A brief history of the Grumman F14 Tomcat, including some rare and unseen upscaled footage.
The Grumman F14 Tomcat is an American carriercapable supersonic, twinengine, twoseat, twintail, variablesweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the General DynamicsGrumman F111B project collapsed. The F14 was the first American Teen Series fighter, designed to incorporate air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.

The F14 flew on December 21, 1970, and was first deployed in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom II. The F14 served as the U.S. Navy's primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the 2000s. The Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pod system was added in the 1990s, and the Tomcat began performing precision groundattack missions.

In the 1980s, F14s were used as landbased interceptors by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War, where they saw combat against Iraqi warplanes. Iran claimed their F14s shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war (only 55 of these confirmed, according to historian Tom Cooper), while 16 Tomcats were lost, including seven losses to accidents

The Tomcat was retired by the U.S. Navy on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A18E/F Super Hornet. Several retired F14s have been put on display across the US. The F14 remains in service with Iran's air force, having been exported to Iran under the Pahlavi dynasty in 1976.

Beginning in the late 1950s, the U.S. Navy sought a longrange, highendurance interceptor to defend its carrier battle groups against longrange antiship missiles launched from the jet bombers and submarines of the Soviet Union. They proposed a Fleet Air Defense (FAD) aircraft with a more powerful radar and longerrange missiles than the F4 Phantom II to intercept enemy bombers and missiles at very long range. Studies into this concept led to the Douglas F6D Missileer project of 1959. Still, this large subsonic aircraft appeared unable to defend itself once it fired its missiles, and the project was canceled in December 1961.

General characteristics

Crew: 2 (Pilot and Radar Intercept Officer)
Length: 62 ft 9 in (19.13 m)
Wingspan: 64 ft 1.5 in (19.545 m)
Swept wingspan: 38 ft 2.5 in (11.646 m) swept
Height: 16 ft (4.9 m)
Wing area: 565 sq ft (52.5 m2) wings only
1,008 sq ft (94 m2) effective area including fuselage
Airfoil:
Grumman (1.74)(35)(9.6)(1.1)(30)(1.1) root
Grumman (1.27)(30)(9.0)(1.1)(40)(1.1) tip
Empty weight: 43,735 lb (19,838 kg)
Gross weight: 61,000 lb (27,669 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 74,350 lb (33,725 kg)
Fuel capacity: 16,200 lb (7,348 kg) internal fuel; 2 × optional 267 US gal (222 imp gal; 1,010 l) / 1,756 lb (797 kg) external tanks
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric F110GE400 afterburning turbofans, 16,610 lbf (73.9 kN) thrust each dry, 28,200 lbf (125 kN) with afterburner
Performance

Maximum speed: Mach 2.34 (1,544 mph, 2,485 km/h) at altitude
Range: 1,600 nmi (1,800 mi, 3,000 km)
Combat range: 500 nmi (580 mi, 930 km)
Service ceiling: 53,000 ft (16,000 m) plus
g limits: +7.5
Rate of climb: 45,000 ft/min (230 m/s) plus
Wing loading: 96 lb/sq ft (470 kg/m2)
48 lb/sq ft (230 kg/m2) effective
Thrust/weight: 0.92 at gross weight (1.07 with loaded weight & 50% internal fuel)
Armament
Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6barreled rotary cannon, with 675 rounds
Hardpoints: 10 total: 6× underfuselage, 2× under nacelles, and 2× on wing gloves with a capacity of 14,500 lb (6,600 kg) of ordnance and fuel tanks, with provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: 7x LAU10 rocket pods (for a total of 28 rockets)
Missiles: AIM54 Phoenix, AIM7 Sparrow, AIM9 Sidewinder airtoair missiles:
Bombs:
JDAM precisionguided munition (PGMs)
Paveway series of laserguided bombs
Mk 80 series of unguided iron bombs
Mk 20 Rockeye II cluster munition
Other:
Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS)
LANTIRN Targeting System (LTS) pod (AN/AAQ14)
2× 267 US gal (1,010 l; 222 imp gal) drop tanks for extended range/loitering time
Avionics
Hughes AN/APG71 radar
AN/ALR67 radar warning receiver
AN/AAS42 infrared search and track, AAX1 TCS
AN/ASN130 Inertial navigation system
Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) upgrade

Watch more aircraft, heroes, and their stories and missions ➤    / @dronescapes  
To support/join the channel ➤    / @dronescapes  

IG ➤   / dronescapesvideos  
FB ➤   / dronescapesvideos  
X/Twitter ➤ https://dronescapes.video/2p89vedj
THREADS ➤ https://www.threads.net/@dronescapesv...

#f14 #f14tomcat #aircraft