Iranian Air Force at war (Iran - Iraq War 1980 - 88)

[ARTESH]

Military strategy of Iranian Air Force :

Iranian Air force strategy was to drive the enemy out of Iran's soil. According to this, Air force was tasked to Stop enemy by any means and at any cost.

Bombing enemy Military, Financial, Political, Economical targets were primary objects. The second task was Air superiority, 3rd one was Close Air Support for Naval and Ground forces. Also Air Recon and Aerial Photography missions were done according to requests from other forces.

An example of Bombing enemy economical targets, was bombing oil rigs, oil refineries, oil terminals, and oil pipes.

According to Turkish government, export Iraqi oil via Zakhu-Yumutalik pipeline that was about 35 mln bl per year, was reduced to nearly zero, due to Iranian bombings.

 

[ARTESH]

Tactics of NAHAJA:

1- POP-UP
2- Low Level Bombing
3- High Level Bombing
4- Loft Bombing
5- Bull's Eye

 

[ARTESH]

IRIAF: Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
IRIAA: Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation
IRINA: Islamic Republic of Iran Naval Aviation
IRIZhA: Islamic Republic of Iran Gendarmerie Aviation
IRIRCA: Islamic Republic of Iran Red Crescent Aviation
IRIEMSAS: Islamic Republic of Iran Emergency Medical Services Aviation Section

Numbers, Statistics, Flight Plans, Missions, Losses ...

Pt.1: 22 Sep. 1980 - 19 Sep. 1981

In first year of War, IRIAF had used more than 25 mln lbs of Munitions over enemy Air, Land and Navy Bases and Forces; Including:
17147 Sorties of Cargo missions,
14432 Sorties CAP,
1463 Sorties of Bombing Enemy forces, Equipment, Defensive Installations And Bases,
262 Recon Sorties,
464 Sea Patrol / Recon Missions,

 

[ARTESH]

Pt. 1 - 2:

Operation "Enteqam", Iranian Eagles's Revenge ...

At 1400 O'clock on 22nd of Sep 1980, only 2 hrs after Iraqi Surprise Air raid, Iranian Eagles had done their first Mission...
Bombing enemy Air Force Bases at "KUT" and "Baqdad".
2 Formations of 4 F-4 E Phantom II Fighter/Bomber's have been Bombed enemy AFB's by Following Order:

Iraqi forces order of battle:

Southwestern Front, 3rd Corps



from top:
Iraqi 10th Armored Div.
Iraqi 1st Mech. Inf. Div.
Iraqi 9th Armored Div.
Iraqi 5th Mech. Inf. Div.
Iraqi 3rd Armored Div.
this unit was tasked to capture "Khorramshahr" in Half a day !!!

 

[ARTESH]

Some statistics of First Year:

Within First year of War, Air Force had used 13000 Tones of Aerial Ammo. Air Force also has done over 17000 Cargo Sorties, 14000 CAP / SM Sorties, 1400 Aerial Bombardment Sorties, 300 S / T Recon sorties and 500 sorties of Naval CAP / Intel / Recon.

Aerial Operation "Revenge"

On 1400 hrs September 22, 1980, 2 hours after Iraqi Invasion, Iranian Air Force decided to Attack Iraqi Air Force Bases to prove them that Air Force is still Active. 2 Flight Formation, 4 F-4E Phantom II's each, Attacked 2 Iraqi AFB's. First Flight, Under Command of Major Djahangir Ebn -e Yamin (Persian: سرگرد خلبان جهانگیر ابن یمین), Code-name "Alborz" Attacked Shaibah AFB. With Major Seyed Jalil Pou-rezaiee Shir-ju-Bisheh (Persian: سرگرد خلبان سید جلیل پوررضایی شیرجوبیشه) as Leader, "Alpha-Red" Has bombed "Al-Kut" AFB. Alpha-Red-2, crewed by Captain Mohammad Salehi and Lieutenant Khaled Heidari, was hit by SAM missile and lost. They were first Iranian Air Force Pilots who were killed in Action.

