F-14 and F-18
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was wondering after the airshow....
with the replacement of the f14 tomcats by the f18s, has the USN really lost anything? and what?
currently i can only think of the USN gaining:
>newer airframes
>better avionics
>more capability to upgrade, etc
and losing:
>long range offered by the tomcats
>ability to display something big and scary at airshows (joking onli lar)
wad you guys think? cos recently i saw a pic of a carrier full of hornets only..lols
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i will miss the tomcats and their swept wings.
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They already decommisioned their F-14's and they'll be decomissioning their S-3 Vikings, A-6 Intruders, and E-6 Prowlers. In the future you will be seeing the deck of an American Carrier filled with F-18's only.
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F-14 is begin replace by Superhornets(E/F) variants where EA-6B will be replaced by EA-18G Growler . Till the hornet is being replace by F-35C then the USN will have a mix fleet of Superhornet/Lightning II comabt a/c
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Originally posted by alwaysdisturbed:
i will miss the tomcats and their swept wings.
too late , i already miss it now.... -
Originally posted by tankfanatic:
too late , i already miss it now....
watch top gun loh. -
I can think of 2 major problems with the way the US Navy is moving in terms of their aircraft.
1)They lost the 150+ mile Phoenix Missile system, which was their primary defence against Russian bombers. Granted, this may be mitigated by the AIM-120D and better sensors
2) Remember what happened with the worldwide grounding of the F-15s? If it happens to the F-18, the whole US Navy just lost their air, and most of their strike power. This scenario is far more likely because the F-35C (the Naval version) is actually the lowest priority item in the F-35 family.
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The F-18 with the Jolly Roger at its Vertical Stabiliser Fins just isn't the same compare to those on an F-14. (Macross)
The Plastic Bug just isn't "SUD" enough.
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imagine the USN fight with a "asian power" who happens to use massive waves of flying stuff as their main weapon. without the tomcat to hammer them on the way in, then how?
lol. F-14 is still my fave ( cos f-18s dun hav the "solid" look)
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yeah and the Tom Cat were the only AC that have shotdown 5 enemy jet using only 1 missile....
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sorry its actually 4 aircraft the tomcat Aim 54 hit the lead aircraft and the fire ball damage another 2 and subsequently crash, the fourth manage to limp back to base.
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Originally posted by tankfanatic:
sorry its actually 4 aircraft the tomcat Aim 54 hit the lead aircraft and the fire ball damage another 2 and subsequently crash, the fourth manage to limp back to base.
never heard of this before - care to prove the whole story and links ? -
Sound quite incredulous, but not impossible. Being in close formation without warning of a phoenix screaming at it could be possible.
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The most iconic feature of the tomcat would be the swept wings.
And 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.
=( sigh, why cant there be any more variable sweep wing platform planes.
the only one surviving in the US army would be B-1 left.
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Originally posted by tankfanatic:
sorry its actually 4 aircraft the tomcat Aim 54 hit the lead aircraft and the fire ball damage another 2 and subsequently crash, the fourth manage to limp back to base.
Sounds like something I read in a Tom Clancy novel. -
Originally posted by storywolf:
never heard of this before - care to prove the whole story and links ?
Sounds like something I read in a Tom Clancy novel.close.... lol
Book: Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat
By Tom Cooper & Farzad BishopOsprey Combat Aircraft . 49
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the only one surviving in the US army would be B-1 left.
i thought they didnt use the B1 anymore? only the Nasa operate it...or am i wrong?
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Originally posted by tankfanatic:
sorry its actually 4 aircraft the tomcat Aim 54 hit the lead aircraft and the fire ball damage another 2 and subsequently crash, the fourth manage to limp back to base.
Sorry I think AIM 54 never hit anything during war time.
Its hit rate was so poor that the only thing that it could reasonably hit were flight drones.
Also the F-14s have been banned from performing extremely low level flying (sea top flying) and the use of afterburner due to troubles in its engines.
Edit: Ohh you meant the Iranian F-14s.......I haven't read that one..Were they a formation of medium bombers? Or older planes without RWR?
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Originally posted by Miracles&Prophecies:
Sorry I think AIM 54 never hit anything during war time.
Its hit rate was so poor that the only thing that it could reasonably hit were flight drones.
Also the F-14s have been banned from performing extremely low level flying (sea top flying) and the use of afterburner due to troubles in its engines.
snipI think your info on F-14 performance is out of date. Afterburner problems were resolved in the nineties? I can't remember the cause, need to check some books at home.
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Originally posted by kenn3th:
The most iconic feature of the tomcat would be the swept wings.
And 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.
=( sigh, why cant there be any more variable sweep wing platform planes.
the only one surviving in the US army would be B-1 left.
If i recall correctly the F-14 combat maneuvering capability has been exceed by "standard" fixed winged platforms with the advent of aircrafts that are designed to be unstable like the Eurofighter and B-2 bomber.
These planes will not be able to fly level without the many many minor corrections made by their flight computers.
As such variable sweep wing planes have fallen out of favour.
PS:personally i prefer flying wings and blended wing bodies then variable swept wings :P
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Not to mention the countless hydraulics fluid leaks + lubricant patches where F-14s are stored. The Superbugs are pretty cool in terms of man-machine interfacing.
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hey, just an idea,
would you think if it would be feasible for f-14s and 18s to be complementing? ( dont mind the fatigue) ... sort of like the f-15 and 16 combination liddat, Heavy-light combo
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they allready do that if its a good idea...unfortunately the navy prefer hornet only fighter, bomber. My be because they were waiting for the F35? the Superbug just a transition aircraft.
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Navy fighters, f-18 and f-14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_uGw0HtfZY&feature=related
Watch this & judge it yourself
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Originally posted by tankfanatic:
close.... lol
Book: Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat
By Tom Cooper & Farzad BishopOsprey Combat Aircraft . 49
U have the physcial book or the ebook?
Anyway there was a documentary on the decommissioning of the F-14s...some of them are being stored in a desert facility to be recalled into active service at short notice if required.The rest are taken apart for their parts and those parts go back into US inventory in case Iran wants them illegally for their cannot-fire Tomcats...