Iranian F-14 Tomcat fighter jets get a modern “splinter” color scheme

September 4, 2013 Iran, Troubled Areas

David Cenciotti

The photo in this post depicts the first Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-14AM (“Modernized”) landing at Tehran Mehrabad International Airport in April 2012.

Iran still operates some Tomcats that are being modernized to extend their operative life. Domestic upgrades include avionics, weapons (R-73E, AIM-54A+ “Fakkur”, AIM-54A, AIM-7E and AIM-9J are among the air to air missiles adapted to the aircraft’s fire control system) and color scheme: indeed the plane was give a three-tone Asian Minor II camouflage pattern resembling the one adopted by Russian 4th and 5th generation fighter planes and U.S. Aggressors.

Image credit: Babak Taghvaee

About David Cenciotti

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

F-14s fowevah says:

March 14, 2014 at 11:56 PM

Iran also bought the F-4 and the F-5, yet the U.S. military didn’t destroy all flying examples of these aircraft. Why did the F-14 have to be destroyed ? I hate the fact that our grandchildren will never see an F-14 fly at an airshow .
- Capt. Maverick says:
  
  April 14, 2014 at 2:32 AM
  
  There were cases of the F-14 static display parts being stolen and people trying to sell them to Iran.
  - John Smith says:
    
    June 4, 2014 at 1:23 AM
    
    If our current inventory is so good, who cares if Iran got a few spares with a five-finger discount? They aren’t stealing a whole radar unit, either.
    - Mike_Hunt says:
      
      June 13, 2014 at 1:47 PM
      
      The F-14 is still rather potent, especially with Russian upgrades.
      - wmac says:
        
        January 25, 2015 at 4:36 PM
        
        What Russian upgrade? Do you have a single reference for that claim? You talk like upgrading a radar is like repairing a TV.
        
        Mike_Hunt says:
        
        January 26, 2015 at 4:25 PM
        
        https://theaviationist.com/2013/09/04/iranian-f-14-tomcat-camo/
        
        http://www.aviationclassics.co.uk/news/issue-13-f-14-tomcat-the-iranian-f-14-the-last-tomcat
        
        http://www.iiaf.net/aircraft/jetfighters/F14/f14.html
f35 says:

August 25, 2014 at 1:14 AM

why are they still making the f 14 when they have the f 18 and the f 35? plus the f 35 is supposed to be bad cos it cant do a very good minimum radius turn…… is this true?
- Chad Fancher says:
  
  March 3, 2015 at 11:43 PM
  
  you need to read some more LOL.
mmmssdd says:

August 31, 2014 at 8:34 AM

imperial Iran ,USA and Israel were once best friend and the Shah(Iranian king) was exiled by a revolution and created a Islamic republic(which is better than a monarchy) ad all the NATO weapons were given to the new Iran
barry dean says:

September 4, 2014 at 12:01 PM

technology makes the bigger heavier jets obsolete and if aircraft carrier operations aren’t the aplication, then nether does the expense and maintainance complexity of the multirole jack-of-all-trades fighter/bomber pan out best for tax payers.
Marjus Plaku says:

January 14, 2015 at 9:59 AM

Still the best damn fighter engine sound, the turbo charged humm was heavenly.