View source for Fakour-90

== Description ==
Likely due to the depletion of AIM-54 in Iran's arsenal while the demand for BVR AAMs still persists, to keep the stockpile of missiles for the remaining fleet of F-14A, the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics has likely been developing a compatible missile based on US designs by the 2000s. With a large stockpile of MIM-23 Hawk at their arsenal during the Pahlavi's throne which has been phrased out by Russian or Chinese equivalents, the engineers retained the overall design of AIM-54 while replacing the rocket motor and warhead from Hawk, eventually leading to the '''Fakour-90''' ('''فکور ۹۰*''', Wisdom-90) first announced in 2011.  

Introduced to the game during the '''2024 Persian Tomcat''' event in [[Update "Seek & Destroy"]], Fakour-90 introduced itself as the Iranian domestic alternative to the infamous AIM-54A in their arsenal; while the missile is much heavier than the AIM-54A, the rocket motor from Hawk will send it to much farther distance at ideal scenarios while retaining sufficient explosive content to blast enemy targets out of the skies.

'''''<small>*Editor's note: Persian reads from right to left</small>'''''

=== Vehicles equipped with this weapon ===
<!-- ''List out vehicles that are equipped with the weapon.'' -->

* {{Specs-Link|f_14a_iriaf}}

== General info ==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" | Missile characteristics
|-
| '''Mass''' || 637.3 kg
|-
| '''Guidance''' || ARH+IOG+DL
|-
| '''Signal''' || CW, Band I
|-
| '''Shoot down''' || Front aspect
|-
| '''Lock range''' || 16 km
|-
| '''Launch range''' || 150 km
|-
| '''Maximum speed''' || 4 M
|-
| '''Maximum overload''' || 20 G
|-
| '''Missile guidance time''' || 150 secs
|-
| '''Explosive mass''' || 46.45 kg TNTeq
|-
|}

=== Effective damage ===
With 46.45 kg TNTe of explosive, although being less than conventional AIM-54A, an explosion within the blast radius of warhead can cause explosive and sharapnel damage upon enemy aircrafts, disabling their control columns or blasting off parts of their airframe right away.

=== Comparison with analogues ===
[[AIM-54A]] and [[AIM-54C Phoenix|C]] - both part of the AIM-54 family with lower overload while having higher explosive content.

[[AIM-120A|AIM-120]] series, [[R-77]], [[MICA-EM]], [[R-Darter]], [[PL-12]], [[AAM-4]] - all these missiles have much lower explosive content and range, while having much better overload.

== Usage in battles ==
When players have been used to the playstyle of AIM-54A since stock, they will take the Fakour-90 as a knock-off version of the Phoenix; this is somewhat true due to the design features of Fakour is very similar to AIM-54 while having spare parts sourcing from MIM-23 Hawk (which were both product of Hughes); all tactics from Phoenix applies to Fakour as well - in more detailed explanation: players have to keep some altitude and speed advantages before hunting down for enemy targets with the powerful radar on F-14A, due to the radar modes, players can only search for head-on targets in most cases due to lacking all-aspect PD mode. When enemy targets entered the "no escape zone" displayed in radar UI and having launching cue, they can launch the Fakour upon the targets while keeping track on them with the help of TWS mode. Once it entered the 16 km radius of seeker activation or solid line shown in radar UI, players can safely evade from enemy radars as the missile will do the work; but once again, "no escape zone" doesn't equal to certain kills, so players are advised to seek for the most careless targets who pay less attention to the obvious smoke trails of Fakour to engage for maximum efficiency.

=== Pros and cons ===
<!-- ''Summarise and briefly evaluate the weaponry in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark pros and cons as a list.'' -->

'''Pros:'''

* Has an active radar homing (ARH) seeker, which gives it fire-and-forget capability
* Extended range than AIM-54 Phoenix

'''Cons:'''

* Can easily be evaded by multipathing at lower altitude
* Lesser explosive content than AIM-54 Phoenix
* Rather observable engine smoke due to its long burn time 

== History ==
''Examine the history of the creation and combat usage of the weapon in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the weapon and adding a block "/History" (example: <nowiki>https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Weapon-name)/History</nowiki>) and add a link to it here using the <code>main</code> template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <code><nowiki><ref></ref></nowiki></code>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <code><nowiki><references /></nowiki></code>.''

== Media ==
''Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.''

== See also ==
''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the article about the variant of the weapon;''
* ''references to approximate analogues by other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==
''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{Missiles}}

[[Category:Suspended armaments]]