Iranian Tomcats

[Jaktaz]

I know that the IRIAF's F-14s and the possibility of them being given special attention by Leatherneck has been discussed here before, but I have a few points I would like to cover. The F-14A's originally delivered to Iran in the 70s were near identical to the USN's, except that they were lacking the IRST system as Iran didn't like its quality, and wanted to wait for the better camera the USN put in later. (Which they didn't get, thanks to Iranian Revolution.) I doubt there will be an option to go with or without the IRST system, so this is out.

The next big thing is the unreliability of the F-14A's early engines. The USN had lots of problems with them, and even upgraded variants, but the Iranians were stuck with the original engines and didn't have all the technical expertise that the US has. The TF30's were prone to stalling, and Iranians later on had the problem on takeoff which is pretty in depth but basically nozzles on fuel pumps resulted in fuel accumulating as engines spooled up and on takeoff engine would explode. I believe that Leatherneck has stated that engine problems will be modelled, and I look forward to a slider in options that allows you to increase or decrease chances of engine problems and there severity. This would make a lot of sense, as you could increase it by a lot if you were playing as Iranians in say, a late 80's scenario.

Another slider I would like to see in the options would be cockpit wear. The Mig-21bis is an example of having great cockpit textures, and you can see the wear and tear through the smallest of details. A slider in the options for F-14 could turn the pit from brand new to chipped corners on the dash, paint chips on the stick, and tears on the ejection seat.

The variations in electronics between the Iranian cats and the US cats are a lot more complicated and borderline classified, and I doubt most differences will be modelled. Partly because its unecessary: Iranian F-14a's electronics are near identical to the original US ones. Their was very very minute downgrades with the purpose being just to tell Congress that the Iranian Tomcats weren't as advanced as the Navy's. After the revolution, as Iran was low on trained personnel and up to their neck in problems relating to the complicated American machinery, their were a lot of compromises made. Half the time their radars wouldn't function properly. Lots of times the radars were modified to be intentionally downgraded to reduce stress on the system. The biggest example is the plane's AWG-9 being capped to locking and tracking one target at a time. Also, after the revolution US contractors got to work trying to limit the effectiveness of the Iranian Tomcats against coalition forces. Stuff was done to the IFF to allow detection of the planes from very far away and jammers were modified to make Iranian Aim-54a's much less effective.

The final point is a lot more realistic and has to do with weaponry. Like their other electronics, Iranian Aim-54's were a lot less effective as time drove on, and eventually stocks started to deplete. This forced Iran to develop their own modifications, the most famous being the Hawk missiles that were heavily modified to be compatible with the F-14 and its radar. They worked, but could only be fired under set conditions, at a medium altitude and speed. This would be interesting to implement and a challenge for players to try to utilize. The later missile, which less is known about, is known as a Yasser. This is an extension of the project that uses a later Hawk model and utilizes a dumb bomb as a warhead.

[captain_dalan]

The A we will be getting should be the mid-late 80's version, that is the mature F-14A, so whatever difference resulted between the Persian Cats and the Navy Cats during this time period, might make them incompatible.

[probad]

lots of speculation there

 

just give us a paint scheme and leave the rest up to our imaginations as obviously there is no shortage of that in this community.