The darling of a whole generation of aviation buffs who grew up watching Top Gun, the Tomcat was a big, sleek machine designed to provide an umbrella against air attack for the USN's carrier groups, a role apparently deemed no longer important in today's post-transformation military. The USA Today article linked above made a statement I found annoying, however:
Although still swift and deadly, the F-14 is a victim of changing times. For example:This isn't quite true. While the Tomcat is indeed a respected dogfighter, its whole reason for being is as a launch platform for the AIM-54 Phoenix; a Beyond-Visual-Range AAM that can swat a bomber, and its load of ship-killing cruise missiles, out of the sky from 100 miles away. The Phoenix isn't a weapon that can just be duct-taped to the underside of any old plane, either; it requires a specialized radar that lives in the nose of the F-14 for target acquisition.
· Sophisticated missiles have made its specialty, aerial dogfighting, obsolete. Opposing aircraft target each other from miles away, often before the pilots can see each other except on radar.
If we're never going to face another opponent with cruise missile-toting bombers, then the F/A-18 Super Hornet can do everything the Tomcat can, and do it better. If, however, protection of our super-expensive CVN's from long-range aerial threats is still a priority, then the Tomcat will be missed. At least during the height of the Vietnam War, when COIN (COunter INsurgency) was the buzzword on everone's lips, we had the Russkies staring at us across the Fulda Gap to keep us honest...
The new joint-strike-fighter is better at air superiority. So much better as to not even make much of a contest since it is VERY stealthy. It is also faster and carries a pretty good collection of weapons.
ReplyDeleteBut the Tomcat will just go into mothballs - ready to come back if needed.
Between Korea and VietNam, we managed to convince ourselves that missles made dog-fighting obsolete and, therefore, aircraft didn't need guns.
ReplyDeleteThen the Migs showed up and, suddenly, guns and gunfighters were "in" again.
History does and will repeat itself.
Fleet defense against ballistic threats is handled by the AEGIS cruisers now, so the Tomcat was kind of redundant in that role.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the AIM-54 missiles are showing their age, with a lot of the stock having developed stress cracks. In addition, the Phoenix is a swell performer against a slow Tupolev loaded down with ASM missiles, but it's not all that nimble and less than ideal for shooting down fighters.
All in all, they retired the Tomcat for the same reasons they ditched the battleships...too costly to operate, and a redundant mission capability that can be done by newer and less expensive systems.
The U.S. Navy retired the AIM-54 Phoenix, Sept. 30, 2004. Without the Phoenix missle, the F14 is just a big jet that takes up to damned much space on the deck and in the hangar bay while leaking hydraulic fluid everywhere. They are a PIA to keep airborne, and serve no purpose without the AIM-54 that another bird cannot better fill.
ReplyDeleteAnytime baby? Yeah, OK.
"Without the Phoenix missle, the F14 is just a big jet that takes up to damned much space on the deck and in the hangar bay while leaking hydraulic fluid everywhere."
ReplyDeleteWell, that's the truth. The Phoenix was the Tomcat's reason for existance. Without a modern version of the AIM-54, the Tomcat is just an extravagantly expensive hangar queen...
There goes one of the reasons why I studied aeronautical engineering. :-(
ReplyDeleteT.Stahl
Also, the F-14's airframes were approaching service life time limits.
ReplyDelete(Which on carrier-based planes is based on # of landings, for obvious reasons)