In early March 1992, an extremely heinous theft occurred at HESA near Isfahan - special tools in a maintenance workshop disappeared for no apparent reason.
This must be a despicable method by an evil enemy!
Major General Tai, who was in charge of managing HESA, was furious. After receiving the notification from his subordinates, his first reaction was that enemy agents or lackeys had infiltrated the factory.
In this regard, Eagle Sauce has a track record.
After the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty, Persia was transformed. Almost all pilots and technical officers in the army were loyal to the old king, and they were immediately ruthlessly purged.
But then the Iran-Iraq war broke out, and Saddam Hussein was equipped with all Soviet-style equipment and was in full force. Persia had to invite the suppressed Tomcat pilots and ground crew back and let them rejoin the army and take off to perform combat missions.
For soldiers who have been trained in foreign countries, this kind of arrogant and respectful attitude is naturally unpleasant. Inevitably, some people will do some damage secretly, such as breaking the guidance head of the "Phoenix" missile.
Regarding the "unreliable" guys, Major General Tai had to both use them and guard against them, and also find ways to squeeze out the technology they had.
Under such circumstances, the availability rate of the Tomcat has been erratic. The more aggressive the Major General is, the higher the availability rate will be. If the aircraft is relaxed a little, the availability rate will plummet.
If you can get the job done by being ruthless, things will be simple. But if you are too ruthless, 'unreliable' guys will often cause irreversible damage, such as losing some special maintenance tools.
Modern weapons and equipment are highly specialized industrial products, and the F-14A fighter jet is notoriously difficult to maintain.
Its engine and variable sweep wing are troubles within troubles. If you want to maintain this kind of treasure, even a pneumatic wrench is often specially made by the original factory. If it breaks, it cannot be replaced.
"Are you going to force me to shoot a few people? Or are you going to send your family to jail for a few days?"
In a maintenance workshop, the major general summoned the ground crew who had lost their tools and shouted curses. He was furious and had a terrifying face, which was intimidating.
More than half of the ground staff in work clothes were elderly. They were trembling and pale at the shouts of the major general. Several apprentices were also frightened and panicked.
"No one said anything, did they?"
Major General Tai was furious. If something like this happens in the factory he manages, once it is reported, it will definitely be 'unable to eat and walk around'. This will not only affect his future, but may even affect his life.
Facing the major general's throbbing face, a veteran begged for mercy: "All tools are registered and counted every day, and their use and storage are recorded. We don't know how they were lost."
"You don't know? Thirteen pneumatic wrenches, five linear measuring rulers, and even a folding crane specially used for engine disassembly and assembly.
If there were no insiders, how could these equipment disappear for no reason? There must be your accomplices in the factory. Maybe there are enemy spies outside the factory."
Major General Tai rushed to the ground staff who were being lectured like a hungry tiger, staring at these "unreliable" elements one by one.
The ground crew stood nervously stiff and stared ahead. No one dared to avoid their eyes for fear of arousing greater suspicion. In the past, some of their colleagues were sent to jail because they were so frightened that they dodged.
"Now if you hand over your tools and accomplices, I can still forgive you. Once I find out who is doing the sabotage, I will send your entire group to be punished. Even your family members will not be able to escape."
The major general was having fun scolding him, but the group being scolded was already feeling like chaff.
Several uniformed guards came in from outside the maintenance workshop and walked behind the major general and whispered a few words. The major general's expression suddenly changed and he shouted fiercely: "It's not just this workshop that has lost something?"
Things got worse.
Major General Tai hurried to several other maintenance workshops. The more information he gathered, the bigger the sweat dropped on his forehead. What was missing was more than just a few wrenches? There were many things missing.
Dedicated fighter aircraft maintenance power supply, hydraulic trolley for disassembly and assembly of landing gear, ultrasonic flaw detection equipment with detection and diagnosis functions, etc.
"How could this happen? There are so many stolen items and such a wide range of types, and you are just reporting it now?"
Major General Tai really wants to beat the crap out of his men to death. With so many things missing, this is definitely a huge case. He himself will definitely be implicated.
The subordinates were also frightened, "The maintenance staff did not dare to report the missing tools after discovering that they were missing. They always wanted to look for it themselves, or simply hide it. They only reported it when they couldn't hide it, but the matter expanded."
If there was a theft at the Tomcat maintenance factory, the major general would first conduct an internal investigation to get to the bottom of it. But as the investigation deepened, he discovered that the stolen items were numerous and varied.
Thieves not only want repair tools, they want almost everything. From wing box bearings to special screws, from fuselage frames to discarded brake discs, from spare engines to onboard electronic equipment.
When Major General Tai was running around the entire factory area in a hurry, he found that the place he was guarding seemed to be full of loopholes. Normally, no one would dare to report it, but after investigation, reports were everywhere.
Especially when the iron door of the factory warehouse where fighter aircraft spare parts are stored opened, the major general standing outside the door was immediately dizzy. The management behind him were all stunned.
The warehouse originally filled with the remains of scrapped fighter planes has been reduced by less than half, and some areas have been almost emptied.
Not to mention spare parts, even the Tomcat airframe, which is nearly twenty meters long, more than ten meters wide, and weighs ten tons when empty, is gone. After careful counting, thirteen aircraft are missing.
"Who? Who did this?"
Major General Tai's eyes were black and he was shaky. The guards behind him quickly supported him, and even the factory management tried their best to comfort him.
If the sky falls, a tall man will hold it up. Now Major General Tai is the "tall man" and he must hold it up.
How could there be so many large warehouses with several thousand square meters and at least several hundred tons of scrapped fighter jets missing so much right before your eyes?
The 'mole' who did this was too cruel. This was a direct slap in the face of the Persians!
Although all the lost fighter planes could no longer be repaired, the Persians relied on these 'organ donors' to maintain the remaining twenty or thirty 'Tomcats'.
Even a turbofan blade, an airborne chip, a fuel line, or a hydraulic component here are extremely precious to Persia.
It's reliable now. I wonder if that wicked and smoky guy did "ant moving" and was just secretly clearing out the warehouse. Not only did he move the fighter planes, he also moved the weapons on board.
Persia purchased more than 280 'Phoenix' coins and used half of them. Only 40% of the remaining half can still be used normally.
There are probably dozens of missiles that were scrapped due to reasons such as built-in system battery failure. Persia was reluctant to throw away these scrapped missiles and tried every means to restore them.
But the warehouse where the missiles are now stored has also been stolen, and many missile racks have been looted.
In order to cover it up, the thief actually made some missiles to look like and put them in the warehouse. From a distance, these things looked just like the real thing. When you get closer, you will find that they are just wood with a layer of paint.