To fill the gap between the F-104 Starfighter and the Panavia Tornado, in 1973 the Luftwaffe purchased the lightened and simplified F-4F with a less capable APG-120 radar, no aerial refueling or AIM-7 Sparrow capabilities under the Peace Rhine program. Aerial refueling capability, the ability to launch AGM-65B Mavericks and the L-version of the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile as well as with smokeless engines were added in the mid nineteen-eighties. In 1983, Germany also initiated the ICE (Improved Combat Efficiency) program which outfitted 110 F-4Fs with the AN/APG-65 radar as used in early F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, added the ability to fire AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and a digital Mil-Std 1553 data bus. The ICE-upgraded F-4Fs began entering service in 1992.
The ICE F-4Fs are expected to remain in service until JG-71 "Richthofen" (Fighter Wing 71) transitions to the Eurofighter Typhoon in 2012. JG-73 "Steinhoff" (Fighter Wing 73) retired its last F4-F in 2002 and replaced it with Eurofighters in 2003, while the replacement of the F-4F in the JG-74 (Fighter Wing 74) is currently underway with the last F-4F leaving the wing in March 2008. The remaining F4-F Wings have already been disbanded without replacement during the 90s and early 2000s.
Today, apart from natural deficiencies of the air frame design itself, the greatest drawbacks of the F-4F ICE are the missing IFF system and the non-existent MIDS capability. In beyond-visual-range scenarios it therefore has to rely on target-identification by AWACS aircraft with which it has to communicate in a conventional voice-based manner. This together with the low number of procured AIM-120Bs (96) because Germany has ordered the MBDA Meteor hwich will not be available until 2013 and the meanwhile out-dated APG-65 radar makes it a rather defensive system.
