighter jets to Saudi Arabia has been finalized, boosting the military strength of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East to help counter Iran, the Obama administration announced Thursday.


The sale is part of a larger U.S. effort to realign its defense policies in the Persian Gulf to keep Iran in check. The announcement came as U.S. officials weighed a fresh threat from Tehran.







Read more: U.S. Finalizes Sale Of F-15s To Saudi Arabia | Fox News

That's a sure way to pi$$ off Iran without firing a shot.

I'm less worried about selling F-15s than I am Iran acquiring an RQ-170 drone. Just because they have the planes (or in the case of Egypt M1 tanks) they still have to have the training and I still want to believe that our pilots and tankers are the best at what they do.

Saudi and the F-15 avionics was my job. We have made several sales to them through the U.S. State Department approval process. I can assure you, we have nothing to worry about.
The U.S. pilots are by far the best.

Mine was the F14 and Iran is still flying them..........

• Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) squadrons
• 72nd TFS: F-14A, 1976–present
• 73rd TFS: F-14A, 1977–present
• 81st TFS: F-14A, 1977–present
• 82nd TFS: F-14A, 1978–present
• 83rd TFS: F-14A, re-named former 73rd TFShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F-14_Tomcat#cite_note-Iranian_F-14_Tomcat_Units_in_Combat-74

Mine was the F14 and Iran is still flying them..........

• Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) squadrons
• 72nd TFS: F-14A, 1976–present
• 73rd TFS: F-14A, 1977–present
• 81st TFS: F-14A, 1977–present
• 82nd TFS: F-14A, 1978–present
• 83rd TFS: F-14A, re-named former 73rd TFS

Iran still had them, not flying them. No parts.

I don't know how many of the Iran F14s are operational anymore. With the ban on parts for that bird and the known high maintenance requirements that go with it I would have to think most of them are now non-operational.

The last I heard they were making their own parts for them. At least if someone has to shoot them down I'd rather it was our Navy.

Iran has had a few tomcats flying in the past year.

I hate to see the government of Egypt become dominated by an anti-American faction. Any of the weapons they have (M1 Abrams, F-16s or older F-4s) are no longer controlled by a stable and more friendly government. While more stable than other Middle East countries, the Saudis aren't 100% immune from the same plight as Tunisia or Libya.

Not worried as much about them being turned on us as ending up in Iran, Russia or China. I'm sure the Chinese would love to get a few F-15s, F-16s or Abrams to test and disassemble.

Regarding Iran's Tomcats....from what I have read the Iranians have reverse engineered many parts for them...with Russian help? While it's very hard to say how many are flying, I'm sure if some are still in use, it's a low sortie rate with greatly reduced capability. Some reports say 3 are flying now.


Here is a great book if you want to read about the F-14's missions (and other Iraqi & Iranian types in service) and how they were maintained and used during the war. You'll learn a lot!!

Amazon.com: Iran-Iraq War in the Air 1980-1988 (9780764316692): Tom Cooper, Farzad Bishop: Books

Yeah, I got it now. Reverse engineering has paid off and they are flying the F-14 for training.

It's probably about all they can do. The avionics are 30 years old, and they would be sitting ducks unless they gutted it and installed their own. Here is a June report where they have reverse engineered the F-14 parts. Another article suggests they acquired parts indirectly from the government surplus program, which no longer sells F-14 parts as a result.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-06/11/c_13924309.htm

Of course the other side to this story is....if we don't sell them F-15s then the Eurofighter Typhoon would most likely get the sales instead. The Saudis use the Panavia Tornados now and have purchased other Euro equipment in the past. So at least Americans get to build the aircraft they buy.



Let's just say the F-14s aren't much of a threat to us anymore.

Iranian F-14s Fly Again

January 31, 2008: The U.S. has now forbidden the sale of any F-14 aircraft components. This is to prevents Iran from getting any parts with which to keep its dwindling fleet of F-14s operational. All surplus F-14s, and F-14 components, must be destroyed. The U.S. Navy has been doing that, since last year, to the retired F-14s it has.

It is believed that Iran has restored at least three of its three-decade old F-14A jets to operational status. More F-14As are to be restored this year. There is, however, the matter of credibility and capability. For decades, Iran has continually boasted of new, Iranian designed and manufactured weapons, only to have the rather more somber truth leak out later. Iran's weapons design capabilities are primitive, but the government has some excellent publicists, who always manage to grab some headlines initially, before anyone can question the basic facts behind these amazing new weapons.

For example, Iran says it began its F-14 restoration project in 2002. In that same year, Iran announced that 25, of the 79 F-14As it bought in the 1970s, were still operational. It's long been known that Iran began cannibalizing some of its F-14s, back in the 1980s, to keep others flying. During the 1980s, the F-14s were heavily used in the war with Iraq. In 1985, 25 Iranian F-14s flew over Tehran as part of a celebration. In the last year of the war, 1988, an F-14 shot down an Iraqi jet, one of over 80 knocked down by their F-14s since 1980. That much is known, because there were witnesses and other evidence.

Less well known is that Iran established a smuggling operation to obtain F-14 parts, and manufactured some itself. Russia also helped with some custom made parts and refurbishment services. But going into the 1990s, fewer and fewer Iranian F-14s were seen in the air. Whenever an F-14 took off it was big news, and difficult to hide. Word got around, and with hundreds of thousands of Iranians living in exile, the word was passed on. Thus the 2002 claim that 25 Iranian F-14s were operational, was not taken seriously. The new claims, that three are flyable, appear to be true. Some F-14s have been seen in the air, but don't expect another major, or even minor, flyover in Tehran. Iran says it is making new weapons for the F-14, without mentioning that the supply of U.S. made missiles ran out over a decade ago. The F-14 also needs new electronics, as parts for those items are much harder to get, than items needed to just get the aircraft into the air. Iran can, at great effort and expense, get a dozen or so F-14s airborne. But once flying, these ancient and jury-rigged aircraft, are more target than threat.

The new U.S. regulations ban the export of any F-14 components. Only museums and other history minded groups, can legally possess F-14 components, or inoperable versions of the aircraft.

The Typhoon.....