Sedjeel (Hawk) A-A missile Testing Phase.

The Project sedjeel was a project done by Jahade khodkafie-e Niruye Havaie to replace the AIM-54A Phoenix, there are few rumors that Iran received the help of Israel to adapt the missile to the AWG-9 radar of Tomcat.

My experience at Iranian military forums (as well as Tom Cooper's ACIG forum) points to that fact there were two separate but related projects to mate the MIM-23 to the F-14A. This information comes largely from Tom Cooper's "Iranian F-14 Units in Combat".

The first attempt was Project Sky Hawk, which began in 1985. Specifically, three IDF/AF technicians were present in Iran for 87 days to aid the Iranians in this venture (Pinkus Schepmsky, Danuta Laszuk, Avraham Wein). These men had previously worked with Iran during the Shah's rule as part of Projects Distant Thunder/Reach, in which the IDF/AF and IRIAF wanted to mate the AGM-78 to the F-4E to deal with the new MiG-25 threat both countries were faced with. Even with this additional help, during tests the MIM-23 seeker was unable to reliably link to the AWG-9 radar. The modified missiles were apparently fired in anger on a few occasions but the program was ultimately abandoned.

Then, after the war, the program was revived and apparently the "bugs" were worked out and the AIM-23C Sejil was born. Now whether this missile is really in production or ever was I don't know (though the Iranians show it off quite often), but given their improvements to the HAWK SAM system over just the last decade (including what looks to be a brand new seeker for the missile), it's quite possible it was/is.

Here is an image of the new seeker I mentioned:

Here is a series of images of the AIM-23C Sejil:

Thanks a lot for the Reply and information ,

Well i must correct you and add a bit of information to the information which you provided , as for the Installing the AGM-78 on the F-4E, the missile is not AGM-78 but it is RIM-66A Standard, the name of the Project was Ababil, and the test pilot of the project was Brid.Gen Naghdi Beik , the man who flew the first Iraqi Mirage F1EQ-5 for the first time from Nojeh AFB.

As for the Upgrade on MIM-23 Hawk , the photo which you attached is the seeker of missile called Shalamche, and as you said is the modification done to the Hawk missile. According to the Iranians the MIM-23 or Shaheen is also upgraded, and both of these are linked to the System called Mersad which is a more advanced system comparing to the original Hawk Missile System.

There was an another program which i forgot its name and that is adapting and linking the RIM-66A missile on the MIM-23 Launch & guidance system. (attached photo).

Regards,
AK

Any idea what kind of performance an air-launched Hawk would have?

Ardavan.K,

I am merely posted what Tom Cooper wrote in his book. I am aware of Iran's attempt(s) to mount the RIM-66 to at least one F-4E but that was during the war. The project I described was years before the war during the Shah's rule, before their order of the F-14 (whose AIM-54 would negate the MiG-25 threat more effectively than any air-launched RIM-66/AGM-78).

Sferrin,

None sadly. Iran has published some details of their upgraded MIM-23 variants, with their specifications still quite similar to the original design. It is always the AIM-23C would have greater range than the AIM-7E in Iran's inventory and it was chosen because it was seen as the only logical supplement to the AIM-54 during the war. But exactly what kind of range it has is not publicly known. IMHO, the missile likely does have good range but the rather sluggish speed of the MIM-23 makes it a less practical weapon at times. Even the AIM-7E has a top speed of ~Mach 4, while the MIM-23 has a top speed of just Mach 2.5. Now whether its speed would be much greater due to being air-launched or not I am not certain.

HAWK missile performance was improved considerably with I-HAWK, mach 2.5 is only accurate for MIM-23A but no top speed has been released for MIM-23B that I am aware of. Sparrow missiles of the same vintage as MIM-23A also only did mach 2.5.


Maybe more important then top speed though is that I-HAWK had a very long burning sustainer, over twenty seconds. In comparison the sustainer on AIM-7F burned 11 seconds, and earlier Sparrow models had no sustainer at all. That's a lot of extra time to maintain top speed while maneuvering, so the range difference is not going to be one of linear improvement, the more agile the target the better the HAWK should do in comparison to a pure head on shot.


In any case Chaparral with a dedicated ground launch rocket motor had about half the range of comparable models of air launch Sidewinder (later Sidewinders go x4 as far), and this is a missile with little sustainer. So we should be talking about a very large difference in range, doubling is easily possible and against a high speed head on target it could be even more. On the other hand I don't see any reports of Iran changing the rocket motor, so the missile might remain limited by its ground launch optimized motor, which is going to waste some energy.

Sea Skimmer,

You may believe it had a higher top speed than that but since, as you said, there are no actual sources for such a claim, the only logical thing to do is go with the facts we do have and those stated that all variants of the MIM-23 missile have a top speed of Mach 2.5. Without some evidence to the contrary, its just speculation.

