--- title: Iran Reportedly Uses F-4 Warplane to Attack ISIS Targets in Iraq description: Reports indicate Iran has used the F-4 Phantom II to attack targets belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria canonical: https://time.com/3619184/the-warplane-that-will-not-die/ author: Mark Thompson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-04T23:11:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:03:51.484Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet the Warplane That Will Not Die og:description: The Iranians reportedly attack ISIS targets in Iraq with U.S.-built 'Mad Men'-era F-4s og:url: https://time.com/3619184/the-warplane-that-will-not-die/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f32ad77e4b8edff/69876ccb2dce01077a9dc36f/2672651.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Aircraft Carrier og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Warplane That Will Not Die twitter:description: The Iranians reportedly attack ISIS targets in Iraq with U.S.-built 'Mad Men'-era F-4s twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f32ad77e4b8edff/69876ccb2dce01077a9dc36f/2672651.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Warplane That Will Not Die > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Dec 4, 2014 11:11 PM UTC  A U.S. Navy pilot readies his F-4 aboard the carrier USS Constellation in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam war Vietnam. A U.S. Navy pilot readies his F-4 aboard the carrier USS Constellation in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam war Vietnam. Terry Fincher / Getty Images by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Dec 4, 2014 11:11 PM UTC Think of it as the return of the _Phantom_. Fly boys of a certain age perked up with [reports](http://online.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-officials-believe-iran-attacked-islamic-state-forces-in-iraq-1417623790) Thursday that F-4 _Phantom II_’s belonging to the Iranian air force — or what’s left of it — have attacked targets belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) in recent days. The strikes, confirmed by U.S. officials (but denied by Tehran), took place northeast of Baghdad in eastern Iraq. Conveniently, the U.S. military, which is also conducting air strikes against ISIS targets, has been confining its bombing runs to the western part of the country. If true, the Iranian attacks represent a return to the spotlight for the McDonnell Douglas F-4\. The plane was originally designed for the Navy, which flew it first in 1960\. It last flew for the U.S. military, specifically for the Air Force, in 1996 (it also was the only aircraft flown by both services’ airshow outfits, the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds). The two-seat fighter-bomber was the backbone of U.S. air power in the 1970s and ’80s before being replaced by Air Force F-15s and F-16s, and Navy F-14s and F-18s. Capable of flying more than twice the speed of sound, the F-4 could carry nine tons of bombs and missiles. It is the last plane to carry pilots who became “aces” by shooting down five enemy aircraft each over Vietnam. The U.S. built 5,200 F-4s and sold many of them to 11 nations. Iran bought 225 in the ’60s and ’70s under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in 1979’s Islamic revolution. But the mullahs kept his jets (along with the 79 F-14 Tomcats the shah had also purchased). Nearly all the surviving F-4s have been retired for decades at the Pentagon’s boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. But some have gotten a second lease on life as targets for more modern warplanes. Over the past 16 years, more than 300 have been converted into QF-4 aerial targets. They can be flown both with and without pilots, and are used to train air crews to detect aircraft with radar and other technologies. These [repurposed](http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/picture-us-air-force-gets-final-qf-4-aerial-target-393813/) QF-4s have flown more than 16,000 manned and 600 unmanned training missions. About 250 of the unmanned missions have ended with Air Force pilots actually shooting the QF-4s out of the sky. There are only 39 QF-4s still flying. 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