So Iran sells it's Tomcats to Canada...

MacCaulay

Banned
...now what? The common spot that this POD has focused on is the probable uses a "CF-14" could have in the Canadian air force. But I don't think we've ever stopped to consider the larger change that's occured because of this. Iran just lost 79 aircraft.

Sure, it probably made a fortune selling them and it made that money right when it needed it the most. But what now? It's 1980. Saddam Hussein is knocking on your door, and by that I mean rolling across the Shatt al-Arab with AMX-30 main battle tanks.

What changes might there be for an Iran with no F-14s?
 
...now what? The common spot that this POD has focused on is the probable uses a "CF-14" could have in the Canadian air force. But I don't think we've ever stopped to consider the larger change that's occured because of this. Iran just lost 79 aircraft.

Sure, it probably made a fortune selling them and it made that money right when it needed it the most. But what now? It's 1980. Saddam Hussein is knocking on your door, and by that I mean rolling across the Shatt al-Arab with AMX-30 main battle tanks.

What changes might there be for an Iran with no F-14s?

With that load of money, Iran would probably buy from the French or Russians, which means the 79 F-14s are replaced with 100-120 Mirage F1s (and later Mirage 2000s) or 120-150 MiG-23s. Thus, the Iranians lose a very capable aircraft platform, but gain new airplanes which, with proper training, mean that they can handle Iraq's MiGs.

Either that, or they use it to buy tanks like the AMX-30 or even the T-72. Any way you look at it, that money goes to buy armaments of one form or another.
 

MacCaulay

Banned
I think the smart thing would've been to find someone willing to sell them more Phantoms. Just go back to having that be the backbone of the air force and avoid having to learn how to operate a new platform in the middle of a war.

That's what really messed up the Iranian Army and the Iraqi Air Force in the Iran-Iraq War. They were getting new crap from almost everywhere. By 1988, the Iranians weren't even using the same standard assault rifle they'd started the war with, and the IrAF was flying...jeez...like half a dozen different fighter types.

That had to be hell with their logistics. Especially the Iranians, who were pretty much playing everything by ear right from the beginning, anyway.
 
The Iranians could probably also buy several hundred cheap Chinese fighters, plus parts and maintenance for them, meaning that they wouldn't need to cannibalize aircraft or scrounge the black market for parts.

With regard to Canada, 79 F-14s would greatly help the air defense of North America, giving them the ability to cover the arctic wastes with a long range powerful fighter - of course this means they probably won't buy the CF-18.
 
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