F 4e News Today

The first 50 F-4E Phantoms entered Israeli territory in 1969. They were delivered despite the Pentagon’s evaluation that the sale would harm U.S.-Arab relations, and against the prospect of a U.S.-Soviet agreement to limit arms sales to the region. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s provocations essentially sealed U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s decision to sell the

The F-14s played a major role in Iran’s war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988. Iranian Tomcat pilots were the only ones to successfully employ the F-14’s long-range, heavyweight AIM-54 Phoenix missile to shoot down enemy planes.

The Iranians believed the mysterious aircrafts were spy drones belonging to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency,