The
Navy's Grumman F-14 Tomcat is without equal among today's Free
World fighters. Six long-range AIM-54A Phoenix missiles can be
guided against six separate threat aircraft at long range by the
F-14's AWG-9 weapons control system. For medium-range combat,
Sparrow missiles are carried; Sidewinders and a 20mm are available
for dogfighting. In the latter role, the Tomcat's variable-sweep
wings give the F-14 a combat maneuvering capability that could not
have been achieved with a "standard" fixed planform
wing.
Designed
in 1968 to take the place of the controversial F-111B, then under
development for the Navy's carrier fighter inventory, the F-14A
used the P&W TF30 engines and AWG-9 system and carried the six
Phoenix missiles that had been intended for the F-111B. From its
first flight on 21 December 1970, the F-14A has come through five
years of development, evaluation, squadron training and initial
carrier deployments to become the carrier air wings' most potent
fighter.
Originally
it was planned that the F-14B with the advanced P&W F401 would
be the major production version. However, performance of the
TF30-P-412 exceeded expectations while development of the F401 was
delayed.
The
Tomcat replaced the McDonnell Douglas F-4 “Fhantom II”s of the Navy. It provides the carrier task force with its
first-line offense and defense against any enemy air threat. The
current inventory includes F-14As, F-14Bs and F-14Ds.
In
addition to its outstanding fighter capabilities, the Tomcat is
now being configured as a potent, adverse weather, medium-range
strike aircraft that is being fielded through cost-effective
upgrades to F-14A/Bs. With the ability to launch Joint Direct
Attack Munitions (JDAM), coupled with an INS/GPS integration and
off-the-shelf electronic countermeasure improvements, the Tomcat
will provide a multi-mission strike/escort capability which will
be part of the inventory until at least 2010. Installation of
mulfi-functional displays (MFD), head-up display (HUD) and
“hands on throttle and systems” (HOTAS) are included.
