Hobo wrote:
In article ,
"Tom Cooper" wrote:

This is your - and a pretty arrogant indeed - interpretation: the
Iranians have got a top-of-the line interceptor, completely equipped
and accompanied by the best in weapons, crew-training, and support
available at the time. Except you nobody here said they fired
AIM-54s from "donkey carts using parts from an old TV": they were
firing AIM-54s from F-14As, produced by Grumman Aerospace Corp., and
Hughes Aerospace, respectivelly. I.e. both "made in USA": if you
consider these products to be "donkey carts using parts from an old
TV", you're of course free to do so. While I guess you would
consequently also compare firing AIM-54s against such stuff like
MiG-21s with hunting Sparrows with radar-guided missiles, I'd like
to draw your attention at the fact that you're talking here actually
about high-tech, US-made donkey carts, capable of flying at Mach 2
and equipped with the most powerful and flexible AI-radar of the
time, as well as US-made, high-tech "parts from an old TV" flying
over ranges of up to 140km...

The proper way to respond to a joke is to ignore it or make another
joke. A lengthy explanation of the differences between a donkey cart
and an F-14 misses the point.

On a purely logical level, it seems odd that the Iranians should be
able to do so much reverse-engineering with the Phoenix, but the
Pakis can't do anything with the Sparrow. There are about 4x as many
Pakis and they have greater access to the West and they built the
"Islamic Bomb" before the Iranians did.

Back in 82 the Argentinians were doing things with Exocet that most people
didn't think could be done, no reason to beleive others couldn't do similar
when the motivation is there.

--
James...
http://www.jameshart.co.uk/