No the logical thing to do is employ one's mind , and notice that fact that range and ceiling increased so much while warhead weight also went up at the same time would be such evidence. Otherwise you would have to conclude that I-HAWK performs almost the same as RIM-66A, which is about the same weight, while being an entire mach factor slower and designed at the exact same time no less. Or are you going to denounce the endless non DoD sources like World Naval Weapons which rate it as mach 3.5 as speculation too? You will find an awful lot of what is said on this site and everywhere else is speculation by that sort of standard.


I'd also note that mach 4.0 for AIM-7E is itself speculation as far as any document I've ever heard of goes. Well used by third parties, but not openly declared by the DoD. If you examine the AIM-7F characteristic sheet for example, and this was a considerably improved weapon over AIM-7E, it actually only gives mach 2.9 as the missile speed. However the CS file also gives no launch speed or height for this specified AIM-7F missile speed, and since the launch envelope is rather enormous, from mach .5 on the deck to mach 2.5 at 70,000ft and possible missile flight to 90,000ft, that'd have a radical effect on the actual burnout value. Air temperature also can have an very large effect on solid rocket motor performance, at least when you compare the extremes, generally a 'standard day' is assumed in US military values. So the net meaning of the single data point is very limited in this context. One could take the thrust datapoints and calculate the drag of the missile and come up with an answer if they wanted, but people who do that kind of work usually don't share it for free.

Sea Skimmer,

There's no need to be rude about this. In your previous posts, you didn't allude to having ANY actual sources to your claim the MIM-23B having a greater top speed than the MIM-23A. And I never said anything about having "official" sources, I was just asking for ANY evidence to back up your claim. If you have some sources to state to the contrary, please post them. I have no problem with independent sources.

Also, I would challenge your claim that just because the MIM-23B had greater range and altitude that is HAS to have better range. There are limits to what kind of speeds any aerodynamic body can take, whether they be aircraft or missile. For example, I can think of two things that could potentially limit the MIM-23's speed even with a new motor:

1. Efficiency- Its quite possible the new motor the MIM-23B used was simply a more efficient design that gave the missile greater burn time (which of course increases range and ceiling) but not necessarily enough to increase the missiles speed.
2. Drag- The MIM-23 has quite large control surfaces for a SAM of its era (compare it to the RIM-66 and Soviets 3M9) and these could cause enough drag that its top speed would be limited in turn.

So while I do see your point, I also plenty of reason to not simply assume just because it had better range and altitude, that is has to have better speed as well.

I found this from an Iranian forum. It seems to be a fairly descriptive account of the project, but cannot verify its authenticity. The account is given by Feriedoun Ali Mazandarani (apparently the head of the project) in the forum through several questions and details collected in pdf format by the members. The forum is shut down now for the second time!

