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F-14 TOMCAT (Read 2426 times)
May 8th, 2006 at 10:11pm

Northwest 102   Offline
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Has the Grumman F-14 Tomcat seen its last days of active service or are they still flying?

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Reply #1 - May 8th, 2006 at 11:34pm

Mobius   Offline
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I think they are done.  I'm not 100% sure though...Tongue Wink
 

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Reply #2 - May 9th, 2006 at 8:09am

Ecko   Offline
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For the US Navy it has. The Iranian Imperial Airforce still have some flying though.
 

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Reply #3 - May 9th, 2006 at 9:35am

Ivan   Offline
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IRIAF has 40 out of 79 flying (according to iranian sources, US sources say that they can put 20 in the air if they have a good day).

But if you can still call these 'Grumman F-14' is another question. They are probably highly modified (and there is a very slim chance that there are some new ones)
 

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Reply #4 - May 11th, 2006 at 2:45pm

Northwest 102   Offline
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Well that really blows balls!!  The F-14 was what got me so interested in aviation in the first place.  So they are 100% pulled from US active service?  No other branch got second hand F-14s?

MIKE
 

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Reply #5 - May 11th, 2006 at 2:59pm

Ecko   Offline
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Quote:
Well that really blows balls!!  The F-14 was what got me so interested in aviation in the first place.  So they are 100% pulled from US active service?  No other branch got second hand F-14s?

MIKE


The final trap was made the 8th of february, 12:35 A.M., one hundred percent out of US service.
 

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Reply #6 - May 13th, 2006 at 11:35am

Mr. Bones   Offline
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The last Tomcat flight is in september 2006. Check this site out for more information: www.tomcat-sunset.org
 

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Reply #7 - May 16th, 2006 at 7:02pm

flyboy 28   Offline
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Quote:
No other branch got second hand F-14s?


Negative. It was designed soley for the US Navy. Besides, no other branch wants a beat up 30 year old jet.
 
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Reply #8 - May 20th, 2006 at 10:08pm
Steve-O   Ex Member

 
What's the next step for the Tom's?
Bone yard, scrap heap, drones?
 
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Reply #9 - May 20th, 2006 at 10:11pm

flyboy 28   Offline
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Quote:
What's the next step for the Tom's?
Bone yard, scrap heap, drones?


All of the above is my guess. Perhaps the Navy will salvage one or two and save them for airshows. Most likely drones, as that's what most outdated fighters are used for (F-106's, F-4's, A-7's, etc.)
 
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Reply #10 - May 22nd, 2006 at 4:16pm

Ivan   Offline
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Maybe a few gate guards.

The rest will be going through the shredder at priority (to prevent the iranians getting hold of any useable spares)

Anyway... there were some upgraded ones at the latest Tehran parade... with a new colorscheme (Brownish white bottom, and Su-27 like blue pattern on the top) instead of the highly visible brown/yellow scheme they had in the past, which may indicate that they have changed role from exocet carrier to pure fighter or AWACS
 

Russian planes: IL-76 (all standard length ones),  Tu-154 and Il-62, Tu-134 and An-24RV&&&&AI flightplans and repaints can be found here
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Reply #11 - Jul 23rd, 2006 at 3:06pm

Jeph   Offline
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theyre gone, but not officially retired...VF-31 was sent overseas for this stuff goin on with israel.

for some reason, the gov't thought the Superbug would be better than totally upgrading the tomcat. the A+++'s, B's, and D's have excellent radar, avionics and weapons packs, but their computers are old and outdated, and HUGE. there are more advanced packages on the 18E/F and even though the planes smaller, theres still plenty of room for upgrades. empty panels and racks and such. also, for what its worth, were not "technically" allowed to use phoenix missiles anymore, but..uh...yeah, anyway, the superbug cant carry them, but it can carry everything the tomcat and bombcat can, and more of it. (9 hardpoints).

an aside, the hornet has considerably less range than the tomcat, too. Texaco is making a killing off the VFA and VMFA squadrons. 

granted, the tomcats computers were among the first to have TB hard drives, but the superbugs have hundreds or thousands of terrabytes avaliable on their HD's(its classified, so im not sure). the tomcats radar was amazing, and is still classified, but its something over 200 miles (ill never tell), and relied on the E-2 to keep its eyes open for bogeys. with the superbug, their radar is linked to satellite, aegis cruisers, and a bunch of other stuff...

that means that with the replacement of the tommys with the bugs, E-2's are obsolete. and once the F-18G's come out, soon after, even the Prowlers will be grandfathered out or mothballed (probably the latter). 

the new navy is facing serious issues with this updating thing...our demand is gonna be smaller, and all of these tech developments will mean smaller and smaller carrier compliments. the new CVX's are only looking at about 3-3,500 berths, compared with the 6-6,600 with current flat tops.

i digress. theres rumors that some private companies MAY buy some tomcats as booster planes for rockets to go to space, but i have doubts. maybe we'll see them fly again one day. i hope so. long live the tomcat!
 

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Reply #12 - Jul 23rd, 2006 at 3:27pm

Drake_TigerClaw   Offline
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I would imagine they would mothball a bunch of them and sit them in the desert like they did with a lot of other jets.

It's sort of shame though, it was always my favorite jet aircraft. A good multi-role navy fighter with specially trained pilots and history of being effective against everything, whish is surprising because its huge. But like so many other ColdWar relics it has trouble hanging on and it's getting old anyway. Although I was hoping it would hang on a little longer.

