F-14D

Any plans for the F-14D? New digital cockpit, 2 Navy F-16N aggressor engines plus fighter/ground attack mode. A beast with bombs :-). Was at strike aircraft test directorate Patuxent River Maryland in the late 80's when we tested the F-14A+ and the F-14D. A hornet man at hart worked on the F/a-18a, b,c,d and night attack version of the c model but the F-14D was impressive. Thank Clinton for cancelling it!

in a word, nope.

i had some good times at PAX river, its been about 20 years since ive been there tho

Any plans for the F-14D? New digital cockpit, 2 Navy F-16N aggressor engines plus fighter/ground attack mode. A beast with bombs :-). Was at strike aircraft test directorate Patuxent River Maryland in the late 80's when we tested the F-14A+ and the F-14D. A hornet man at hart worked on the F/a-18a, b,c,d and night attack version of the c model but the F-14D was impressive. Thank Clinton for cancelling it!

Dick Cheney and Dick Cheney alone is to blame for it. " That started when Dick was under Reagan as he had a bad encounter with a Grumman rep and carried that with him as he became VP. He asked Grumman to apologize for said encounter and Grumman said: “we’re not apologizing as we make the best defense aircraft the world over“. Dick - from there literally put Grumman out of business by not allowing any more Grumman product on any U.S. aircraft carriers. Then went out of his way to lie to both defense employees as well as to the public that Grumman products sucked." It is really sad that The F-14 was cancelled all because of someones personal grievances.

was at pax from 1986 to 1992. strike aircraft test directorate and then vq-4 for my sea duty lol

nope i still blame clinton if the tomcat only smelled like tuna scented cigar lol

I hate to admit it growing up on Long Island NY and being trained on the F/A-18 hornet but the Hornet and MacDonald Douglas put Grumman out of business. Replaced the A-6, F-14, the A-6 tanker and the EA-6B Prowler now the Growler.

Dick Cheney and Dick Cheney alone is to blame for it. " That started when Dick was under Reagan as he had a bad encounter with a Grumman rep and carried that with him as he became VP. He asked Grumman to apologize for said encounter and Grumman said: “we’re not apologizing as we make the best defense aircraft the world over“. Dick - from there literally put Grumman out of business by not allowing any more Grumman product on any U.S. aircraft carriers. Then went out of his way to lie to both defense employees as well as to the public that Grumman products sucked." It is really sad that The F-14 was cancelled all because of someones personal grievances.

Oh dear, people need to get over themselves. Dick Cheney alone killed the tomcat ? Heh whatever helps you sleep at night.

The only people that were stubborn for more modern tomcats was the tomcat community. The greater navy brass realized the Super Hornet was the more practical and costly efficient platform in a post cold war future where tomcats #1 justification of its existence for the role of fleet defense against Russian bombers disappeared. Not to mention on top of that the AEGIS missile defense system became a thing.

The Hornet had already built a good reputation on ease of maintenance, high readiness rates, and being a more affordable rugged workhorse ( even after more than a decade of service) . Super Hornet improved on payload, range and further improved avionics on its predecessor. So the navy was satisfied. The Tomcat was just too expensive to justify keeping when it was a hangar queen from day 1, and by late life a full on maintenance nightmare. People seem to forget that the navy budget need to be able procure and maintain various surface and submarine vessels. Not all of it can go funding a second air force.

The Super Hornet was the practical 1 size fits all interim solution for a post cold war era until the next generation of aircraft. The Rising rising costs of "war on terror" coincided with the retirement of the tomcat, the final nail in the coffin.

thats what i said in so many less words lol

On topic however its unlikely F14D will happen for the forseeable future.

A heatblur dev said there is but missing documentation for weapons related systems.

https://forums.eagle.ru/showpost.php?p=3986159&postcount=4

They are still apparently classified, and it seems the leading theory of why they still are is due to " Persian man bad" paranoia.

I know its unfortunate. I myself would have preferred an F-14D for the 21st century DCS environment ( when looking at the other teen contemporaries) as well rather than just having the ancient A/B model. In Lieu of a D model cat the next best thing would have been a later model F14B circa late 90s- early 2000s's refitted with DFCS, PTID and EGI. IRRC F14A's did also got DFCS around that time frame minus the other stuff.

