US ‘Maverick Act' hints at final destruction of Iran's Tomcat fleet

A US government bill in April 2026 to restore a Tomcat to flying status suggests that all of Iran's fleet (pictured) had been destroyed by that time. (MEHR News Agency)

A US government bill to allow the reactivation of a retired US Navy (USN) Grumman F-14 Tomcat combat aircraft hints at the type's total destruction in Iranian service.

Approved by the US Senate Armed Services Committee on 28 April 2026 ahead of its anticipated final passing by Congress, the Maverick Act authorises a single F-14D to be restored to flying condition and two more to a non-flyable condition for public display purposes.

“The Secretary of the [US] Navy may convey, without consideration, to the US Space and Rocket Center Commission in Huntsville, Alabama, all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to three surplus F–14D Tomcat aircraft (Bureau Numbers 164341, 164602, 159437), which are excess to the operational requirements of the [US] Navy,” the bill, which was named for the lead character in the Top Gun movies, said.

The USN retired the last of its F-14A/B/D Tomcats in 2006, leaving the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) as the sole operator of the type. The F-14A Tomcat was received into Iranian service in the late 1970s, when 79 were delivered to the Shah of Iran's Imperial Iranian Air Force (the order was for 80 aircraft, with all but one having been handed over by the time of the Iranian Revolution in 1979).