F-14B with Sparrowhawk HUD

[Naquaii]

17 hours ago, Xeno426 said:

I did not know the F-14B(U) was a thing. Are there any sources you could name that discuss that upgrade?

 

The (U) part of the designation isn't really official afaik, more of an indicator of an upgraded aircraft in common use. The latest natops manuals for the F-14B details these upgrades.

[Southernbear]

On 1/13/2021 at 5:50 PM, Victory205 said:

All of this may explain why the Blue Angels never seriously considered the F14 for a demo plane. They’d have to bolt all of these moving parts into a fixed position to keep the center of lift from moving all over the place while they were trying to fly formation. The thrust line and burner stages would have been a handful. It wasn’t a great formation airplane.

After a series of accidents and maintenance problems with their McDonnell Douglas F-4J Phantoms in the 1973 air show season, the Blue Angels stood down for an overview of the program by the Secretary of the Navy, John Warner. Ken Wallace a 1954-55 slot pilot and 1961-63 team leader, was called upon to guide the team through the rough waters. Wallace was serving in the office of the chief of naval operations as the tactical air plans officer. “Because of my past association with the Blue Angels, whenever anything that concerned them came up, I was rung in on it in some way,’ he said.

 

According to Wallace “the Secretary of the Navy was not fully supportive of keeping the team. Admiral Zumwalt, who was chief of naval operations and not an aviator, was very much insistent on keeping the team in business. So he and I went to chat with the Secretary of the Navy. The Secretary agreed to keep it in business, but we had to change airplanes."

 

Given the job of program manager for the Blue Angels, Wallace had his work cut out for him. Drawing on his previous experience with the team, he would implement many far-reaching changes. “I started casting about for a different airplane. The airplane that I really wanted was the F-14,’ he said. “I did not want an F-14 with all the weapons control systems in it; that was wasteful.” After proposing his idea to Grumman, they decided that it would cost more to make an airplane without the systems than it would to make one with them. Cost became the determining factor, and the F-14 idea went by the wayside.

 

Due to the then ensuing fuel crisis the Blue Angels then moved to the much more efficient and easier to maintain A-4 Skyhawk.

[Uxi]

That was a bad move on Grumman's part.  The PR would have been worth eating a loss.  Wonder how much weight they could have ripped out, but still would have probably been a maintenance hog. 

[lunaticfringe]

30 minutes ago, Uxi said:

That was a bad move on Grumman's part.  The PR would have been worth eating a loss.  Wonder how much weight they could have ripped out, but still would have probably been a maintenance hog. 

 

Look at the year.  Then look at the issues Grumman had on the fixed rate contract for F-14 construction for the initial production runs.  This was pre-Iran deal; the firm was almost shuttered given their increased supply costs due to the onset of the energy crisis.  They couldn't eat a loss on the airplane because they already *were* taking a loss on the airplane.  

 

[Swordsman422]

On 1/13/2021 at 12:01 PM, Naquaii said:

 

The (U) part of the designation isn't really official afaik, more of an indicator of an upgraded aircraft in common use. The latest natops manuals for the F-14B details these upgrades.

Not an official designation, but some airframes did have an indicator above the BuNo. This from the Fightertown VF-102 sheet:

[Uxi]

The beautiful VF-103 CAG plane in game since launch has had F-14B Upgrade under it's stab.

 

[LanceCriminal86]

18 minutes ago, Uxi said:

The beautiful VF-103 CAG plane in game since launch has had F-14B Upgrade under it's stab.

 

 

The VF-103 Jolly Rogers had the Sparrowhawk upgrade and B Upgrades done in 2003-2004 for their last cruise. That HUD was an extremely late addition, just as the Tomcat and Bs were sunsetting.

 

The Digital bus and PTID stuff though it seems should have been present for our LANTIRN birds, but alas they just don't have enough paperwork for it. A few jets, for a time, did have LANTIRN working with the old display apparently but it's one of those narrow windows where we can have a LANTIRN without the full PTID and digital back seat.

 

I'm happy with what we have. Sure, I'd love to have the whole enchilada, but we've got a great thing going. If we had a proper Afghanistan and Iraq map then maybe the push to have the upgraded jets would be stronger. For now though, we've got some good 80s-90s action and hopefully will have more as the A-7, A-6, and some of the various AI assets come online, the Forrestal, etc. Hopefully some more REDFOR like the SU-22 or MiG-23 will help balance that out as well, would love to see missing Russian bombers, updated TU-95 models, all kinds of stuff to fill the cold war out.