I'd go for that one (D... not dick:mad:) in a heart beat... even with half-ass system modeling.

Oh dear, people need to get over themselves. Dick Cheney alone killed the tomcat ? Heh whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

The only people that were stubborn for more modern tomcats was the tomcat community. The greater navy brass realized the Super Hornet was the more practical and costly efficient platform in a post cold war future where tomcats #1 justification of its existence for the role of fleet defense against Russian bombers disappeared. Not to mention on top of that the AEGIS missile defense system became a thing.

 

The Hornet had already built a good reputation on ease of maintenance, high readiness rates, and being a more affordable rugged workhorse ( even after more than a decade of service) . Super Hornet improved on payload, range and further improved avionics on its predecessor. So the navy was satisfied. The Tomcat was just too expensive to justify keeping when it was a hangar queen from day 1, and by late life a full on maintenance nightmare. People seem to forget that the navy budget need to be able procure and maintain various surface and submarine vessels. Not all of it can go funding a second air force.

 

The Super Hornet was the practical 1 size fits all interim solution for a post cold war era until the next generation of aircraft. The Rising rising costs of "war on terror" coincided with the retirement of the tomcat, the final nail in the coffin.

Legacy Hornets were also a maintenance nightmare near the end.

Just ask the Marines..

As for the Tomcat, It's Primary role was Fleet Defense, and that role was diminished to the point the tomcat started infiltrating other roles just to stay on the ship.

Chaney had a Part in it from the Business Side, but the Tomcat itself, outlived it's role.

Then you add in the Export Ban / Fear problem, which is why all tomcats were either destroyed or had their frames / spines cut. no U.S.N. Owned Tomcat will fly again, even the 6 they have left in the desert have already had their backs broken, they will be eventually cleaned up and shipped to museums for display.

The only way you'll see a tomcat fly again is if they are bought from Iran and brought back to the U.S. through Private Sales, Which is actually likely to happen, as they are having their own maintenance and upkeep problems with the ones they have left.

Legacy Hornets were also a maintenance nightmare near the end.

Just ask the Marines..

 

As for the Tomcat, It's Primary role was Fleet Defense, and that role was diminished to the point the tomcat started infiltrating other roles just to stay on the ship.

 

Chaney had a Part in it from the Business Side, but the Tomcat itself, outlived it's role.

Then you add in the Export Ban / Fear problem, which is why all tomcats were either destroyed or had their frames / spines cut. no U.S.N. Owned Tomcat will fly again, even the 6 they have left in the desert have already had their backs broken, they will be eventually cleaned up and shipped to museums for display.

 

The only way you'll see a tomcat fly again is if they are bought from Iran and brought back to the U.S. through Private Sales, Which is actually likely to happen, as they are having their own maintenance and upkeep problems with the ones they have left.

To imply legacy hornets ever had the same level the maintenance troubles of the F14 had is quite disingenuous

Legacy Hornets ( even the USN F/A18C hand me downs to the USMC) don't require on average 50 hours of maintenance per hour of flight like the F14 did in its last waning years of service. Then again thats why service life extension program was underway for USMC, to keep em flying beyond their initial maximum air-frame lifetime

The point was even in its youth the Tomcat never could achieve the high readiness rates, and low downtime needed for maintenance that the hornet could.ITs a more complex aircraft simple as that. The nature sweep wings always meant the the F14 was not only more intensive on maintenance than the F18 but even to the Air forces F15 eagle, which is considered hangar queen relative to the Viper.

In our little DCS world I don't care about statistical tidbits and trivia. ED doesn't simulate maintenance and random failures could be adjusted to reflect some historical data... not on my rig:music_whistling:

I would definitely buy it if ED decided to make it.

To imply legacy hornets ever had the same level the maintenance troubles of the F14 had is quite disingenuous

 

Legacy Hornets ( even the USN F/A18C hand me downs to the USMC) don't require on average 50 hours of maintenance per hour of flight like the F14 did in its last waning years of service. Then again thats why service life extension program was underway for USMC, to keep em flying beyond their initial maximum air-frame lifetime

 

The point was even in its youth the Tomcat never could achieve the high readiness rates, and low downtime needed for maintenance that the hornet could.ITs a more complex aircraft simple as that. The nature sweep wings always meant the the F14 was not only more intensive on maintenance than the F18 but even to the Air forces F15 eagle, which is considered hangar queen relative to the Viper.

