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List of aircraft of the Iranian Air Force

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Iranian Air Force

This is a list of aircraft types operated by the Iranian Air Force, not including those operated by the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. This list also includes aircraft operated by Imperial Iranian Army Aviation prior to the foundation of the Air Force as a separate service in August 1955.

In 2007, Iraq asked Iran to return some of the scores of Iraqi fighter planes that flew there ahead of the Persian Gulf War in 1991.[1] And as of 2014, Iran was receptive to the demands and was working on refurbishing an unspecified number of jets.[2][3] In late 2014, Iran returned some of the impounded Iraqi military aircraft to Iraq.[4]

Combat/Fighter Aircraft

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Air superiority fighters

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Aircraft Origin Type Versions Number Years Notes
Mikoyan MiG-29 Russia Multirole-fighter
Trainer		 MiG-29 (9.12B)
MiG-29UB		 30 1991 24 MiG-29 delivered in 1990. Iran also took several ex-Iraqi MiG-29 aircraft flown over in 1991, including one MiG-29UB. The current number of MiG-29 in active service is unknown. According to Russian media up to 30 (24 MiG-29 product 9.12B and 6 MiG-29UB 9.51) of all MiG-29s have been overhauled and can now be armed with Nasr-1 anti-ship missiles.[5][6][7] In 2018, a MiG-29 crashed and was destroyed due to a technical fault.[citation needed]
Grumman F-14 Tomcat US Interceptor F-14A 40 1974–present 80 examples ordered, 79 were originally delivered; the only plane to use the Phoenix missile. 40 in inventory.[6]

Iran currently has about 40 F-14 remaining with two of them having been upgraded to F-14AM[8] around 20 Fully Mission Capable and the other 20 Partially Mission Capable[citation needed]

Supplementary fighters

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Aircraft Origin Type Versions Number Years Notes
HESA Saeqeh Iran Light fighter Saegheh-1/2 6[9] 2006–present Is claimed to be heavily upgraded and indigenously made
HESA Kowsar Iran Fighter aircraft 4[9][10] 2018–present

Western analysts have described the plane as inefficient as a weapon, but having potential for training a new generation of Iranian fighter pilots. According to the Iranian state-media, this fighter jet has "advanced avionics" and multipurpose radar, and it was "100-percent indigenously made". It also uses digital data networks, a glass cockpit, heads-up display (HUD), ballistic computers and smart mobile mapping systems.

HESA Azarakhsh Iran Light fighter First Generation (includes twin-seat version) 4 2015 Rebuilt F-5E.
Chengdu J-7 China Fighter aircraft N/MB 24 1991–present
Mirage F1 France Multirole-fighter F1EQ/F1BQ 23 1991–present Iran received 24 F1BQs and F1EQs flown over from Iraq, during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. One Mirage F1BQ from Mashhad AFB (TFB.14) was shot down on July 8, 2001 by the Taliban with Sa-16/18 Manpad while involved in countering drug-smuggling at the Afghan border.
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II US Fighter-Bomber F-4D/E
RF-4E		 64 1968–present 225 examples ordered and delivered. According to Global Security 60 F-4D/E and 4 RF-4Es remain.[6] 10 are F-4Ds and 50 are F-4Es.[11] F-4Ds/Es are currently undergoing an upgrade program which includes a new Chinese-built radar and other avionics and weapons namely PL-5E, PL-11 and C-801.(According to the aviationist (October 2013) the Qader cruise missile that went into mass production was successfully tested on an F-4).[6][7]
Northrop F-5 Tiger II US Light fighter F-5E
F-5F		 60[6] 1974–present 181 examples ordered and delivered. According to Global Security 60 F-5's remain[6] This includes about 16 F-5F dual seat trainers and 44 F-5E fighter bomber[11]

Ground attack

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Aircraft Origin Type Versions Number Years Notes
Sukhoi Su-24 Russia Strike/air-to-air refuelling "buddy" tanker Su-24MK 32 1991