No. --- Plane No. --- Pilot Rank and Name --- WSO Rank and Name

Alborz-1 --- 6634 --- Major Djahangir Ebn -e Yamin --- Ltn. Mohammad Kazem Roosta
Alborz-2 --- 6560 --- Captain Asghar Sepidmooy Azar --- Ltn Hooshang Qadiri Moqaddam Niazi
Alborz-3 --- 6563 --- Captain Abbas Hagh Parast --- Ltn. Ali Kharazian
Alborz-4 --- 6611 --- Captain Ali Bakhtyari --- Ltn. Fazlollah Amini

Alpha-Red-1 --- 6575 --- Major Seyed Jalil Pour-rezaiee Shir-ju-Bisheh --- Ltn. Parviz Dehqan Parchini
Alpha-Red-2 --- 6585 --- Captain Mohammad Salehi --- Ltn. Khaled Heidari
Alpha-Red-3 --- 6597 --- Captain Hossein Karimi --- Ltn. Jamshid Dinkani
Alpha-Red-4 --- 6573 --- Captain Yaghoub Rajabi Moqaddam --- Ltn. Mohammad Janfeshan

Djahangir Ebn -e Yamin; Left: 2019 , Right: 1977

 

[ARTESH]

Operation "Kaman 99"

This operation is one of most famous aerial operations during war!

From Wikipedia:

Operation Alborz (Persian: عملیات البرز‎), more commonly known by the code-name Operation Kaman 99 (عملیات کمان 99), was an operation launched by the Iranian Air Force in retaliation to Iraqi surprise aerial attacks on Iran the day before which marked the beginning of the 8-year-long Iran–Iraq War. Involving nearly 200 aircraft (of which more than 140 crossed into Iraq), it is considered the largest operation carried out by the IRIAF. The outcome was clearly successful, as the Iranians achieved Air superiority for the first years of the conflict.

Operation Kaman 99 - Wikipedia

The following Planes / Personnel were lost during Operation "Kaman 99":

Pilots:

Captain Mansour Nazerian, F-5 E Tiger II, Plane lost, Pilot KIA

Captain Khoda-Bakhsh Eshghi-pour / 1Lt. Abbas Eslami-Nia, F-4 E Phantom II, Plane lost, Crew KIA

1Lt. Qolamhossein Oruji, F-5 E Tiger II, Plane lost, Pilot KIA

1Lt. Turaj Yusef, F-5 E Tiger II, Plane lost, Pilot KIA

1Lt. Alimorad Jahanshahloo, F-5 E Tiger II, Plane lost, Pilot KIA

1Lt. Parviz Hatamian, F-5 E Tiger II, Plane Lost, Pilot POW

1Lt. Shahram Oveisi, F-5 E Tiger II, Plane lost, Pilot WIA

Major Mohammad Javad Vartavan, F-5 E Tiger II, Plane lost, Pilot WIA

Captain Dariush Yazdanfar / 1Lt. Ali Rahbar, F-4 E Phantom II, Plane damaged, Crew OK

Non-Pilots:

Important note: This List only contains the names of 4th AFB Personnel who were confirmed as KIA till midday September 23rd, 1980.

Captain Qasem Hamid, 1Lt. Bakhsh-Ali Sarbazan, 1Lt. Seyyed Hassan Seyyed Nassaj, 2Lt. Fereidoon Qiasvand, Jr. Lt. Abdol-Ali Naderi, MSgt. Mohammad Hossein Damqani, SSgt. Mehdi Forouqi, Employee Hossein Lavvafian, PVT. Ali Malmir

 

[SaparotRob]

I must admit I've never seen this side (or any side) of this conflict.

 

[ARTESH]

Air Force Strategic Missions:

1- Destroying Iraq's strategic bridges
2- Stop exporting Iraqi crude oil
3- Destruction of power plants
4- Aerial photography and reconnaissance operations
5- Destruction of Iraqi ports and docks
6- Destroying the barracks of the Iraqi army
7- Supporting Ground Forces and navy
8- Destroying the Iraqi war machine
9- Supporting the export and import of oil goods and materials
10- Air defense of the strategic facilities of the country

1- Destroying Iraq's strategic bridges

Start of operation: 02/07/1359 (September 24, 1980)
Amount of ammunition consumed: 71668 lbs (~ 30.5 tonnes)
Sorties: 30

Two F-4E Phantom II aircrafts were lost in the operation.
Capt. Houshang Kianara Tabrizi / 1Lt. Ali Akbar Samani were KIA.
Major Arsalan Moradi / 2Lt. Majid Alidadi were saved from certain death.

2- Stop exporting Iraqi crude oil

So this one is long enough and has a back story, long one like itself! I tried my best to shorten it ... So here you are:

The Oil was main income for both Iran and Iraq (as well as almost any other country in the region) before 1979! after events that we all know, Iran's oil production was almost halved. Also Iraq's production was lowered during war with Kurd's and some other problems. The World Wanted Oil, But 2 main regional producers were out! It was an opportunity for Saudi Arabia and other small Islands (Bahrain, Qatar and UAE). It was backbone of both countries Economics and any Sabotage or destruction has a severe impact on many things!!! Iranian officials decided to destroy Iraqi Oilfields, oil rigs, Oil terminals, refineries and other installations to lower Iraq's production to weaken it's economy and hope to stop Iraqi war machine via shortening Fuel and Oil supplies.