In a few decades you will probably see one down in the keys offering F-14 rides. Although I'm probably too tall to ever fly one anyway.
 

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Reply #13 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 12:47am

justplanecrazy   Offline
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Its really sad i to see them go and the navy really dose not have any thing that can really replace them if you ask me. but missle tech has gottin a lot better and the threat of super sonic sovite bomber attacks on the fleet has well disapered for now although im sure there are some contries that could gives a run for are money. but the reall thing that did the tomcats in was there complexity to many man hours of mantince for every flight hour cant really recall numbers but it was several times that of the f-18.
 
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Reply #14 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 12:00pm

Ivan   Offline
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Quote:
Its really sad i to see them go and the navy really dose not have any thing that can really replace them if you ask me. but missle tech has gottin a lot better and the threat of super sonic sovite bomber attacks on the fleet has well disapered for now although im sure there are some contries that could gives a run for are money. but the reall thing that did the tomcats in was there complexity to many man hours of mantince for every flight hour cant really recall numbers but it was several times that of the f-18.

Navy WANTs something to replace the, but there is no money (and some of the top brass want just one plane to do everything, which is easier budget wise)

The risk of supersonic attacks on the fleet hasn't disappeared, but any current US weapon is useless against Shkval torpedos. Further... Exocets are cheap and easy to get (see tanker wars in the 1980s), and maybe you haven't heard about the US top brass guy who was kicked from his advisor position after he managed to kill the whole US Navy Gulf fleet in a simulated Iran vs US Navy engagement, in a re-enactment of the 2002 surprise set up by Paul Van Riper. Only this time the main weapon was written-off civil airliners playing cruise missile instead of the Silkworms that Van Riper had to use.
Any of the counter arguments that were put up to keep the BLUEFORs honor up are not applicable in a real world situation. You just can't microwave any vessel in a 5 km range with your AEGIS radar if you are planning to keep civil and allied casualties low.

And F/A-18s are NOT as invincible as the official record claims. The one that was lost in 1991 was shot down by a MiG-25...
Furthermore, they are easyly outmanouvered by any Flanker series fighterbomber (Su-30 + variants, Su-32 and variants) with the same munition weight, even whitout TVC.
 

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Reply #15 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 12:50pm

expat   Offline
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Quote:
Further... Exocets are cheap and easy to get (see tanker wars in the 1980s).


Remember, tankers do not shoot back, however Type 42 Destroyers tried and lost in the Faulklands Conflict. As I remember the UK lost 2 too theses weapons. They were launched at the maximum range and the aircraft were already on the way home when they hit.

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Reply #16 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 1:07pm

C   Offline
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Quote:
Remember, tankers do not shoot back, however Type 42 Destroyers tried and lost in the Faulklands Conflict. As I remember the UK lost 2 too theses weapons. They were launched at the maximum range and the aircraft were already on the way home when they hit.


But the Type 42s did there job to be fair - the Exocets surely weren't aimed at them...
 
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Reply #17 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 1:49pm

Ivan   Offline
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@expat: The post wasn't about shooting sitting ducks with Exocets (which shooting at tankers is, even if you arm the crew with Stingers), it was about the fact that Iran at the absolute heights of the sanctions still could get hold of Exocets, and was able to modify the F-14A to carry the necessary electonics to carry them.

Remember that the only reason for selling F-14s to Iran was Soviet RECCE overflights (with Foxbats), and that at that time there was nothing else in the US arsenal that could touch the MiG-25RB (mission cruise M2.8, overdrive over M3.2). The F-14 was the best they could offer to cover their gulf assets at that time (2nd half of the 1970s).

Main problem in the gulf is subs (Shkval), fast attack boats (Shkval) and coastal batteries (Shkval, SS-19 'Granit' with conventional warhead). A single conventional load Granit is enough to sink a Nimitz class carrier.
 

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Reply #18 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 3:29pm

expat   Offline
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Quote:
@expat: The post wasn't about shooting sitting ducks with Exocets (which shooting at tankers is, even if you arm the crew with Stingers), it was about the fact that Iran at the absolute heights of the sanctions still could get hold of Exocets, and was able to modify the F-14A to carry the necessary electonics to carry them.


Someone must have deleted a post because I cannot find any reference to what you have written Ivan!

The post was about supersonic attack on the fleet with the mention of Exocet missiles. My reply was, you can do the job without being supersonic, as in the Faulklands Conflict. The Dassault Super Étendard was on the absolute limit of range when the missiles were fired. Incidently well out of the range of a stinger.

Matt
 

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Reply #19 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 4:06pm

Ivan   Offline
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Some sources say that they even took the exocet launcher from one of the frigates and put it on a truck, which was used in that attack too...
 

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Reply #20 - Aug 27th, 2006 at 6:03pm

expat   Offline
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Quote:
Some sources say that they even took the exocet launcher from one of the frigates and put it on a truck, which was used in that attack too...



HMS Glamorgan was struck by an Exocet missile fired from a shore-based launcher improvised on the back of a lorry trailer. HMS Glamorgan was some 18 miles off shore at the time and steaming at about 20 knots. Who needs super sonic ??

Incidentally, Argentina had taken delivery of five Super Étendards and five Exocets. All five of the missiles were used during the conflict. These Five Super Étendards were loaned to Iraq in 1983 while the country waited on deliveries of the Dassault Mirage F1s that had been ordered. These aircraft used Exocets to great success against Iranian tankers in the Persian Gulf before being returned to France in 1985. And the UN wants France to head things up in The Lebanon!!!


Matt
 

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