12 aircraft supplied by Russia in 1991.[citation needed] 24 Iraqi examples were evacuated to Iran during the 1991 Gulf War and were put in service with the IRIAF. 3 of them crashed and was destroyed due to a technical fault. 30 Su-24MKs in service as of January 2013.[12][6] Iran tested domestically produced, anti-radar smart missiles carried by Su-24 aircraft in September 2011.[13]

Su-22 Russia Fighter-Bomber Su-22M3/M4 20 1991–present The Iranian Air Force received 40 Su-20/22s from Iraq in 1991.[14] While non-operational for several years, Iran started in 2013 an overhauling program for these.[15] In March 2015, 10 of the Iranian Air Force Su-22 were transferred to the Syrian Arab Air Force to fight in the ongoing Civil War.[16] In July 2018, Iranian military technical experts successfully overhauled and modernized 10 Su-22s, giving them the ability to carry smart bombs, fire precision-guided munitions, transfer data from UAVs and in the near future the necessary systems to use air-launched cruise missiles with a range of 1500 km. The overhauled planes are being used by IRGC's Air Force.[17][18]

Reconnaissance, patrol, and EW

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Maritime Patrol

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Aircraft Origin Type Versions Number Years Notes
Lockheed P-3 Orion US maritime patrol P-3F 3 1974–present 3 in service

Transport/AWACS/Maritime patrol

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Aircraft Origin Type Versions Number Years Notes
HESA IrAn-140 Iran Transport/AWACS/Maritime patrol 7[citation needed] Project appears to have been stalled or cancelled.[19]
Ilyushin Il-76 Soviet Union Transport/AWACS IL-76MD Adnan 1[citation needed] 1991–Present One AWACS-converted Il-76 crashed in 2009.[20]

Transport and utility

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Aircraft Origin Type Versions Number Years Notes
Antonov An-74 Ukraine utility transport 12 All assigned to IRGCAF, not IRIAF.
Ilyushin Il-76 Russia tactical airlift/transport 12[6]
Dassault Falcon 20 France VIP transport 3
Dassault Falcon 50 France VIP transport 1
Fokker F27 Friendship Netherlands tactical airlift/transport and target towing F27-400M
F27-600		 12 1972–present
Pilatus PC-6 Porter Switzerland utility transport 15
Boeing 707 US VIP transport
transport
air-to-air refuelling tanker		 707-368C
707-3J9C		 1
2		 1974–

1 tanker, 2 transports Global security reports that one 707 is a tanker and two are transports.[6]

Boeing 747 US VIP transport/freighter 747-100
747-100F
747-200F		 6 2 tanker, 4 transports.One is used for electronic warfare.[6]
Lockheed C-130 Hercules US tactical airlift/transport C-130E
C-130H		 27[6] Nine visible on Google Maps at Mehrabad Air Base, with various underwing stores and some do not appear to have all four engines installed.
Lockheed JetStar US VIP transport JetStar 8 2 1 operational in 2008

Trainers

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Aircraft Origin Type Versions Number Years Notes
Fajr F.3 Iran trainer F.3 2
HESA Dorna Iran Trainer 1 2016 Prototype
IRIAF Parastu-14 Iran trainer 12 12 as of 2005.[6]
HESA Yasin Iran Advanced Trainer 2+ HESA Yasin (formerly known as Kowsar 88) is a light aircraft and advance training aircraft designed and manufactured by Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Company at the request of the Air Force of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yassin uses two 7,000-pound turbojet engines and is on par with the Russian MiG-AT jet.
HESA Simorgh / Northrop F-5 B Iran Advanced Trainer 9 F-5As converted domestically to F-5B standard.
Chengdu FT-7 China Advanced Trainer FT.7 14 Dual-seat J-7 conversion trainer. Some reports indicates that 5 are in service.[6] Scramble notes 14 active.[21]
TB-21 Tobago / TB-200 Trinidad France trainer 12 12 trainers in service.[6]
PAC MFI-17 Mushshak Pakistan trainer 25 25 trainers in service.[6]
Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer Switzerland trainer 45
Beechcraft Bonanza US trainer F.33 28
Yak-130 Russia trainer/CAS 2+ [22]