The Current Fleet of Legacy USMC Hornets is so maintenance stricken, over half the fleet is grounded and Designated for Parts due to how many hours it would take to get flight hours from those airframes.

Which Prompted USMC/USN To Pull Old A-Model Airframes out of AMARC and Send to Cecil Field to be Completely stripped and upgraded to C+ Standard, Along w/ those from AMARC, Qualifying Airframes from the USN's Rapid Retirement of Legacy Hornets are going to Cecil Field as well.

My Father worked on Tomcats till 1995, and I know guys that worked on them up til the last one left Oceana. The ones that were the biggest problem were the BuNos that were Retrofitted to D's from As.

The Current Fleet of Legacy USMC Hornets is so maintenance stricken, over half the fleet is grounded and Designated for Parts due to how many hours it would take to get flight hours from those airframes.

 

Which Prompted USMC/USN To Pull Old A-Model Airframes out of AMARC and Send to Cecil Field to be Completely stripped and upgraded to C+ Standard, Along w/ those from AMARC, Qualifying Airframes from the USN's Rapid Retirement of Legacy Hornets are going to Cecil Field as well.

 

My Father worked on Tomcats till 1995, and I know guys that worked on them up til the last one left Oceana. The ones that were the biggest problem were the BuNos that were Retrofitted to D's from As.

Hence why the actually have something to work from....,. WIth spare parts the ones that arent grounded can fly, and they now have more spare parts. The USMC hornet A/C's are already flying longer than their intended air frame hours, since they skipped out on Super Hornet unlike the US navy, and don't have the luxury of retiring them entirely from active duty service like the US navy has.

And this is largely a USMC issue. And most of it due to not having the necessary funding . This is not because Hornet is more maintenance intensive nor more costly per hour of flight than than the F14 , be it senior our youth years.

Any plans for the F-14D? New digital cockpit, 2 Navy F-16N aggressor engines plus fighter/ground attack mode. A beast with bombs :-). Was at strike aircraft test directorate Patuxent River Maryland in the late 80's when we tested the F-14A+ and the F-14D. A hornet man at hart worked on the F/a-18a, b,c,d and night attack version of the c model but the F-14D was impressive. Thank Clinton for cancelling it!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

Back in 99-01 the only time we had every airframe off the ground was if the ones in the hangar were on jacks. 50-60% ready at any given time. (Legacy Hornets, USN)

Oh dear, people need to get over themselves. Dick Cheney alone killed the tomcat ? Heh whatever helps you sleep at night.

id be skeptical too, but there is some validity to the statement. Dick Cheney was a bit of a grim reaper for Defense programs. Its too bad he wasnt in a position to cancel the f-35, but there were others that got the Cheney-axe. The V-22 had been cancelled by him and fortunately raised from the dead

was at pax from 1986 to 1992. strike aircraft test directorate and then vq-4 for my sea duty lol

i was at ft meade late 90s to 2001. some friends and i had a buddy down at pax river, we went down there every now&then to hang out

id be skeptical too, but there is some validity to the statement. Dick Cheney was a bit of a grim reaper for Defense programs. Its too bad he wasnt in a position to cancel the f-35, but there were others that got the Cheney-axe. The V-22 had been cancelled by him and fortunately raised from the dead

Thank god he wasn't...

Otherwise USA, NATO JSF partners, and countless export nations today would be without a very sophisticated lethal multi-mission stealth fighter that is on its way to becoming the mainstay of all these various air-forces. Considering the advancements of anti air systems, and the fact that potential adversaries are now building thier own stealth fighters all these nations would not have a decisive advantage that the F35 offers in event of a war. Could an air campaign still be carried with gen 4/ 4.5 within contested airspace ? Probably but almost certainly at much higher attrition rates.

The idea in war is not to have an even playing field but advantage whenever possible over your adversary

Otherwise USA, NATO JSF partners, and countless export nations today would be without a very sophisticated lethal multi-mission stealth fighter that is on its way to becoming the mainstay of all these various air-forces.

That would be the benefit, yes. What's scary is that this boondoggle is becoming the mainstay of too many countries air forces.

