On the 24^th of June 1971 the Bundestag (German parliament) decided to purchase 175 F-4F Phantom IIs. The first German F-4F flew on the 18^th March 1973, while the official roll-out was later on the 24th May 1973. The first 12 F-4Fs were sent directly to the 35 TFW at George AFB California to be used for pilot training. On 1^st January 1974 the first crews from Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen” commenced training on the F-4F there.

The F-4F was very limited as a fighter as the only weapons were the AIM-9B Sidewinder (max. 4 could be carried) and the M-61A1 gun. So the plane was only capable of rear attacks from close range. This meant that the aircraft had to be put at great risks in an engagement. Experiencing the true capabilities of the F-4F in service, the Luftwaffe concluded that those would not be sufficient for the future. So already in 1975 a plan for an update of the fleet was devised, intending to improve the conventional weapons capability. 

After this update the F-4F was well equipped for the air to ground role, but still lacked improved air-to-air capabilities. The “Peace Rhine” program did not include provisions for the AIM-7 Sparrow, so the F-4F was still limited to visual air combat. With the new generation of MiG-fighter planes being fielded by the Warsaw Pact air forces, it became obvious that something had to be done. A new fighter was developped by the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany; the Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon.

The basic idea was for this aircraft to enter service in the late 1990s. To fill the gap until this new fighter would be in service it was decided to give the F-4F yet another improvement program: as it was obvious that the F-4F would have to remain in service after the year 2000, it was decided that a SLEP (service life extension program) and an avionics update was needed.

The integration of the AN/APG-65 and the AIM-120 AMRAAM were made in Point Mogu during 1991/1992. Interestingly 3 former US Navy F-4N were bought by the Luftwaffe and used as QF-4Ns during the trails. Luckily all 3 QF-4N survived the tests and were sold back to the US Navy.

With the full air defense upgrade installed the F-4F is still is a potent and dangerous opponent. Yet, even this upgrade had still several weaknesses. Surprisingly, the F-4F was never equipped with an enemy IFF-interrogator. That means the crew has no means to properly identify potential opponents operating outside the visual range. This is seriously reducing the effectiveness when the aircraft are operating without AWACS or tight countrol from the ground based radars.