Tomcats From Araound The World

[Iranian F-14A]

F-14A Tomcat-USAF

At the end of the Vietnam war,it was apparent the USAF needed a new fighter to at first compliment then later,replace the F-4 Phantom II.The F-15 Eagle was a strong contender,but the threat of new soviet bombers saw the F-14 with its Phoenix system win.The F-14As first replaced the F-4C/D Phantoms in Tactical Air Command squadrons,as well as Air Defense squadrons,where it also replaced the F-106 Delta Dart.The Tomcats were used in every role,from Air Defence interceptor to multirole fighter bombers and recon.A few were also sold to the Strategic Air Command,first as escort fighters for the B-52s and B-1Bs.These were armed with nuclear versions of the Phoenix to take down whole flights of enemy interceptors.There were also a bomber model called the FB-14A Blackcat.These were theatre bombers and usually based in Europe and South Korea.They were armed with either B-61 tactical or B-83 strategic nuclear bombs or AGM-69 SRAM missiles.

[GTX]

Nice - imagine if the F-111 was totally cancelled, hence no F-111A,D, F etc.  The navy steps in and offers the new F-14 in the strike role.

Regards,

Greg

[Matt Wiser]

Nice Tomcat from the "4th but First" Wing! How about a look at a SAC escort fighter and a NORAD-dedicated interceptor? Btw there was a program in the late '70s to the late '80s to develop a nuclear warhead for the AIM-54. It never got past the engineering development phase before it was axed. One could see not only the SAC escort fighters having the nuclear Phoenix, but the NORAD interceptors and Navy Tomcats as well would have been armed with a nuclear Phoenix. The Navy wanted it to kill whole formations of BACKFIRE and BADGER bombers coming at carriers with AS-4, AS-5 and AS-6 antiship missiles (each packing a 350 Kt warhead in the nuclear version). Or, if the missiles had been launched, as a weapon to kill the missile before it got within lethal range of the ships in the battle group. Yield of the nuclear AIM-54 would have been in the low Kt range.  

[Iranian F-14A]

F-14A Tomcat-USAF

Well,while I should be finishing packing for my 5 day long vacation which starts tomarrow at 6am,I'm doing profiles.Heres an F-14 from the 57th FIS,based in Iceland.The red stars represent intercepts of 3 Russian bombers.2 Tu-95MS Bears and a single Tu-160 Blackjack.So,I think its time to get started on that packing.5 days of fishing,swimming,and trying not to blow anything up with the arsenal of fireworks I got.And for thr record,yes,they are legal where I'm going,and I think the nearest house is like a mile away( for those of you wondering,my family has a cabin down along the river in W.Va.).Already got some ideas for when I get back,including one from Norway.

[Maverick]

57th FIS rock!!!!!! Absolutely a must have for a AF Turkey, I'd however like to see it in an earlier Hi Viz scheme, like the F-4s

Top Notch tho...

Maverick

[Sentinel Chicken]

57th FIS rock!!!!!! Absolutely a must have for a AF Turkey, I'd however like to see it in an earlier Hi Viz scheme, like the F-4s

Top Notch tho...

Maverick

I was just going to say, that might look interesting with the Arctic high-viz colors used on the F-102s: http://www.cloud9photography.us/cs/CS00017...hFISRoyLock.jpg

[Cartman]

Enjoyed "Tomcats around the world" very much.  Just wish most of it came true instead.

The Navy's F-14 program was a few years ahead of the Air Force's FX program.  Had John Boyd and Pierre Sprey not been involved in the Air Force FX program, and Air Force brass gone with swing wing design for the FX, Congress would have killed it for sure.  The politicans and bean counters were understandbly not support two expensive programs that involved variable geometry sweep.

With the cancelled FX (F-15), the Air Force would have had no choice but to adopt the Navy's F-14.  The F-14 being the only game in town, many nations that wanted the best would have only the F-14 to buy.

Such an outcome would indoubtly meant getting more powerful and reliable engines to replace those god awful TF30 engines much sooner.  The Air Force and our allies would have demanded it!

The advanced F-14C with updated avionic and air to surface capability would have entered service and adopted by many.

A land based Tomcat  for the Air Force might have resulted in a simplified F-14 doing away with the AIM-54 Phoenix or perhaps it could have been a single seater instead.  This could have also meant tailoring the Tomcat to reduce its maintenance requirements and overall cost.  This fictional F-14 would be the model that the Israeli Air Force would have bought instead.

But unfortunately, the mighty Tomcat and Grumman Aerospace will only be memories instead!

