The F14 Tomcat is one of the most iconic US fighters of the late Cold War. When the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun was released in 1986, the then-modern F-18s had just been introduced by the Navy. The movie focused on the mainstay naval aircraft, the F-14 Tomcat. In 1989, soon after the release of the movie, two F-14As from the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) engaged and destroyed two Libyan MiG-23 Floggers. But by the time the sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, was released in 2022, the Tomcats had already been retired by the Navy for 16 years. Iran continues to operate them, and the movie was able to incorporate them for nostalgia’s sake. But how many F-14 Tomcats does Iran have and continue to operate?
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