Functioning glove vanes on Iranian F-14’s shows a high level of maintenance upkeep. They are doing very well keeping these airframes going.
It would be cool if they added it to the game. I’m not sure if the glove vanes affect performance.
Not sure what you mean, because F-14A early that we have in the game already has (and always had IIRC) functioning glove vanes.
Glove vanes usefulness is not noticed in-game. No one flies fast enough for it to be useful.
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I asked this in another forum page but did the F-14AM get any electronic upgrades in terms of RWR ECM and or countermeasures?
You will find hardly any information about possible upgrades of the F-14.
Overall there is a lot more information about upgrades and expanded weaponry of the Iranian F-4E and F-5 than there is for F-14
I’m not sure if it’s because the F-14 is considered an strategic asset or whether because F-14 is considered dead and not worthy of upgrades due to maintenance cost and complexity of it.
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I think it’s very unlikely that they’ve kept the old AN/ALR-45(v) for their “modernized” tomcat. Probably retrofitted some russian system.
This report (includes video and photos) for example is from early 2021 about a jet getting overhauled after being grounded for 18 years:
https://www.iribnews.ir/fa/news/3011408/بازسازی-جنگنده-های-اف-۱۴به-دست-متخصصان-ایرانی
You can see a view of the cockpit in the videos and photos in the link above, and there doesn’t seem to be any significant changes in the cockpit like MFDs etc, which for example we had seen with F-4E and F-5.
Though it’s not clear if those pictures are at the beginning of upgrade/overhaul process or at the end of it … (Plus you don’t necessarily need to change the interface and displays to upgrade the radar and other systems, especially considering that the aircraft is a single role aircraft and basically relies on one or two types of air to air missiles for its mission).
In another version of this report on state TV (1:21 to 1:26 in the clip below), the “commander of the Iranian Air Force Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi” states: “We updated (brought up to date) F-14’s radar and armaments”.
But there is no mention of what was done to the radar.
My best guess would be that they modified the radar and replaced the old boards and analog components with digital ones and possibly a modern processor and new software.
For example the video below which also uses a similar phrase that the Airforce commander used about F-14’s radar above, is titled “updating and successful test firing of Maverick missile”, and in the video you can see the vidicon is being replaced with a CCD and lens module and “all the 13 analog boards getting replaced with fully digital boards”:
There are indigenously made RWRs as well (possibly based on Chinese/Russian/Western designs).
Not sure how capable they would be compared to what would be available from Russia/China.
And obviously, as always, no information about whether F-14’s RWR was upgraded or not …
F-14 simulator that was revealed on March 2023:
https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/media/1401/12/15/2863726/رونمایی-از-سامانه-شبیه-ساز-پرواز-اف-14-اصفهان
https://www.irna.ir/photo/85049638/رونمایی-از-شبیه-ساز-پرواز-اف-۱۴
Usually the whole thing is then put on a motion platform:
Spoiler
I think from the cockpit of the F-14 simulator it can be concluded that there was no change to the cockpit of the aircraft. (or at least I can’t spot any)
They had the cockpit completely torn apart, safe to say they found a way to fix or replace all of the components of the aircraft by now aside the basic airframe.
Yes, but if the newly built F-14 simulators have that cockpit (which I think is basically the same as the original F-14A), it’s safe to assume there was no change to the cockpit and interface (of the real aircrafts).
Of course just because the interface is the same doesn’t mean there was no change to the internals such as the radar or WCS etc
Similar to the Maverick video I posted above. Which is externally the same old Maverick, but internals have been swapped for modern CCD camera and all digital boards.
They only upgraded one airframe to F-14AM as well
What is the R-27ER’s performance based on? Is it just the developers’ fantasy, or is it really that fast?
OK, I found another source claiming “upgraded radar” (my best guess is that they mean modified AWG-9, not a brand new radar from the scratch, since they mention “upgraded engine” as well):
https://www.magiran.com/article/2073201
Not sure if these will be enough for at least getting all aspect look-down or not … Since it doesn’t specifically claim that, and they outright reject video evidence anyways … Even if it’s Airforce’s top commander saying that they upgraded/improved the radars.
https://www.mashreghnews.ir/news/391626/نصب-رادار-ملی-روی-F14-تام-کت-ها-بمب-افکن-می-شوند
mashreghnews reports on February 22, 2015 on an interview with “Pilot Colonel Shafii, The deputy of operations of the 8th base of IRIAF”:
"Installation of “national” radar on F14/Tomcats become bombers:
The deputy of operations of the 8th base of Nahaja said: We have developed the capability of firing air-to-ground missiles and dropping bombs on the F14 aircraft.
pilot colonel Asghar Shafiei, the deputy of operations of the 8th fighter base in Isfahan …
Installation of national radar on F14 fighters
Shafi’i further stated: Now regarding the upgrade of the F14 aircraft, we have the national radar and we have reached the point where we have the F14 radar system under the name of the national radar, which of course has this radar built and installed on the aircraft. It was tested and continues to be tested, and many of our F14s today are flying with nationally developed radars.
He emphasized: These national radars are derived from the same system as the main radars, and in terms of the range and distance of the discoveries or the parameters they get from the targets, they have a better quality than the main radars.
The deputy of operations of the 8th IRIAF base said: We are using these (national) radars now because after several decades of the construction and delivery of this aircraft, the radars had to be updated and the quality of the previous radars is no longer useful to us today.
Shafii stated: Therefore, these radars had to be updated and we did this under the name of national radar, and considering that the main mission of F14 planes is to detect and identify hostile planes and intercept and destroy them.
Observation of several hundreds of kilometers by F14 fighters with the national radar
the 8th IRIAF Base Operations Deputy, stating that the main capability of the F14 aircraft is to easily control the sky when one of its aircraft is in the sky, he said: “Fortunately, with the national radar that we built and on We installed F14, which has both the capabilities of the previous radars and has been updated, and our fighters can control the space and have the AWACS capability to control the space of several hundred kilometers around them, which they do today with their F14s.”
Tasnimnews news agency (affiliated with IRGC) reports on March 7, 2020:
"Tasnim’s report on indigenous air-based radars Persian tigers and cats see with sharper eyes
An irreplaceable hunter with a new Iranian radar
For the first time in April 2019, the Deputy Coordinator of the Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the current commander of this force, Amir Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh announced the use of upgraded radar on F-14 (Tomcat) fighter planes in the Air Force.
…
After the end of the war, using the growing scientific power of the universities and the technical expertise within the Air Force, projects were put in place to make heavy upgrades to the AWG-9 radar.
According to Air Force officials, in the past years, “national radar” has been installed and used on a number of Iranian F-14s, which is designed and built based on the main radar of the plane - but with much better and more advanced capabilities.
This project has been completed with the participation of several prominent universities in the country, and as a result, the F-14 interceptor aircraft can still play the role of “Mini AWACS” to control a wide area of the sky.
Detailed information about this radar has not been published, but increasing its range compared to the original radar and reaching a range of several hundred kilometers, and improving the information received from targets and better detection range than the previous radar, have been stated as part of the achievements of this project. With the help of these radars, small targets such as drones can be discovered with better quality."
from what i can find it looks like they modified 1 tomcat to Test if it could carry r73 and it worked but they didnt have enough r73s to actually arm the fleet
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Have you find any photo? Without those, you can’t make a report.