"Hobo" wrote in message
...

My understanding is that the Shah of Iran was offered either the F-14 or
F-15 in response to his complaints of Soviet violations of his airspace.
Why did the Iranians choose the F-14? The F-15 would have seemed a
better choice for non-carrier use. The USAF seemed to think so.

Usually it is said "it was the Russian MiG-25Rs", and then the USN people
will say it was the show put up by the Grumman test pilots on a "fly-out",
organized for the Shah, in November 1973.

But, it was actually neither of both.

The Iranians had a study about their future needs running already since
1970. The F-14 was a winner of this study, because of the a combination of
endurance, flexibility (high speed/low speed performance/maneuverability),
superior radar/superior long-range weapons etc. The decision actually fell
already before the USN sent its first briefer to Tehran, that was in 1972.

The more the Iranians studided the F-14 and F-15, the more they became sure
that the Tomcat was the solution they were looking for. In their opinions
(and I share these) their later experiences proved them correct beyond any
doubt: when asked, they conclude that it is silly from anybody to expect
that the Shah (or actually the IIAF, then it was the air force that made the
choice: the Shah was [mis]used by them because of his charm that was known
to "function" in the West in similar cases) to pay $2 billions, mobilize
immense assets, and influence the future of the air force for the next 30
years - because of some stunt-flying.

The MiG-25-overflights were, of course, an excellent "excuse", just like the
story about "downgraded" AWG-9s sold to the US Congress etc. In turn, this
made the USAF and the USN interested in the sale, as there was indeed an
opportunity to test the Soviet MiG-25R/RBS that were overflying Iran
(albeit, nowhere near as deep as usually explained: the Foxbats were
operating along, not beyond the Iranian borders - like US/IIAF RF-4Es were
doing).

Tom Cooper
Co-Author:
Iran-Iraq War in the Air, 1980-1988:
http://www.acig.org/pg1/content.php
and,
Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat:
http://www.osprey-publishing.co.uk/t...hp/title=S6585