What about the other way around: USAF adopts the F-14 but with the Eagle's engines? Better fuel consumption and higher thrust. The Tomcat always had the ground attack capability but they never used it until the 90's.
Sol, weren't the Marines going to buy some F-14's early on? I seem to remember one of the Tomcat patches that was geared to the USMC.
yeah we were and that buy would have changed Marine aviation forever.
if they had bought the F-14 then the Super Tomcat would have been a no brainer. the Bombcat would have been beyond awesome and the US Navy would have a deep strike fighter that would be a capable replacement for the long retired A-6.
They should've gone with to one of the SF-14 or ASF-21/14 proposals rather than redesigning a super-sized bug.
Would've taken a proven carrier aircraft and made it much better. Imagine a 44+ Super Tomcat air wing. Might actually be able to compete with the hordes of Asian Flankers.
And how about develop an air-launched, AMRAAM-seekered, ESSM to return an LRAAM to the fleet.
ESSM could pull 50Gs "off the rail", potentially making it a lethal WVR missile as well
think, F-111B. No dice.
ReplyDeletewell what had me intrigued was my fascination with past proposals.
ReplyDeleteimagine if they had gone this way! a strike eagle off a carrier? talk about wow!
What about the other way around: USAF adopts the F-14 but with the Eagle's engines? Better fuel consumption and higher thrust. The Tomcat always had the ground attack capability but they never used it until the 90's.
ReplyDeleteSol, weren't the Marines going to buy some F-14's early on? I seem to remember one of the Tomcat patches that was geared to the USMC.
yeah we were and that buy would have changed Marine aviation forever.
ReplyDeleteif they had bought the F-14 then the Super Tomcat would have been a no brainer. the Bombcat would have been beyond awesome and the US Navy would have a deep strike fighter that would be a capable replacement for the long retired A-6.
if only if we had gone that way.
They should've gone with to one of the SF-14 or ASF-21/14 proposals rather than redesigning a super-sized bug.
ReplyDeleteWould've taken a proven carrier aircraft and made it much better. Imagine a 44+ Super Tomcat air wing. Might actually be able to compete with the hordes of Asian Flankers.
And how about develop an air-launched, AMRAAM-seekered, ESSM to return an LRAAM to the fleet.
ESSM could pull 50Gs "off the rail", potentially making it a lethal WVR missile as well
what do you all think of the abandoned phoenix missile? this is a question because i dont know much about it but it was a great BVR missile.
ReplyDelete