The whole backstory is completely covered in Book "Air Force in Sacred Defense" vol. 1, p-p 137 - 45. I try to translate it soon.

 

[ARTESH]

Two army pilots were killed in a "sudden Ejection Seat operation."

The Iranian army confirmed in an official statement that two pilots had been killed at Dezful air base.

The statement said the cause of death of the two pilots was "unpredictable defects in an F-5 aircraft".

According to the Army Information Center, "Colonel Kianoosh Basati and Capt. Hossein Namani, Air Force pilots, were killed by a sudden ejection seat operation while preparing the aircraft before takeoff."

According to the media, the activation of the ejection seat of both pilots caused them to be thrown up and hit the roof of the hangar.

May their souls rest in Eternal peace.

 

[The Basket]

How combat ready were the F-14 in the Iran Iraq war?

Were they fully operational?

 

[ARTESH]

How combat ready were the F-14 in the Iran Iraq war?

Were they fully operational?

some were reserved, some were grounded due to various problems, 2 were used for training and different tests. By the end of first year, 21 Combat Operational Tomcat's + crew (air and ground) were ready.

If you mean the "Phoenix" missiles, there were enough missiles, but Pilots and WSO's were ordered to do not fire, until they were sure that missile hits the target, and also were forbidden to use it against Targets returning to Iraq,.

 

[Conslaw]

Are there any other sources for information about the F-14 in combat in Iranian service other than "

Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft Book 4 by Tom Cooper?

 

[ARTESH]

Are there any other sources for information about the F-14 in combat in Iranian service other than "

Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft Book 4 by Tom Cooper?

Unfortunately no. and that book, as well as other books has too many errors! you can find lots of reactions and corrections done by former pilots in Instagram!

There are books about Air Force "History" and operations, but are heavily "Islamized" and many things are not told or deleted by direct order of "Non Related People"! (you know whom I mean)

 

[Wurger]

Threads merged.

 

[nuuumannn]

Unfortunately no. and that book, as well as other books has too many errors!

Good to know, I have a copy of this book, probably the only book in the English language solely about IRIAF Tomcat operations. Is there anywhere that's not stalkbook or Insta that has a list of the errors?

 

[Conslaw]

One of the interesting tidbits from the Cooper book was that Iran had a back-channel for western aircraft parts through Israel. Publicly, Israel and Iran have been near-enemies since, well, forever.

 

[Graeme]

One of the interesting tidbits from the Cooper book was that Iran had a back-channel for western aircraft parts through Israel.

There was also the UK back-channel - "foiled" in 1993.

 

[ARTESH]

Good to know, I have a copy of this book, probably the only book in the English language solely about IRIAF Tomcat operations. Is there anywhere that's not stalkbook or Insta that has a list of the errors?

Yes, That's the only source about not only F-14's, but also entire Air force, or even the war itself!!! As I don't currently have access to Any of Insta or other apps, I should ask the pilots personally. but i wont get a complete detailed list! for obvious reasons!

And here is something comes to my mind:

How can you be sure about details when he never was in Iran, nor he had access to documents? Back then, and even now, talking about Army at war, was forbidden and considered a political / counter regime move / action and could put anyone's life who dares to talk / ask to danger!

more likely someone talks about White guard in Russia in 1917 - 1920, mostly or about SS in Germany in 1945 - 1950! 99% they were shot on spot, weren't they?

 

[ARTESH]

One of the interesting tidbits from the Cooper book was that Iran had a back-channel for western aircraft parts through Israel. Publicly, Israel and Iran have been near-enemies since, well, forever.

Those so called "Black Market Agents / Assets" By Officials, existed shortly after end of WW2. Before 1979, they were mostly used by Ground Forces, Gendarmerie and Shahrbani. During War, they became so important, and sometimes were regime's tongue, hand, eye and ear s.

and you are aware of situation after war, no need to repeat!

 

[ARTESH]

There was also the UK back-channel - "foiled" in 1993.

View attachment 632592

There are records of "Western Military Planes" Coming and going in 1979 - 1981. as well as several reported for VVS during that time frame, some related to the very famous incident! [that failed rescue mission, i meant].