Iran Modernises Fast and High-Flying RF-4 Recon Jets With Indigenous Spy Cameras

The Iranian Air Force has revealed that it recently equipped its RF-4 reconnaissance aircraft with new domestically produced aerial reconnaissance cameras - shortly before the jets participated in the Fadayeeyan Harim Velayat (Guardians of the Sky) Air Force drills. The RF-4 has been in Iranian service since the late 1960s, and is prized for its high speed and operational altitude. Nevertheless, the jets’ continued viability against modern air defence systems and active radar guided air to air missiles has repeatedly been called into question, with Japan retiring its own RF-4s from service in March 2020. Iran has notably vastly expanded its reconnaissance capabilities with both new satellites and a range of new reconnaissance drones - most notably the Shaheed 171 stealth platform which is based on the American RQ-170 after it was electronically hijacked, brought down over Iranian airspace in 2011, and reverse engineered. It remains uncertain how long RF-4 will remain in service, but modernisation of the aircraft has been pursued alongside enhancement of combat variants of the F-4 - the F-4D and F-4E - which has included equipping them with new cruise missiles and guided bombs. Iran has more experience with the F-4 than any of its other remaining operators, having relied on them extensively during the Iran-Iraq War and more recently against Islamic State militants in Iraq in 2014.