[Iranian F-14A]

F-14K Tomcat-South Korea

Around the mid to late 90's,the ROKAF started looking for a replacement for the long serving F-4D Phantoms and F-5A Freedom Fighters.Both F-14K Tomcat was selected.The F-14K is suited to both air to air and long range strike missions.The F-14K was also made nuclear capable to deter North Korean aggression.The F-14K,based on the airframe of the Super Tomcat 21,packs a very diverse weapons load.AIM-7M Sparrow,AIM-9M/-9X Sidewinder,AIM-54C Phoenix,AIM-120C AMRAAM,AGM-84D Harpoon,AGM-84E SLAM,AGM-88C HARM,AGM-154 JSOW,AGM-158 JASSM,GBU-24 Paveway III,GBU-30 JDAM,CBU-87/-98,aand B-61 tactical nuclear weapons can all be carried by the F-14K.There are also current plans to add B-61-11 nuclear bunker busters,and B-83 strategic free fall weapons.The B-61-11 is  especially important as the North Korean nuclear,chemical and biological  arsenal is stored under mountians,in undergrounf bunkers and silos.The B-61-11 would be perfect for taking those out.

[Iranian F-14A]

F-14U Tomcat-U.A.E.

The F-14U Tomcat,along with the F-15U Strike Eagle and F-16U Fighting Falcon were selected to modernize the air force of the UAE.The F-14U,was made to be compatible with both American and French weapons,as shown here with American AIM-7M Sparrow and AIM-9M Sidewinder AAMs and French Apache cruise missiles.The F-14U is used as a multirole fighter bomber,as a bridge between the F-16U,used mainly in the air to air role and the F-15U,which is used mainly as a long range strike bomber.

[Iranian F-14A]

F-14A Tomcat-Spain

Spain was another of the original countries,along with Australia and Canada that looked at buying the Tomcat.With Spain,it needed a fighter to replace the old Mirage IIIs and F-4Cs and compliment the newer F-4Es.The Spanish F-14As,since the primary mission was air to air,not much thought was put into air to ground weapons.The main AAMs was the classic mix of AIM-7,AIM-9 and AIM-54 missiles.Around the mid '90's,some air to ground weapons were added in response to the need for mulitrole capability over Bosnia.The AGM-88B HARM and GBU-12 Paveway LGBs were added.Still Later,the AGM-154 JSOW was added to give a degree of standoff capability.

[Matt Wiser]

Nice work once again! I take it the ROK nukes are U.S. held under a dual-key arrangement similar to that used in NATO? There the nukes are held under USAF control until release is granted, then the weapons are released to the NATO user (Dutch, Belgians, Germans, Italians, Greeks, and Turks). Please show us the SAC escort fighter variant, along with an IIAF D or Tomcat-21 version.  

[Iranian F-14A]

Anyone got the pattern/colors for the new Iranian Blue camo?

[Iranian F-14A]

FB-14A Tomcat-US

SAC bought a large number of Tomcats for two primary missions,long range escort fighter and theatre bomber.The escort fighter role had been given up on back when the F-101 came out,but,due to advances in Soviet designs and the introduction into service of the Mig-29 Fulcrum,Mig-31 Foxhound and Su-27 Flanker,a long range escort for the B-1s and B-52s was needed.For the escort role,the nuclear tipped AIM-54D is usually carried,although the normal AIM-54C,AIM-7F/M and AIM-9L/M can also be carried.The Theatre bomber role was also very important.These aircraft were,in time of crisis,foreward deployed to bases in Europe,South Korea and Japan.The usual loadout was up to 6 AGM-69A SRAMs,B61 or B83 nuclear weapons.Self defence AIM-9 and AIM-7 AAMs could also be carried.The front part of the weapons pallet was also modified to carry electro optical sensors to both aid in low level flight and to see in the event of a nuclear flash.The aircraft shown here is a theatre bomber model,however,both SAC models carried the same colors and usually the only way to tell them apart was which units operated them.Over their life,the FB-14s received many nicknames including "BlackCat" with the later European One type camo and "SAC Cat"

[elmayerle]

For air-to-air use in the escort role, how about a AIM-68 derivative with the quidance and control section from either an AIM-47 or an AIM-54?  For the theater bomber role, how about the strategic strike version discussed for the AGM-76 or an equivlent derivative of the AIM-54?

[Iranian F-14A]

F-14G Tomcat-Poland

The F-14G was the multirole fighter bomber model built under license in Germany for the German AF and Navy.With the end of the Cold War,some surplus models found their way into new hands.One of these was Poland.This idea I've had for awhile and in fact,I drew a small picture of a Polish F-14 and hung it in my locker at Ft.Knox while I was down there for basic training.The model shown here shows that Polish AF Tomcats could carry weapons from both east and west.Load out shown includes an AA-11 Archer,CBU-87 and a Apache cruise missile.



Also,Evan,I like the idea of a air to ground nuke Phoenix.Kinda remindes me of when I had the idea for a Wild weasel Tomcat,armed with an ARM model of the Phoenix,AGM-88 HARMs and AGM-122 Sidearms.