In 1986, during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), The IRIAF F-14A Tomcats faced a serious problem; a shortage of air to air missiles. The American made air superiority fighter aircraft was employed in The Imperial Iranian Air Force in January of 1976, armed with the long range Phoenix missile. Before the deployment of the short range Sidewinder missile model “L” and the medium range Sparrow missile model “F”, which were adapted to the F-14, The Iranian Revolution broke out in early 1979. As a result, all military contracts were nullified by the new Islamic Government, leaving the F-14s armed with only the Phoenix missile and the 20mm M61 Vulcan Cannon.
Once the Iran-Iraq war began in September of 1980, the F-14s scrambled to defend the country; however, the prolonged war and the imposed military sanctions by the U.S., caused The Tomcats to suffer from a shortage of operational Phoenix missiles. Although The IRIAF still had substantial quantities of the Phoenix missile, but the lack of coolant and the decaying batteries of the missile left the F-14s unarmed. The F-14s were also armed with Sparrow E-4 and Sidewinder G air to air missiles, but the missiles used for the F-4s were not 100% compatible to the F-14’s radar, the AWG-9, and offered a degraded rate of accuracy. The IRIAF needed a new accessible and reliable air to air missile. The newly created office of Air Force Deputy to the Office of Self-Sufficiency Movement proposed the use of MIM-23 Hawk surface to air missile as a replacement for the Phoenix missile; however, the suggestion was strongly opposed by Col. Houshang Seddigh, The IRIAF Commander and his Air Defense Directors.
Nevertheless, The Air Force Deputy to the Office of Self-Sufficiency Movement, despite oppositions to the proposal, presented its confidential plan to The Deputy Commander in Chief at the time, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The plan was approved for the commencement of the tests and orders were forwarded to Col. Seddigh. One F-14 and five out of service MIM-23 Hawk Missiles returned back from the front lines were delivered to a hanger for the experimentation.
The project was classified as Top Secret under the supervision of the Self-Sufficiency Movement Office. A team1 of 13, IRIAF personnel consisting of one Pilot, 2 Weapons System Officers “WSO” and 10 specialized personnel, directed by Maj. Fereidoun AliMazandarani, and a support team2 consisting of 9, IRIAF personnel were ordered to finalize the tests within six months.
The missile chosen for the project, MIM-23 Hawk, was longer, wider and heavier than the Phoenix missile making it possible to load only on two of the pylons, No. 1 & 8. The pylons and missiles both were internally reinforced and modified with the proper parts to load the Hawk missiles for flight test. Due to the rapid progress of the program, The IRIAF Commander, Col. Seddigh, began supporting the program unreservedly. Upon the successful flight of the two hanging missiles for take off, aircraft maneuverability, onboard missile stability, landing and all other required tests, the next stage began: the drop of the missile safely before its rocket fired underneath the aircraft. The MIM-23 Hawk missile launched from its launcher directly once it was fired; however, in order for it to be fired from an aircraft, it needed to separate and then fire its rocket at a safe distance from the fighter to avoid damaging it. Besides separating, the missile had to make a 90 degree clockwise turn on its longitudinal axis first before firing its rocket. After finalizing the ground tests, it was time to initiate the first live test.
Six aircrafts were involved in the first live test; i.e., missile release, firing & target acquirement, one F-14 as leader of the group flown by Maj. Fereidoun AliMazandarani, director and pilot of the Sedjil project group, & WSO Capt. Mohammad Oghbaei, two F-4s which would fly on each side of the F-14 and from the rear recording the test by their TISEO, one 707 fuel tanker just in case the test flight took longer than expected and one Falcon Jet flying at 2000ft equipped with cameras and telemetric systems to capture the release and the firing of the missile from below as it flew at line up rest formation. The sixth craft was a remotely controlled BQM-34 Target Drone which was designated as a target for the initial firing test of the SEDJIL air to air missile. After the briefing was finalized by Maj. AliMazandarani in the afternoon, the Falcon pilot declined to fly his aircraft due to the possibility of explosion from the missile if it failed. Although the distance between all aircrafts involved were at a safe distance and breaking away instructions were given to each aircraft, the Falcon pilot still refused to fly his plane on this mission. The debate went on for a few hours and by the time they were finished without reaching a conclusion, it was already too late to initiate the test. Maj. AliMazandarani contacted Col. Seddigh, advising him of the situation and requested a new flight crew that would go through with the plan and test. The Air Force Commander advised the Major to reschedule take off flight for the following morning at 8 am, using his Falcon Jet for the test and sitting in the co-pilot seat himself. Although the commander of the IRIAF, the next morning Col. Seddigh attended the briefing as the co-pilot of the Falcon Jet, while Maj. AliMazandarani, as head of the project and flight leader, briefed everyone once again. The flights took off at 8am from Mehrabad Airport and once everyone was in their position, Major AliMazandarani turned his F-14 towards the target and WSO Capt. Oghbaei fired the first missile at the drone in Semnan Controlled Range. Upon confirmation of the safe dropping and firing sequence of the missile towards the drone, Col. Seddigh ordered the F-14 to fire the second missile as well and after going through the relative processes, a lock on the target was acquired and the second missile was fired by Maj. AliMazandarani toward its target drone. The test was a success in terms of the release and safe firing of both MIM-23s, as well as target pursuit by the missiles. After viewing the test films, the team realized that the time between release and ignition of the missile is slightly long. Since The IRIAF did not have any manufacturing testing equipment, they resorted to unconventional methods of testing. As a result, a trench was dug along the trim pad area in The 8th TFB in Esfahan with the F-14 suspended by a rescue crane over it while having pylon No.1 in the center line of the trench for the firing sequence test. The warhead was removed and the timing between the release and ignition was precisely computed by telemetry instruments without the rocket actually firing. All systems on board the aircraft were on except for the engines and with the help of WSO Lt. Yousef Ahmadi, the time between release and firing was shortened by 5 milliseconds.
After the initial test, the most difficult step began which was the compatibility of the AWG-9 radar’s onboard computer to the Hawk missile. The MIM-23 surface to air missile’s radar system receives all information from the target and feeds it to the missile before firing from its ground launcher; however, if fired from the F-14, it would require a constant data exchange between the AWG-9 radar and the Hawk missile. The MIM-23 needed to understand the data from the AWG-9 that was being fed to it. After a week of intense planning and computer programming, the team came up with a hardware interface box, translating the signals between the F-14 computer and the Hawk missile. Now the F-14 could identify the Hawk missile and the missile could understand all data for flight and trajectory corrections being fed to it from the aircraft. In less than 40 days, the missile was ready and it was time for the live test of the MIM-23 Hawk missile, renamed SEDJIL Missile.
Fifteen days later the same crew scheduled the first hot flight test armed with the Sedjil missile. The F-14 was flying at 22,000 ft and the drone was at 25000 ft with a 25º angle off and a range of 45Km. After the target was picked up and locked on, Maj. AliMazandarani fired his missile as he simultaneously turned opposite the drone’s flight path and several seconds later the target was hit and splashed. However, after these successful tests, there was skepticism amongst the high ranking officers of The Air Defense who suggested testing in a more difficult scenario. This time Maj. AliMazandarani was ordered to stand down and the flight was carried out by the supporting team members, Col. Shahram Rostami, Deputy Director to the Air Force Operations, and WSO Lt. Davood MasoumParast. Major AliMazandarani briefed the flight crew of the process of tracking, locking and firing sequence. Along with Col. Babaii, Director of Air Force Operations, they headed to The Semnan Range and oversaw the test. Once the target was acquired and hit, both the Colonel and Major were the first to arrive at the scene of the downed drone, confirming the kill. Everyone seemed to be satisfied; however, after a few days The Air Defense authorities stated that in order to release the Hawk missiles to the Tomcats, a third hot flight in none ideal conditions and worst case scenario is needed.
The Sedjil Project team was planning a non ideal scenario for the third test drone, when Col. Babaii called from Bushehr 6th TFB directing Maj. AliMazandarani to fly to Bushehr and commence testing on an actual enemy aircraft. After 3 days of full alert, Maj. AliMazandarani and Lt. Ansarin scrambled their F-14A towards incoming Iraqi fighters heading towards Khark Island. At a distance of 25 miles the F-14 fired its first Sedjil missile; however, the missile was one of five missiles used during the initial tests of the project which was loaded by mistake. The bad rocket dropped, fired and did a barrel roll over the front of the cockpit and Radom missing the Tomcat as it headed down towards the sea. The pilots reacquired the target, locked on and fired the second missile at a range of 20 miles, hitting it several seconds later, thus proving the success of the project. It was sheer luck or destiny that saved the F-14 from a disaster that may have suspended the project altogether and perhaps change the face of the war.
On the way back to the base, it was discovered that the downed fighter was the French made Super Etendard capable of carrying the infamous anti ship Exocet missile, one of the five fighters leased from the French government. The test not only proved successful, but revived the IRIAF Tomcats, striking fear into the Iraqi Air Force that the F-14s were still a threat; especially, with the downing of the Super Etendard fighter. After the test, several of the F-14s were modified to carry the Sedjil missile along with the limited supply of operational Phoenix missiles.
The first operational Sedjil air to air missile shot down two Iraqi aircrafts over Kermanshah Province flying in close formation with a single Sedjil missile by IRIAF F-14 pilot, Lt. Col. Asadollah Adeli, eliminating all doubts regarding the reliability and effectiveness of the adapted missile.
As the war ended in 1988, The IRIAF had time to try and revive the Phoenix missiles using substitutes for the coolant and batteries. The IRIAF F-14s now carry both the Phoenix and Sedjil missile on their pylons!

