would be No way what any strike force would get close to do any lanch remember as soon as US Carrier Battle groups enter Hot Zones they have a Hawkeye on 24/7 plus in the Gulf area there are at any given time three Looking Glass Aircraft in the Air be it USAF or NATO or one of are Allies.

Ummm, yeah, I realise that AEW aircraft as well as AEGIS class cruisers will be looking around very carefully… I was just responding to the suggestion that 6 F/a-18Es could “take on” anything the Iranians have.

The F-14s might still have phoenix missiles and their radars are certainly NOT inferior to the Hornets set… and I would check the flight ranges there buddy. I think a land based F-14 could take off with full weapons and fuel and land in a similar weapon load state… unlike when it launches from a carrier. Besides range isn’t an issue for the iranians… they are fighting on home turf.

Equally to squeese the balls of the US, Iran doesn’t need to sink a carrier… they can just sink a few oil carriers a week and close the Persian gulf. Land based Silkworms and other ancient missiles could be used very cheaply with the odd more capable missile to hunt for military vessels.
I doubt you’ll find the Iranians as easy to defeat as the Iraqis. We are talking to a side that resorted to wave attacks that led Saddam to use chem and bio weapons in desperation.