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Only Two Nations Fly The F-14 Tomcat
Those would be the United States—we’ve a few left in stock—and the Islamic Republic of Iran, scorching the skies in the exalted name of Ali Khamenei.
Inshallah, only one nation will be flying the F-14 in a matter of months.
We have been keeping Iran’s air force in shape with replacement parts for the last few decades. Yet in defense of the Department of Defense, for the last several years, during which it has been American policy not to arm Iran, these parts sales were unknown. They occured through Russian and Chinese intermediaries. Though Iran has been able to keep wings of the F-14 in shape because of the black market for F-14 parts, Tehran has increasingly had to rely on MiGs, which is just lovely. And soon their F-14s will be out of date as well. Old things that they are, they need to be serviced often. At present, Iran can only get a dozen or so in the air at once. To help things along, the Pentagon has this very evening decided to stop selling Tomcat parts altogether.
UPDATE: A reader informs me that the Navy retired the F-14 last year, so my data was a bit out of date. Thanks.
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