I have a question - did the IIAF Tomcats come with the Phoenix missles?
Yes!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/ACHILESE/W4T.jpg
http://users.skynet.be/exotic.planes/pictures/iran/F_14formation_jpg.jpg
'Fraid so, dude. Theirs are probably junk by now, but the KGB got hold of one eventually (they got a complete F-14A from the Iranians first, courtesy of a KGB-engineered defection, but he flew his aircraft over slick), and today it's in production for the Russian AF and for the Chinese PLAAF, mated to the Su-27/30/33 "Tomcatsky" series.
Once the F-14D's are withdrawn from service, the Chinese PLAAF will have range advantages in both their a/c and their weapon systems. Not good, y'all.
Some guys kicked an idea around FR a year or two ago to purchase Russian-built Su-33's for the Fleet Air Arm as an interim measure until F-22's could begin to be delivered. Didn't think that idea would go anywhere, and it didn't.
Let's have a round of applause, shall we, for Dick Cheney, who as SecDef ordered the jigs and dies for the F-14 cut up to show Grumman Aviation how tough we were on budget-cutting? No, really. He did that. And Poppy -- an old Navy aviator himself -- went along with it. Really.
That's why there was never an "E" or "F" or Tomcat "G" model.
Now, why did Big Dick Cheney really do it? I'm all ears, if anyone knows.
And while we're on the subject of the F/A-18's being outranged and outclassed by a factor of two even before they launch a weapon, does anyone know if the Navy has successfully mated the AIM-54 Phoenix to the Super Hornet, or are we going to retire our rangiest AAM as well, to make the mismatch as complete as possible?
This is all a clever plan to lure the Chinese into acting from overconfidence, right? Somebody tell me that's right, that we've got a secret plan, or that we've already got 300 F-22's sitting under tarps at Davis-Monthan, painted up to resemble old F-18's or something.
Follow up question.
How reliable would they be after all this time?
