Iranian F-14 fleet attacked at a base in central Iran believed to host all the remaining F-14s in Iranian service.
Early in the morning on Mar. 8, 2026, the IDF announced that all Iranian Air Force F-14 Tomcats at the 8th Tactical Fighter Base in Isfahan (or Esfahan), in central Iran, home to the 81st, 82nd and 83rd Tactical Fighter Squadrons, had been obliterated in an air strike part of the Operation Roaring Lion.
צה”ל תקף מטוסי קרב מסוג ’14-F’ בשדה תעופה באיספהאן
בגל תקיפה נרחב של חיל האוויר בהכוונת אמ”ן, הותקפו אתמול מתחמים בהם אוחסנו מטוסי קרב מסוג ׳F-14’ של משטר הטרור האיראני בשדה התעופה שבאיספהאן.
כמו כן, הותקפו מערכות גילוי והגנה שאיימו על מטוסי חיל האוויר.
תקיפה זו מצטרפת להשמדתם…
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 8, 2026
Here’s a translation of the message posted in Hebrew by the IDF on X:
The IDF struck F-14 fighter jets at an airport in Isfahan.
In a broad Air Force attack wave directed by Military Intelligence, compounds storing F-14 fighter jets of the Iranian terror regime were hit yesterday at the Isfahan airport.
Detection and defense systems threatening Air Force aircraft were also struck.
This joins the destruction of 16 aircraft used by the Quds Force unit at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran two days ago, as part of efforts to deepen Air Force air superiority over Iran.
The IDF will continue deepening strikes on all elements of the Iranian terror regime and expanding air superiority across Iran.
This is not the first time F-14s are destroyed by the Israeli Air Force. In June 2025, the IDF released footage showing the moment two Tomcats in an airport in Tehran were destroyed by a drone strike. Although the two airframes were non-operational and had been visible in satellite imagery for years), the strike was particularly symbolic as the Persian Tomcats, the world’s last operational F-14s, had long been considered a symbol of Iran’s ability to keep the type airworthy and even upgrade it despite the embargo.
An Israeli Air Force drone struck and destroyed two Iranian F-14 fighter jets at an airport in Tehran, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin reveals in a press conference.
The IDF publishes footage of the strike.
Additionally, the IDF airs footage of a strike on Iranian… pic.twitter.com/z6QwK8brBH
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 16, 2025
However, the latest attack is something different: the 8th Tactical Fighter Base, which was also targeted last year, is believed to host all the remaining F-14s in Iranian service, meaning no Tomcat (or very few, maybe hidden in some underground facility) may have survived anywhere in the world.
The Persian Tomcats
The Persian Tomcats are the world’s last operational F-14s, after the main user, the U.S. Navy, retired the type in 2006.
Iran initially ordered 80 examples for the Imperial Iranian Air Force, with 79 being delivered beginning in February 1976. This was before the Shah of Iran was deposed from power in 1979, giving birth to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the aircraft passing in the hands of the current Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF).
While the number of residual Iranian aircraft had been subject to debate well before 2025, no more than 30 airframes should have been at their disposal. Some of the Tomcats were upgraded to F-14AM (“Modernized”) standard that includes domestic avionics (radar and RWR) and weapons: R-73E, AIM-54A, AIM-7E and AIM-9J. Iran also says it has integrated local weapons on the Tomcat, such as the Fakour-90 air-to-air missile based on the AIM-54 Phoenix and the MIM-23 Hawk.
The IRIAF has two types of F-14As: PMC (Partially Mission-Capable) ones, usually suitable for training and which can become FMC in case of war, and Fully Mission-Capable Tomcats with fully operable fire control system, armament system and INS. These FMC F-14As are usually used for 24/7 Quick Reaction Alert and other combat missions. It was previously reported that usually 70% of the airworthy Tomcats are FMC.
In 2018, during Iran International Air Show at Kish Island, around two dozen F-14s were estimated to be fully ready for combat, with partial readiness maintained for 16 more airframes. Similarly, a survey by Flight Global estimated that, as of 2019, the IRIAF operated 24 F-14s at Tactical Fighter Base 8.
In 2015, Iranian F-14 Tomcat escorted Russian Air Force Tu-95 Bear bombers flying in Iranian airspace during their 9h 30mins missions from Engels airbase and back, along the Iraq-Iran-Caspian Sea 6,500 km-long corridor, against targets in Syria. More recently, in December 2023, during Russian President Putin’s trip to the Middle East, one IRIAF F-14 joined the escort of four Su-35S Flankers, armed with R-77 and R-73 air-to-air missiles, of the presidential Il-96-300PU.
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