Welcome on board, Euro2000 !

Thanks for your effort to post this report. Could you tell us the exact source/site, too ?
Maybe there are interesting things for other members, too.

jemiba,
thanks for the welcome. the site's name is ganjejang.com (all in Farsi) and the forum section has been shut down for the past several weeks. It is said that it will open by end of next week, if nothing new comes up!

Dear Jemiba,
Below pls find the link for the revived website as requested:

www.ganjjang.ir

Forum for Fereidoun Ali Mazandarani
http://ganjjang.ir/forum/showthread.php?tid=190&page=3

Jemiba said:

Welcome on board, Euro2000 !

Thanks for your effort to post this report. Could you tell us the exact source/site, too ?
Maybe there are interesting things for other members, too.

Click to expand...

Hello,

Thanks a lot for the information Euro2000, Fereydun Ali Mazandarani is a former F-14A pilot, having good background in the 8 year war. He was not head of the project but one of the Test pilots who was chosen to fire the Missie along with another pilot (Who i do not remember his name). You can see also his interview regarding his engagements on Part.2 of Tomcat Fights. I will soon translate the whole article which was published on Local Magazine few years ago and post it here.


Regards,
~Ak

Hi Ardavan,
Thank you for the info.

Ardavan.K said:

Hello,

Thanks a lot for the information Euro2000, Fereydun Ali Mazandarani is a former F-14A pilot, having good background in the 8 year war.

Click to expand...

