Iranian F-14 Tomcat Fighter Crashed Injuring Two

The Iranian news agency reported that an F-14 fighter jet belonging to Iran’s military crashed in the central Isfahan region on June 18th due to a technical failure. The pilot and co-pilot ejected before the crash and were safe with minor injuries.

The Iranian news agency said that,

“An Air Force F-14 fighter plane suffered a technical failure during a mission this morning as it was landing in the Shahid Babaei base in Isfahan,”

According to a statement of Rasul Motamedi, the head of the military’s public relations department in Isfahan the US-made F-14 fighter aircraft was on a training mission. According to officials, the cause of the crash is an engine fault.

Iran Air Force has a collection of U.S-made fighter aircraft that are purchased before the Islamic Revolution and Russian-made MiG and Sukhoi fighter jets as well. Currently, Iran is struggling with spare parts and maintaining their aging military aircraft fleet due to the western sanctions they are facing for over more than 10 years.

In February one of Iran’s fighter jets crashed into a soccer field in the city of Tabriz killing both pilots and a civilian and in May another fighter jet crashed in the central desert of Iran killing both the pilots.

Footage of the crash of the F-14 Tomcat fighter jet in Iran’s Isfahan. Both the pilot and co-pilot have ejected before the crash and are now hospitalized. pic.twitter.com/dLkSvonMRm

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) June 18, 2022