Airforces

NEWS

24 // SEPTEMBER 2017 #354 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

Middle East

New IRIAF ‘ship-killer’

Above: The 91st TFS, based near the Strait of Hormuz, is responsible for supporting Iranian Navy operations. F-4E 3-6602 will

enable the 9th TFB to deploy C-802 or C-803 cruise missiles for quick reaction alert (QRA) anti-ship missions. Hasan Freydoon

THE ISLAMIC Republic of

Iran Air Force’s (IRIAF’s)

Mehrabad Overhaul

Centre has delivered a

repaired and modestly

upgraded F-4E to the

91st Tactical Fighter

Squadron (TFS).

The jet arrived at the 9th

Tactical Fighter Base (TFB)

Abdol-Karimi at Bandar

Abbas on July 24. F-4E

3-6602 (c/n 4513) was

first flown on August 7,

1974, and is now the first

IRIAF Phantom II equipped

with fully upgraded and

modernised radar.

In the late 1990s

the IRIAF planned to

equip some F-4Es with

new Chinese radars

for use in conjunction

with C-802A anti-ship

missiles. Although China

abandoned the project in

2006, the IRIAF continued

it by upgrading the

hardware of the existing

AN/APQ-120, adding air-

to-ground and maritime

targeting capabilities.

Ultimately, 3-6602 was

equipped with a new

pulse-Doppler antenna

that can search and

track maritime targets

at 124 miles (200km),

compared with the

previous 37 miles (60km).

If successful, the project

will extend to additional

F-4Es and upgrades

will be implemented

during the final phase

of Project Dowran at

Iranian Aircraft Industries

(IACI). Babak Taghvaee

Israeli

AH-64 fl eet

grounded

THE ISRAELI Air Force

(IAF) grounded its entire

AH-64 fleet for a month

in June after a crack

was discovered in one

of the helicopter’s tail

rotors. A routine check

at Ramon air base –

home of the two AH-64

squadrons – revealed

a crack of some 8in

(20cm) in length. A wide

investigation involved

Boeing and the US Army.

Although the crack

was found in only

one Apache, the IAF’s

commander, Maj Gen

Amir Eshel, issued

a grounding order

for both squadrons

until the investigation

was complete.

Test results revealed

that the source of the

crack was microscopic

imperfections

formed during the

manufacturing

process. A senior IAF

officer said “the blade

was reinforced with

aluminium elements

in order to protect it

and take the workload

off it, but these

elements prevented

us from detecting the

crack”. Two major

conclusions came from

the investigation: first

is introduction of a

rotor check using a

radiographic scope,

and the second is to

change the blades

every 1,000 flight hours,

compared with the

4,600 hours specified

by the manufacturer.

Noam Menashe

Iranian RH-53D fl ies after 37 years

THE ISLAMIC Republic

of Iran Navy Aviation’s

(IRINA’s) RH-53D 9-2703

was handed over to

the 13th Minesweeping

Squadron on July 10. The

Sea Stallion returned to

the air in March, after

being grounded for 37

years – and a full 20 years

after the US Navy retired

its final RH-53D. Post-

overhaul functional check

flights lasted until June.

The IRINA operates five

RH-53Ds for various tasks

including minesweeping.

The status of the fleet has

gradually improved since

2007 when only three of

the 13th Minesweeping

Squadron’s six RH-53Ds

were airworthy at the

2nd Air Base at Bushehr.

Previously, RH-53D

9-2704, which had been

grounded since 1984, was

restored and overhauled

by the Iran Helicopter

Support and Renewal

Company (IHSRC) and

flew during Iran’s Military

Day parade in April 2009.

In 2014, an $8m contract

was signed for similar

work on 9-2703, which

had been stored after

a taxiing accident on

November 25, 1980,

during the Iran-Iraq War.

Valuable parts had then

been removed to service

other RH-53Ds. Spares

had been found within

six months of contract

signature. The damaged

tail section was repaired

using parts from a US

Navy RH-53D abandoned

after the failed Operation

Eagle Claw hostage

rescue in April 1980. The

helicopter also received

a new GPS navigation

aid system coupled

with a moving map and

a new U/VHF radio.

Another RH-53D,

9-2704, is now with

IHSRC for programmed

depot maintenance,

which is expected to be

completed next year.

Babak Taghvaee

Above: RH-53D 9-2703 undergoes a test fl ight at IHSRC. Despite strict arms embargoes, the

IHSRC has successfully managed to procure spare parts, enabling the IRINA to have fi ve of its

six RH-53Ds in service with three examples always operational simultaneously. Keyvan Tavakkoli

Iraqi Air Force to reconstitute Texan IIs

THE IRAQI Air Force

(IQAF) plans to return

to service its fleet of 15

T-6A trainers, ahead of

the first in-country F-16IQ

training course in 2019.

The Texan IIs are

understood to have

been put in storage in

around 2013, when a US

Special Inspector General

of Iraq Reconstruction

(SIGIR) report noted that

the aircraft had begun

to sustain damage to

their wings as a result

of inadequately cleaned

runways at Al Taji Air

Base, north of Baghdad.

The US Department of

Defense has awarded

Textron Aviation Defense

an $8.8m Foreign

Military Sales contract

to return the aircraft to

flight status. The IQAF

T-6A fleet is required to

resume training activities

no later than the second

quarter of 2018. Work

will be performed at

Imam Ali AB, Iraq.

New Hawks

delivered to

Oman

THE FIRST two Hawk

Mk166 jet trainers for

the Royal Air Force of

Oman (RAFO) have been

delivered to Masirah

Air Base. BAE Systems

ferried the aircraft to

the Sultanate on July 29,

ten days after the first

RAFO Typhoons departed

the UK (see Oman’s first

Typhoons delivered, August

2017, p24). The aircraft

are part of an eight-

aircraft order placed in

December 2012 and were

formally presented to the

customer in May at BAE

Systems’ Warton site.