Ardavan,
I believe the second pilot was Shahram Rostami as per the translated post.
I have the following two documents FYR. A quick translation for our friends:

Letter of gratitude to Fereidoun AliMazandarani by the then president and current lea der, Al i K h a meneii for Sedjil project.
Letter of gratitude to Fereidoun AliMazandarani, achieving second place in The 8th Kharazmi Ceremony for inventions and practical research & application signed by the then President Ali A kbar Has hemi Ra fsan jan i.
Photo of AliMazandarani receiving the award from Ra fsan jan i.
Of course this still doesn't mean he was the head of the project I presume, but just something to share.

Ardavan.K said:

Hello,

Thanks a lot for the information Euro2000, Fereydun Ali Mazandarani is a former F-14A pilot, having good background in the 8 year war. He was not head of the project but one of the Test pilots who was chosen to fire the Missie along with another pilot (Who i do not remember his name).

Click to expand...

The Australian Military Aviation Museum channel put out a video a fortnight ago about the AIM-23:

During the Iran-Iraq War, the F-14 was used by Iran to control the air. However a shortage of air to air missiles meant that Iranian engineers had to turn to the only other alternative they could find; Raytheon HAWK surface to air missiles. They would attempt to fire these from the Tomcats.

Click to expand...

Whatever you might think about the Iranians, you have to admire their ingenuity.

Spook said:

The Project sedjeel was a project done by Jahade khodkafie-e Niruye Havaie to replace the AIM-54A Phoenix, there are few rumors that Iran received the help of Israel to adapt the missile to the AWG-9 radar of Tomcat.

Click to expand...

Color me very surprised that Iran and Israel ever worked together...

Scott Kenny said:

Color me very surprised that Iran and Israel ever worked together...

Click to expand...

At various points in history, they had mutual enemies.

Arjen said:

At various points in history, they had mutual enemies.

Click to expand...

True enough.

I guess that I missed much of when they were friendlier, being born shortly before the Revolution.

Euro2000 said:

I found this from an Iranian forum. It seems to be a fairly descriptive account of the project, but cannot verify its authenticity. The account is given by Feriedoun Ali Mazandarani (apparently the head of the project) in the forum through several questions and details collected in pdf format by the members. The forum is shut down now for the second time!

