Not to sound like an F-22 cheerleader but I thought this was interesting. . .

Tom Cooper twisted the electrons to say:
"Alistair Gunn" wrote in message
. ..
Tom Cooper twisted the electrons to say:
neither service has ever encountered anything like IRIAF F-14s, armed
with AIM-54s in combat
Just how many of the 79 Tomcats and 284 Pheonixs supplied to the Iranians
are still servicable though?
Of course: none.

That was actually a serious question ... However I see it was a question
that seems to be beyond your ability to answer ...

Most people seemed pretty sure it was down
to single figures (and possibly even low single figures), however there
was that fly by of 25 Tomcats over Teheran on 11/02/85. (Of course, how
many of them where fully operational[1] is something I doubt we know!)
How should I know?

In your earlier post (MsgID: ) you
claimed "in 2007 or 2008, the IRIAF is going to stand alone with the
longest-ranged air-to-air missile world-wide" ... Clearly assuming that
you had some facts (such as current, approximate, numbers of servicable
Tomcats) to back up this statement was an error of mine ...

You were so kind to explain that I'm twisting electrons, so I obviously
can't answer your question without doing the same again.

So you object when I attribute things you said to you? shrugs Each to
their own I guess ... but if you wheren't prepared to have your words
attributed to you, why did you say them in the first place? grins

I suggest you to ask Al instead: he'll confirm you that I'm not qualified to
answer any questions at all - not to talk about such stuff - and then he'll
explain you how many F-14s are there in Iran.

Well, clearly the number of servicable Tomcats is going to be somewhere
between 79 and 0, and given they've been in service (or not, as the case
may be), including combat time, for over 20 years with only minimal spares
support at best it would seem reasonable to assume they've been subject
to at least *some* attrition.

Now given that Tom has now confessed that he has no idea how many, if
any, are still servicable does anyone else want to take a stab?

There also seems to be conflicting reports around as to whether the
Pheonix capability was sabotaged around about the time of the revolution
(either by departing Grumman technicians, pro-Western Iranian technicans
or even by Iranian revolutionaries who felt the Air Force was "too
western") ...
Oh, and the wolf ate Little Red Riddinghood. True story! (I've seen it on
TV)

Conflicting - To be in opposition; to be contradictory.

Hence, "there also seems to be conflicting reports about $THING" means
some say $THING happened others don't, or say it didn't happen ...

[1] Mainly meaning, with a working AWG-9 as opposed to something with the
capability of the "Blue Circle" of the early Tornado ADV days ...
Clear stuff: how can one expect the Mullahs to know what to do with that
large chunk of titanium and other metals that the Kafirs in the West call
"F-14" (spelling?) - or something like that?

Ah, so to your mind all 25 of those Tomcats where fully servicable in all
respects? I'd be interested as to what leads you to that conclusion,
indeed such interest was largely the reason for my original posting.
Personally I'd say that the fly-past proves they had at least 25 that
could fly (on that particular day), but it says nothing about their
capabilities wrt the AWG-9, Pheonix capability, functioning afterburners,
wing-sweep capability ... etc
--
These opinions might not even be mine ...
Let alone connected with my employer ...