That would be the benefit, yes. What's scary is that this boondoggle is becoming the mainstay of too many countries air forces.

yes it would have been a benefit to any potential enemies knowing they wouldn't have to face anything like it in the skies or have to worry about these penetrating their air defense and destroying targets of high value.

THe boondoggle days of development are over. Its now in mass production and operational service, and its capabilities literately are a quantum leap above any last gen aircraft. Its a shame that even after all these time the old meme of "F35 is lemon" still doesn't die.

Then again should i be surprised? After all there still are handful of remaining old farts such as Pierre Sprey ranting to this day about how terrible the F15 is and how anything that isn't A10 cant do CAS.

"Its too bad he wasnt in a position to cancel the f-35"

Pfft...

Stop believing the anti-hype :). The F35 is a bad mamma-jamma. There have been a few issues sure... It's expensive... But it works. VERY well ;).

Trust me, old Airframe Legacy Hornets spent more time in hangers than you realize, there's a reasom the USMC ran out of parts and there's a reason the USN did the rapid retirement of the legacy hornets.

The F/A-18C+ Program was more the a Service Life Extension.

They completely stripped the airframes of Everything, inspected them very strictly, and rebuilt them to the C+ standard, which replaced the entire electronics and hydrualics systems as well as most of the mechanical linkange and the entire cockpit.

yes it would have been a benefit to any potential enemies knowing they wouldn't have to face anything like it in the skies or have to worry about these penetrating their air defense and destroying targets of high value.

hmmm...heard this one before

THe boondoggle days of development are over. Its now in mass production and operational service, and its capabilities literately are a quantum leap above any last gen aircraft. Its a shame that even after all these time the old meme of "F35 is lemon" still doesn't die.

Sorry, muchacho, but your plane still sucks. We've hitched our cart to the wrong horse with this one and no "fan boy-ism" is going to change that. We shouldve cancelled while we were ahead.

Its boondoggle days are still with us and probably always will be

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/f-35-alis-open-deficiencies-grow-to-4700-over-two-years/137345.article F-35 ALIS open deficiencies grow to 4,700 over past two years FlightGlobal 17 March 2020

https://www.businessinsider.com/f35-has-hundreds-design-flaws-pentagon-doesnt-plan-to-fix-2020-3 The F-35 still has hundreds of design flaws, and there's 'no planned correction' for more than 150 of them Mar 13, 2020 Business insider

https://www.pogo.org/investigation/2020/03/f-35-design-flaws-mounting-new-document-shows/ F-35 Design Flaws Mounting, New Document Shows MARCH 11, 2020 Project for government oversight

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/20/watchdog-pentagon-needs-answer-questions-new-f-35-logistics-system.html Watchdog: Pentagon Needs to Answer Questions on New F-35 Logistics System military.com 20 Mar 2020

https://www.janes.com/article/95042/f-35-programme-reduces-remaining-sdd-capability-requirements-but-bulkhead-issue-remains F-35 programme reduces remaining SDD capability requirements, but bulkhead issue remains Janes.com 23 March 2020

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/nearly-all-f-35-jet-engines-ordered-last-year-arrived-late-1.621134 Nearly all F-35 jet engines ordered last year arrived late Stars&Stripes March 3, 2020

https://www.airforcemag.com/f-35-full-rate-production-may-slip-again/ F-35 Full-Rate Production May Slip Again AirForce Magazine 4 March 2020

https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2020/03/uncorrected-design-flaws-cyber-vulnerabilities-and-unreliability-plague-the-f-35-program/ Uncorrected Design Flaws, Cyber-Vulnerabilities, and Unreliability Plague the F-35 Program Project on Government Oversight

"The gun for the Air Force’s version not only can’t shoot straight, but breaks the aircraft when fired.

There have been no appreciable improvements in the program’s overall reliability since 2016.

The entire F-35 system remains vulnerable to cyber threats.

The simulation facility necessary to fully test the aircraft and train pilots remains unfinished."

and how anything that isn't A10 cant do CAS.

The SU-25 can as well. the fact is what makes a good CAS aircraft makes a crummy fighter and vice versa. Multi-role can only get you so far, but it wont ever produce something as good as an airframe specifically made for that role