26.10.2025, 19:01
Nur als Ergänzung zum "12-Tage-Krieg" ein recht interessanter Artikel von September: Bei den Attacken im Juni hat die IAF anscheinend rund ein Drittel des noch aktiven Phantom-II-Bestandes der Iraner am Boden zerstört, vermutlich zehn bis 13 Maschinen.
Schneemann
Zitat:Israel's strikes on the Phantoms of Shahrokhi [...]https://www.key.aero/article/israels-str...-shahrokhi
[8th September 2025]
Among the earliest and most strategically significant targets were the McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II multi-role fighter jets stationed at 3rd Tactical Fighter Base (TFB.3) Nojeh (Shahrokhi), near the city of Hamadan in western Iran. The airbase was home to the 31st Tactical Fighter Squadron (31st TFS) of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF), a unit that operated 17 F-4Es, the largest single concentration of the type in Iran’s frontline air force structure. These ageing, Cold War-era aircraft remained a potent threat due to their long-range strike capabilities and geographical proximity to key ingress routes from the west. [...]
By June 13 this year, when the opening wave of IASF airstrikes commenced, the IRIAF had a total of 41 F-4E Phantom IIs in its operational fleet, with approximately 30 aircraft in active flightworthy status. [...]
During the opening hours of the Israeli operation, precision strikes destroyed most of the 31st TFS’s F-4Es – either on the ground or inside hardened aircraft shelters (HAS) – effectively eliminating the unit as a combat force. [...]
Just after sunrise, as smoke rose above several destroyed Iranian facilities, the Iranian Joint Staff issued emergency scramble orders to launch quick reaction alert (QRA) fighters to intercept presumed Israeli aircraft and drones operating within Iranian airspace. [...] The 31st TFS Phantom carried out a 90-minute combat air patrol that extended as far as the skies over Tabriz in northwest Iran before returning to base. Aircraft were scrambled from Mehrabad (1st TFB-MiG-29Bs),Tabriz (2nd TFB MiG-29B/F-5Es) and Dezful (4th TFB F-5Es). [...]
The mission was entrusted to F-16I Sufas of the elite 107 Squadron, based at Hatzerim AB, which delivered GBU-39/B small diameter bombs equipped with steel penetrator warheads against the HAS. Satellite imagery later confirmed 17kg (38lb) penetrating warheads had been employed, given the heavy internal damage to aircraft within relatively intact structures. [...] Out of 22 shelters at TFB, 11 were directly hit. According to on-base sources, all 11 housed F-4E or RF-4E Phantom aircraft. Seven of the struck shelters contained airworthy aircraft, including at least one of the IRIAF’s three remaining RF-4E Photo Phantoms operated by the 31st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (31st TRS). In addition to the operational losses, Israeli aircraft struck several abandoned HAS in the northern perimeter of the base, many of which contained dilapidated MiG-23s that had defected from Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. [...]
The 31st TFS lost an estimated ten out of its 17 remaining F-4Es, while the 31st TRS lost at least one of its final three RF-4Es. With only 11 F-4Es now remaining at the 6th TFB in Bushehr and 13 more in the 9th TFB in Bandar Abbas and several other non-airworthy units in storage or cannibalised for spare parts, the destruction of the core of the Hamedanbased Phantom fleet was a significant blow to Iran’s already fragile tactical airpower.
Schneemann