great job mustang!!    i loved the tomcat i dont know why they retired it. it was great to watch at air shows!!

It was always plagued with engine problems; flameouts and fires. They tried to keep it quiet but the records of the casualties over the years are there.

The trend has been away from air to air fighters and more towards mulit-role "weapons platforms". Pilots today say that if you get into a knife fight, you've done something wrong. Today it's more about the weapons systems than it is about the pilot and aircraft agility. Whoever can detect and lockon to the enemy at BVR first, wins. The day of the dogfight and the dedicated air to air fighter is essentially over. 

I don't agree with that approach but they are going that way essentially to save money. I believe in the ongoing development of task-specific aircraft. Why? Because you can never be 100% certain about what's being developed elsewhere! I remember how the capabilites of the Su-27 shocked the pants off of the U. S. military! Better to have the best, state of the art, task-specific aircraft in the world than to be surprised and caught with your pants down sending out an aircraft that does a lot of things pretty well against one that does one thing superbly well! Just my opinion, of course.