However, the missile was used to great effect by the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq war.
Part of the reason the US only got to fire it 3 times was probably just how effective it was in Iranian hands. Because when Iraqi MiGs detected the radar of the F-14, they always immediately fled. The Iranians still field the old missiles in active service, and have recently publicized that they are manufacturing a domestically produced clone of it, called the Fakour-90.
>Part of the reason the US only got to fire it 3 times was probably just how effective it was in Iranian hands
Not to mention that the Navy generally preferred not to fly the tomcat if there was anything else that was available to do the job (for good reasons) so that greatly limited the AIM-54's exposure to potential targets. It's a good missile but it's fundamentally old technology and fielding it is resource intensive compared to newer tech. It's also heavy, no reason to strap that thing to your plane unless you expect to need to blow a bomber out of the sky or you're gonna be going up against someone with similar long range capability.
The Iranians made heavy use of it because they had no better options and they clearly like it enough that they built a clone (probably modernized with digital electronics and a more modern warhead) to replace it.
The Phoenix missile was designed primarily to counter massed formations of Tu-16 and Tu-22 bombers before said bombers could get within missile range of the carrier group. It obviously never got the chance to do that.
Part of the reason the US only got to fire it 3 times was probably just how effective it was in Iranian hands. Because when Iraqi MiGs detected the radar of the F-14, they always immediately fled. The Iranians still field the old missiles in active service, and have recently publicized that they are manufacturing a domestically produced clone of it, called the Fakour-90.