 

And of course the S-3 and SH-60 getting reworked, if that ever happens with that Supercarrier many of us bought and have seen very little from since.

 

 

[Spatz]

The Sparrowhawk HUD is coming - hopefully ^^

[Alicatt]

7 hours ago, Spatz said:

The Sparrowhawk HUD is coming - hopefully ^^

 

Seen it posted up on their facebook page this morning

[Swordsman422]

That's awesome news, but I wouldn't hold your breath. I'm personally hoping for the latter of those two options, as the B(U) wasn't given the sparrowhawk HUD until late 2003 (yes, it had the PTID from ~1995 onward), so, like the -70GR and -75GR of the very early 70's, represented only a tiny sliver of the Tomcat's history. The F-14D can cover 1992 to the end.

Regardless, it'll be a Heatblur Tomcat, and I'll eat it right up.

[davidrbarnette]

That is awesome news if accurate.

 

[draconus]

On 12/7/2023 at 9:04 AM, Spatz said:

The Sparrowhawk HUD is coming - hopefully ^^

From the comment I'd assume it's a yes for both Sparrowhawk and D.

[coreyhkh]

OMG Heatblur made my day!

[The Phil]

Sounds good. I hope some day we will see the D or B(U).

[ebabil]

Great news 

[AdrianL]

I would recommend that you do not get your hopes up.

This was  Cobra's reply to that comment

Edited December 9, 2023 by AdrianL

[FR4GGL3]

It would be great if we would get some of the shenanigans that the F-4 gets (wobbling and rattling interior, shaking Stabilizers, integrated Manual, better Jester, and so on). But yes, I wouldn't complain if we would get every Version of the Tomcat that was in service - even if there have been only a few of them. But the F-4 improvements would make me happier.

And don't forget: we have a module that is said to be as real life correct (in flight) as it gets. Heatblur has already made dreams come true.

[Dragon1-1]

44 minutes ago, AdrianL said:

I would recommend that you do not get your hopes up.

Note that he's no longer saying "definitely not a D, docs are classified". Also, unless they're also considering the early early version with beaver tail fairings, glove vanes, IRST and all, the B(U) and D are pretty much the only places to go.

[draconus]

3 hours ago, FR4GGL3 said:

It would be great if we would get some of the shenanigans that the F-4 gets (wobbling and rattling interior, shaking Stabilizers, integrated Manual, better Jester, and so on).

Maybe not all of it but yes, that is their plan.

[SkateZilla]

The manuals for the -D weapons and systems is still not released for public, and likely never will.

The B(U) baseline upgrades are part of the NATOPs but again, the needed manuals for the upgraded weapons systems are still classified.
it's like buying the 20,000 pc lego set, but with only the pictures of how it's supposed to look assembled and no instructions..

the community will speculate.

But the VDIG was a separate upgrade program from the B(U), 

 

[probad]

if i ever held my breath on any of cobras remarks i would be dead a hundred times over

[Matze81]

Now, that Iran plans to retire their Tomcats in 2024, it might increase the chances that at least some more information on the F-14D becomes officially available to the public/the developers. 

[Dragon1-1]

4 hours ago, SkateZilla said:

The manuals for the -D weapons and systems is still not released for public, and likely never will.

Iran's 'cats are finally at their EOL, so never say never. Also, HB could have gotten some materials that are unclassified, but not otherwise available. Remember, classification is often not the only obstacle to obtaining a document.

[draconus]

1 hour ago, Matze81 said:

Now, that Iran plans to retire their Tomcats in 2024, it might increase the chances that at least some more information on the F-14D becomes officially available to the public/the developers. 

Unless they're all scrapped on US soil, I doubt it'll happen.

[Dragon1-1]

It will, for the simple reason that no matter where they're scrapped, those jets are just too old. You can't operate a fighter for half a century and expect it to still function as a fighter. Metal itself won't be able to take repeated high G loads, Iranian Tomcats are already highly unreliable and simply worn out. Even if they secretly kept an intact airframe somewhere, it would not be able to pull any Gs, and F-14D avionics would do nothing to change that. At this point, the indigenous Iranian avionics are probably more advanced, anyway. That won't help them, though, because the aircraft can no longer be flown safely in a tactical manner.

They still use Phantoms, but only as bombers. I don't think they do any air to air. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Dragon1-1