In 1986, during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), The IRIAF F-14A Tomcats faced a serious problem; a shortage of air to air missiles. The American made air superiority fighter aircraft was employed in The Imperial Iranian Air Force in January of 1976, armed with the long range Phoenix missile. Before the deployment of the short range Sidewinder missile model “L” and the medium range Sparrow missile model “F”, which were adapted to the F-14, The Iranian Revolution broke out in early 1979. As a result, all military contracts were nullified by the new Islamic Government, leaving the F-14s armed with only the Phoenix missile and the 20mm M61 Vulcan Cannon.
Once the Iran-Iraq war began in September of 1980, the F-14s scrambled to defend the country; however, the prolonged war and the imposed military sanctions by the U.S., caused The Tomcats to suffer from a shortage of operational Phoenix missiles. Although The IRIAF still had substantial quantities of the Phoenix missile, but the lack of coolant and the decaying batteries of the missile left the F-14s unarmed. The F-14s were also armed with Sparrow E-4 and Sidewinder G air to air missiles, but the missiles used for the F-4s were not 100% compatible to the F-14’s radar, the AWG-9, and offered a degraded rate of accuracy. The IRIAF needed a new accessible and reliable air to air missile. The newly created office of Air Force Deputy to the Office of Self-Sufficiency Movement proposed the use of MIM-23 Hawk surface to air missile as a replacement for the Phoenix missile; however, the suggestion was strongly opposed by Col. Houshang Seddigh, The IRIAF Commander and his Air Defense Directors.
Nevertheless, The Air Force Deputy to the Office of Self-Sufficiency Movement, despite oppositions to the proposal, presented its confidential plan to The Deputy Commander in Chief at the time, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The plan was approved for the commencement of the tests and orders were forwarded to Col. Seddigh. One F-14 and five out of service MIM-23 Hawk Missiles returned back from the front lines were delivered to a hanger for the experimentation.
The project was classified as Top Secret under the supervision of the Self-Sufficiency Movement Office. A team1 of 13, IRIAF personnel consisting of one Pilot, 2 Weapons System Officers “WSO” and 10 specialized personnel, directed by Maj. Fereidoun AliMazandarani, and a support team2 consisting of 9, IRIAF personnel were ordered to finalize the tests within six months.
The missile chosen for the project, MIM-23 Hawk, was longer, wider and heavier than the Phoenix missile making it possible to load only on two of the pylons, No. 1 & 8. The pylons and missiles both were internally reinforced and modified with the proper parts to load the Hawk missiles for flight test. Due to the rapid progress of the program, The IRIAF Commander, Col. Seddigh, began supporting the program unreservedly. Upon the successful flight of the two hanging missiles for take off, aircraft maneuverability, onboard missile stability, landing and all other required tests, the next stage began: the drop of the missile safely before its rocket fired underneath the aircraft. The MIM-23 Hawk missile launched from its launcher directly once it was fired; however, in order for it to be fired from an aircraft, it needed to separate and then fire its rocket at a safe distance from the fighter to avoid damaging it. Besides separating, the missile had to make a 90 degree clockwise turn on its longitudinal axis first before firing its rocket. After finalizing the ground tests, it was time to initiate the first live test.
Six aircrafts were involved in the first live test; i.e., missile release, firing & target acquirement, one F-14 as leader of the group flown by Maj. Fereidoun AliMazandarani, director and pilot of the Sedjil project group, & WSO Capt. Mohammad Oghbaei, two F-4s which would fly on each side of the F-14 and from the rear recording the test by their TISEO, one 707 fuel tanker just in case the test flight took longer than expected and one Falcon Jet flying at 2000ft equipped with cameras and telemetric systems to capture the release and the firing of the missile from below as it flew at line up rest formation. The sixth craft was a remotely controlled BQM-34 Target Drone which was designated as a target for the initial firing test of the SEDJIL air to air missile. After the briefing was finalized by Maj. AliMazandarani in the afternoon, the Falcon pilot declined to fly his aircraft due to the possibility of explosion from the missile if it failed. Although the distance between all aircrafts involved were at a safe distance and breaking away instructions were given to each aircraft, the Falcon pilot still refused to fly his plane on this mission. The debate went on for a few hours and by the time they were finished without reaching a conclusion, it was already too late to initiate the test. Maj. AliMazandarani contacted Col. Seddigh, advising him of the situation and requested a new flight crew that would go through with the plan and test. The Air Force Commander advised the Major to reschedule take off flight for the following morning at 8 am, using his Falcon Jet for the test and sitting in the co-pilot seat himself. Although the commander of the IRIAF, the next morning Col. Seddigh attended the briefing as the co-pilot of the Falcon Jet, while Maj. AliMazandarani, as head of the project and flight leader, briefed everyone once again. The flights took off at 8am from Mehrabad Airport and once everyone was in their position, Major AliMazandarani turned his F-14 towards the target and WSO Capt. Oghbaei fired the first missile at the drone in Semnan Controlled Range. Upon confirmation of the safe dropping and firing sequence of the missile towards the drone, Col. Seddigh ordered the F-14 to fire the second missile as well and after going through the relative processes, a lock on the target was acquired and the second missile was fired by Maj. AliMazandarani toward its target drone. The test was a success in terms of the release and safe firing of both MIM-23s, as well as target pursuit by the missiles. After viewing the test films, the team realized that the time between release and ignition of the missile is slightly long. Since The IRIAF did not have any manufacturing testing equipment, they resorted to unconventional methods of testing. As a result, a trench was dug along the trim pad area in The 8th TFB in Esfahan with the F-14 suspended by a rescue crane over it while having pylon No.1 in the center line of the trench for the firing sequence test. The warhead was removed and the timing between the release and ignition was precisely computed by telemetry instruments without the rocket actually firing. All systems on board the aircraft were on except for the engines and with the help of WSO Lt. Yousef Ahmadi, the time between release and firing was shortened by 5 milliseconds.
After the initial test, the most difficult step began which was the compatibility of the AWG-9 radar’s onboard computer to the Hawk missile. The MIM-23 surface to air missile’s radar system receives all information from the target and feeds it to the missile before firing from its ground launcher; however, if fired from the F-14, it would require a constant data exchange between the AWG-9 radar and the Hawk missile. The MIM-23 needed to understand the data from the AWG-9 that was being fed to it. After a week of intense planning and computer programming, the team came up with a hardware interface box, translating the signals between the F-14 computer and the Hawk missile. Now the F-14 could identify the Hawk missile and the missile could understand all data for flight and trajectory corrections being fed to it from the aircraft. In less than 40 days, the missile was ready and it was time for the live test of the MIM-23 Hawk missile, renamed SEDJIL Missile.
Fifteen days later the same crew scheduled the first hot flight test armed with the Sedjil missile. The F-14 was flying at 22,000 ft and the drone was at 25000 ft with a 25º angle off and a range of 45Km. After the target was picked up and locked on, Maj. AliMazandarani fired his missile as he simultaneously turned opposite the drone’s flight path and several seconds later the target was hit and splashed. However, after these successful tests, there was skepticism amongst the high ranking officers of The Air Defense who suggested testing in a more difficult scenario. This time Maj. AliMazandarani was ordered to stand down and the flight was carried out by the supporting team members, Col. Shahram Rostami, Deputy Director to the Air Force Operations, and WSO Lt. Davood MasoumParast. Major AliMazandarani briefed the flight crew of the process of tracking, locking and firing sequence. Along with Col. Babaii, Director of Air Force Operations, they headed to The Semnan Range and oversaw the test. Once the target was acquired and hit, both the Colonel and Major were the first to arrive at the scene of the downed drone, confirming the kill. Everyone seemed to be satisfied; however, after a few days The Air Defense authorities stated that in order to release the Hawk missiles to the Tomcats, a third hot flight in none ideal conditions and worst case scenario is needed.
The Sedjil Project team was planning a non ideal scenario for the third test drone, when Col. Babaii called from Bushehr 6th TFB directing Maj. AliMazandarani to fly to Bushehr and commence testing on an actual enemy aircraft. After 3 days of full alert, Maj. AliMazandarani and Lt. Ansarin scrambled their F-14A towards incoming Iraqi fighters heading towards Khark Island. At a distance of 25 miles the F-14 fired its first Sedjil missile; however, the missile was one of five missiles used during the initial tests of the project which was loaded by mistake. The bad rocket dropped, fired and did a barrel roll over the front of the cockpit and Radom missing the Tomcat as it headed down towards the sea. The pilots reacquired the target, locked on and fired the second missile at a range of 20 miles, hitting it several seconds later, thus proving the success of the project. It was sheer luck or destiny that saved the F-14 from a disaster that may have suspended the project altogether and perhaps change the face of the war.
On the way back to the base, it was discovered that the downed fighter was the French made Super Etendard capable of carrying the infamous anti ship Exocet missile, one of the five fighters leased from the French government. The test not only proved successful, but revived the IRIAF Tomcats, striking fear into the Iraqi Air Force that the F-14s were still a threat; especially, with the downing of the Super Etendard fighter. After the test, several of the F-14s were modified to carry the Sedjil missile along with the limited supply of operational Phoenix missiles.
The first operational Sedjil air to air missile shot down two Iraqi aircrafts over Kermanshah Province flying in close formation with a single Sedjil missile by IRIAF F-14 pilot, Lt. Col. Asadollah Adeli, eliminating all doubts regarding the reliability and effectiveness of the adapted missile.
As the war ended in 1988, The IRIAF had time to try and revive the Phoenix missiles using substitutes for the coolant and batteries. The IRIAF F-14s now carry both the Phoenix and Sedjil missile on their pylons!

