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The F-14 Tomcat

When it came to Cold War fighter jets, the US Navy’s Grumman F-14 Tomcat was unmatched overall. Six long-range AIM-54A Phoenix missiles could be guided by the F-14’s AWG-9 weapons control system against six different threat aircraft at a long range. Sparrow missiles were carried for medium-range warfare; Sidewinders and a 20mm were available for dogfighting.

As Chuck Hunter, former US Navy F-14 pilot, recalls on Quora, firing a missile for a Tomcat crew ‘is always a thrill. We spend most of our deployed flight time carrying them around, prepping them, practicing with them, and then usually landing back with them. Dropping dumb bombs is fun, but when you can light a rocket motor hanging on your wing and watch it fly off, then track a target to a kill, it is a special day.

The AIM-9 Sidewinder

F-14 pilot recalls when he nearly fired an AIM-7 Sparrow against a Boeing 727 on intercept vector to the RC-135 his Tomcat was escorting

‘I was able to shoot an AIM-9L Sidewinder, AIM-7F Sparrow, and the big one an AIM-54C Phoenix. The AIM-9 is cool because it comes straight off the rail and you can see it from the moment it leaves and flies right out in front of you. It is also a short-distance missile so you get to see if it hits the target.

The AIM-7 Sparrow

‘The AIM-7 and AIM-54 are ejected downward away from the aircraft, so there is a thump and you feel the release of the weight. The Sparrow is 500 pounds, and the Phoenix was 1,000 pounds. After they leave, they fly out in front of you toward the target, but you see them coming up from under the nose. With radar missiles, often you are still focused on making sure that they are tracking, as they may be using information from the aircraft’s radar and you need to be sure you are continuing to send the information.’

F-14 Tomcat AIM-54 Phoenix shot

Hunter continues;

‘The Phoenix was an amazing shot, the 1,000-pound big white telephone pole’s rocket motor burns for 22 seconds so you have this beautiful white plume to follow. Our shot was in a heavy ECM environment against a PRN (Pseudo Random Noise) target so not as exciting as a turning and burning dogfight AIM-9 shot, but a very technical shot with lots of work and communication between the RIO and myself. We saw the missile guide but had to wait on the results as we were shooting at a QF-86 with a jamming pod on the wing. While launching the big white wingman was exciting, when we found out the missile hit the jamming pod on the wing of the QF-86 at 20+ miles, there was a real high five.’

Short of pulling the trigger

‘I was never able to launch one in combat but was close a few times. The training was there and short of pulling the trigger, it felt pretty much like the other shots. In one case the Master Arm was on, missile ready, and one-inch trigger squeeze before the Sparrow would be heading toward the target. We were already 3+ miles inside of cleared-to-launch range when we finally got a visual through broken clouds of a 727 airliner. I could have been famous, glad I wasn’t.’

AIM-7 Sparrow nearly fired against Boeing 727 airliner

Hunter concludes;

‘That was a big YIKES. In and out of puffies, they were on an intercept vector to the RC-135 we were protecting, 10 miles cleared to fire, Master Arm ON since we took the vector, missile selected and really wanted to pull the trigger, but waited…waited… 9miles… 8miles… no tally… 7 miles…. 6 miles…. oh crap 727… Master Arm OFF. We still intercepted, but low to high came up underneath and took pictures.’

Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force

As far as is known, this was the first time an Iraqi pilot had ever encountered the US Air Force’s stealth fighter

In answer to an Air Force request for an aircraft that could attack high-value targets without being picked up by enemy radar, Lockheed created the F-117A. During the 1970s, engineers were able to create an airplane that was “stealth” or could avoid radar thanks to new materials and techniques. The outcome was the F-117A, the first stealth aircraft to operate in the world.

On June 18, 1981, the first F-117A took to the air, and on October 1, 1983, the 4450th Tactical Group—later renamed the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing—achieved initial operational capability. On December 19, 1989, two F-117As from the 37th TFW attacked military objectives in Panama as part of Operation Just Cause. The 415th and 416th squadrons of the 37th TFW relocated to a base in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990–1991; this was when the F-117A saw action once more.

According to E.R. Hooton and Tom Cooper in their book Desert Storm Volume 1: the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Shield 1990-1991, CENTCOM was able to investigate behind enemy lines during Operation Desert Shield by using a range of platforms in addition to satellite photography. SAC’s Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint was the first USAF aircraft to be employed; it started Burning Wind SIGINT missions infantry on August 9 and was providing round-the-clock coverage two days later.

Since imagery was essential, SAC’s Lockheed U-2 very high-altitude photo-reconnaissance aircraft and Lockheed TR-1 tactical reconnaissance with side-looking radar began operations on August 29. On September 8, McDonnell-Douglas RF-4Cs flew the first medium-altitude photographic reconnaissance missions. As of December 2, 469 tactical, 421 strategic, and 2,800 ELINT sorties had been flown by Gen. Charles Horner, the Commander of US and allied air operations for Operation Desert Shield (and later Desert Storm), while 253 sorties had been flown by AWACS, which supported the shield and kept an eye on IrAF activity.

The Joint Surveillance Target Acquisition System (J-STARS), an airborne battlefield surveillance radar system with a 150-kilometer range that was mounted inside a modified Boeing 707 and renamed the E-8A, was one reconnaissance system that arrived late. In early September, the Joint Chiefs denied Schwarzkopf’s request for its deployment, stating that “Desert Shield is not suitable in time or place for introduction J-STARS.” Schwarzkopf had requested its deployment as early as August 10. The Pentagon only changed its mind just before the two available aircraft landed on January 12, 1991, with 44 remote terminals provided by six ground stations and four support vehicles.

The US-led Coalition uses a variety of aircraft, not just conventional ones, to keep an eye on the developments in Kuwait and Iraq. The crew of an Iraqi Airways Boeing 747, traveling over Najaf late on December 16, 1990, reported seeing an F-117A fighter near the left wingtip of the aircraft. Captain Remzi, a former fighter pilot with a lengthy career of flying Sukhoi Su-7BMKs and Su-20s during the war with Iran, led the crew. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first-ever interaction between an Iraqi pilot and the US Air Force’s stealth fighter.

Even if it’s still unclear what the latter was doing at that precise moment, 200 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, we might presume the F-117A was there to test the air defenses of the Iraqi Air Force. However, Remzi’s sighting of the F-117A stunned the IrAF leaders, leading them to believe they lacked the means against the most sophisticated US combat aircraft.

Desert Storm Volume 1: the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait and Operation Desert Shield 1990-1991 is published by Helion & Company and is available to order here.

The weird story of the USAF F-117A that flew close to the left wingtip of an Iraqi Airways Boeing 747 during Operation Desert Shield (and a quick look at pre-Desert Storm Intelligence gathering) — Iraqi Airways Boeing 747

Photo by U.S. Air Force and Steve Fitzgerald via Wikipedia

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An F-14 pilot almost fired an AIM-7 Sparrow at a Boeing 727 while escorting an RC-135