Helicopters

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Aircraft Origin Type Variant Number[citation needed] Years Notes
Agusta Bell 206 Italy Light utility/trainer AB 206 20 Licence-built in Italy.
Agusta-Bell 212 Italy Utility AB-212 1 Licence-built in Italy. 1 lost 19 May 2024.[23]
Boeing CH-47 Chinook US Heavy-lift transport CH-47C 20-30

Other types

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These types were also purchased by the Iranian government

A number of other types have been in recent, or reported to be in, Iranian service. Many remain in reserve storage or are operated by the Army or Navy. Some recent types include:

Iran has a number of UAVs and UCAVs, currently under operation of the Iranian Army Aviation.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Colvin, Ross. "Iraq air force wants Iran to give back its planes". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
  2. ^ "With new US planes slow to arrive, Iraq seeks remnants of Saddam's air force to bomb ISIL". 28 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-08-24. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  3. ^ "Iraq cobbling together makeshift air force to fight ISIS". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-09-01. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  4. ^ "Iran returns military aircraft to Iraq after 20 years". 23 June 2014. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Iranian Air Force receives overhauled MiG-29 fighter jet and new Nasr missiles - News - Russian Aviation - RUAVIATION.COM". www.ruaviation.com.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Iran Air Force". globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  7. ^ a b Taghvaee, Babak (June 2012). "Guardians of Tehran: Iranian Fulcrums". Combat Aircraft Monthly. pp. 70–73.
  8. ^ "Analysis: Fakour Air-to-Air Missile". Archived from the original on 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2018-07-28.
  9. ^ a b "ویژگیهای مهم اولین جنگنده کاملا ایرانی +عکس". jamejamonline.ir (in Persian). October 10, 2020. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  10. ^ "هواپیمای ترابری نظامی ایران 140 امسال رونمایی می‌شود/تحویل 3 فروند جنگنده کوثر به نیروی هوایی ارتش/ سبد محصولات پهپادی ما کامل شده است- اخبار خواندنی - اخبار رسانه ها تسنیم | Tasnim". خبرگزاری تسنیم | Tasnim (in Persian). Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  11. ^ a b "Scramble". www.scramble.nl. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  12. ^ "World Military Aircraft Inventory". Aviation Week and Space Technology. January 2013.
  13. ^ "Su-24 front-line bomber". airforceworld.com. September 2011. Archived from the original on 14 October 2011. Retrieved 5 Oct 2011.
  14. ^ "01IRIAF Su 22 Fitter1 :: Mycity-Military.com". www.mycity-military.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  15. ^ Boring, War Is (2013-12-18). "This Is How Iran Maintains Its Bizarre Air Force". War Is Boring. Archived from the original on 2017-09-13. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  16. ^ "Warplanes: Iran Gives Syria Ten Iraqi Su-22s". www.strategypage.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-04. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  17. ^ "IRGC overhauls, upgrades 10 Sukhoi SU-22 fighter jets". 25 July 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  18. ^ "Iran Upgrades 10 Su-22 Fighter Jets Domestically". www.defenseworld.net. Archived from the original on 2018-07-27. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  19. ^ "Iran rejects manufacturing Iran-140 passenger plane". 19 May 2015. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
  20. ^ Morgan, David (2011-06-04). "Video of 2009 Iranian jet crash surfaces - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
  21. ^ "Military Database - Scramble". www.scramble.nl.
  22. ^ "جنگنده آموزشی یاک 130 به ایران آمد- اخبار نظامی | دفاعی | امنیتی - اخبار سیاسی تسنیم | Tasnim". خبرگزاری تسنیم | Tasnim (in Persian). Retrieved 2023-09-02.
  23. ^ "The death of Iran's president will spark a high-stakes power struggle". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2024-05-20.

Further reading

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  • Andrade, John (1982). Militair 1982. London: Aviation Press Limited. ISBN 0-907898-01-7.
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