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Euro2000,

Definitely some interesting details but there are a few "off items", mainly concerning the air-to-air missiles available for F-14s to use during the Iran-Iraq War.

First, the IIAF imported hundreds of AIM-7E-4 variants that was specifically designed for use by F-14As and their AWG-9 radar so they definitely had other BVR options besides the AIM-54s. Their F-4D/Es used the earlier E-2 subvariant. Tom Cooper's book, Iranian F-14 Units in Combat, reports that Iranian F-14s scored several kills with their AIM-7s early in the conflict with Iraq, though these were launched at ideal and very close range.

Second, unlike the AIM-7s, AIM-9s are absolutely compatible across F-4D/Es and F-14As and while the IIAF did import a large quantity of AIM-9 variants, the most common variants available to new IRIAF were the J/P models (some of which started off life as E models I believe) which could be launched by all three American-built fighters in the IIAF/IRIAF.

Obviously just minor things though.

Just realized that I actually have a few pictures of an actual Sejil/AIM-23 launch, I believe from early in the concept's history, plus a more recent image.

In terms of "we have a job to do and we need to get some kind of long range missile worked out", I gotta congratulate the Sedjeel development team, that was very well done and in a very compressed timeline.

One thing that has to be downgrade using HAWK is that the HAWK was always a beam rider of sorts. That is, it requires the target to be painted and remain so throughout the missile's engagement. That would mean it lacks the AIM 54 fire and forget mode where you could target multiple targets and fire and guide multiple missiles, one to each.

But then again, beggars can't be choosers and the modified HAWK would be better than nothing.

In addition to an AIM-23 HAWK didn't the Iranians manage to reverse engineer the AIM-54A eventually but the copy was inferior in performance?

T. A. Gardner said:

One thing that has to be downgrade using HAWK is that the HAWK was always a beam rider of sorts. That is, it requires the target to be painted and remain so throughout the missile's engagement.

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Erm... HAWK wasn't a beam-rider. Beam-rider is the type of guidance, where missile directly followed the path of the radar beam, which tracked the target. HAWK is a semi-active homing missile, which means it home on radar echo from target. It did not follow ("ride") the radar beam itself.

Dilandu said:

Erm... HAWK wasn't a beam-rider. Beam-rider is the type of guidance, where missile directly followed the path of the radar beam, which tracked the target. HAWK is a semi-active homing missile, which means it home on radar echo from target. It did not follow ("ride") the radar beam itself.

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Of sorts...

That is, a HAWK battery could lock onto one target with their MPQ 46 HIPIR radar and guide one missile to an intercept. While semi-active homing, the HAWK had to have the target illuminated throughout the engagement, and if jamming were present, using the range only (ROR) MPQ 51 was used which really was a beam riding mode to avoid the jamming.

In either case, one missile, one target, although with later versions two missiles fired at the same target was a possible alternate engagement method.

My point was that HAWK allowed for only one engagement at a time, unlike the AIM 54 where you could engage multiple targets simultaneously. But then, the Iranians probably found this acceptable as they aren't operating normally in a high threat environment with multiple targets to be engaged all at once.

T. A. Gardner said:

That is, a HAWK battery could lock onto one target with their MPQ 46 HIPIR radar and guide one missile to an intercept. While semi-active homing, the HAWK had to have the target illuminated throughout the engagement, and if jamming were present, using the range only (ROR) MPQ 51 was used which really was a beam riding mode to avoid the jamming.

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You meant that HAWK locked on target before launch, and required the continious illumination of the target during missile flight? Yes, it was a limitation of many early systems.

NMaude said:

In addition to an AIM-23 HAWK didn't the Iranians manage to reverse engineer the AIM-54A eventually but the copy was inferior in performance?

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Of sorts. The AIM-54 (looking) weapon Iran has shown off a few times is the Fakour-90 but a closer examination of the images released suggests it's still kinfolk with the AIM-23 family.

There is a decent video (for Iranian propaganda at least) that covers the weapon, including brief/limited footage of a test firing:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM5311IwL0s


Here is a good analysis of the weapon via an old IMF cohort of mine, who points out that the Fakour-90 shows it using the same M112 rocket motor as the MIM-23B:
https://irangeomil.blogspot.com/2018/07/analysis-fakour-air-to-air-missile.html

This connection carries over to the missile's apparent weight of ~1400lbs, which makes it heavier than the MIM-23 and AIM-54.

So for the moment anyway, it appears to be an evolution of the AIM-23 Sejil modeled after the AIM-54 in appearance of intended role.

On yet another related note, Iran has actually added yet ANOTHER member of the HAWK family in the form of the Mersad-16 SAM system, which consists of a refined missile with a similar body but with RIM-66 like control surfaces, carried/fired by a new 3-cell canister style TEL.

For purposes of this thread though, this weapon is still just a SAM and not an A2A missile but figured I'd mention it given Iran's apparently continued love of the HAWK missile family.

Eagle2009 said:

On yet another related note, Iran has actually added yet ANOTHER member of the HAWK family in the form of the Mersad-16 SAM system, which consists of a refined missile with a similar body but with RIM-66 like control surfaces, carried/fired by a new 3-cell canister style TEL.

For purposes of this thread though, this weapon is still just a SAM and not an A2A missile but figured I'd mention it given Iran's apparently continued love of the HAWK missile family.

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It's a tolerably capable missile that's within their capabilities to manufacture. Makes sense why they like it so much.

Dilandu said:

You meant that HAWK locked on target before launch, and required the continious illumination of the target during missile flight? Yes, it was a limitation of many early systems.

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Exactly. HAWK was an acronym for Homing All the Way Killer. It had to have illumination of the target from launch to impact. So, in a very real sense it was a beam rider.

Something of interest to note in regards to Iran's clone of the AIM-54 is that the stencilling on it is not only in English but that it's using Imperial-units.

NMaude said:

Something of interest to note in regards to Iran clone of the AIM-54 is that the stencilling on it is not only in English but that it's using Imperial-units.

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Souvenir from the Shah's era. I believe that the IRIAF has retained the practices inherited from training in the USA.

T. A. Gardner said:

Exactly. HAWK was an acronym for Homing All the Way Killer. It had to have illumination of the target from launch to impact. So, in a very real sense it was a beam rider.

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Again, no. The beam-rider is a system, where missile directly follow the beam itself, NOT the target or echo from it.

Yeah, if you want a beam rider to pull lead you need a separate system to continue to track the actual target while doings so

T. A. Gardner said:

One thing that has to be downgrade using HAWK is that the HAWK was always a beam rider of sorts. That is, it requires the target to be painted and remain so throughout the missile's engagement. That would mean it lacks the AIM 54 fire and forget mode where you could target multiple targets and fire and guide multiple missiles, one to each.

But then again, beggars can't be choosers and the modified HAWK would be better than nothing.

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Semiactive, not beam rider. not the same.