[Spktyr]

Not that outrageous - the Navy's taken the lead on UCAVs of late.

I *still* don't like the fact that we're also retiring the AIM-54 Phoenix AAM with the F-14 platform (the F-18 E/F can't carry it) but we haven't made any in almost 20 years and the missiles are starting to get unstable.

However, a stealthy UCAV loitering 50-100 miles away from the fleet as CAP loaded with a 20 pack of Slammers would probably do just as well.

From FAS.org:

"With the end of the Cold War there was a general recognition that the outer air battle -- the battle against Soviet naval aviation bombers -- was significantly reduced in importance. While AAAM was seen as the best defense against the Soviet naval air arm, the future threat would consist of Third World fighter-bomber or diesel-electric submarine. This changing security environment doomed this Phoenix missile successor [as well as the associated F-14D Super Tomcat upgrades], and the Advanced Air-to-Air Missile program was cancelled in 1992."

[SauronOfMordor]

"With the end of the Cold War there was a general recognition that the outer air battle -- the battle against Soviet naval aviation bombers -- was significantly reduced in importance. While AAAM was seen as the best defense against the Soviet naval air arm, the future threat would consist of Third World fighter-bomber or diesel-electric submarine. This changing security environment doomed this Phoenix missile successor [as well as the associated F-14D Super Tomcat upgrades], and the Advanced Air-to-Air Missile program was cancelled in 1992."

And nobody wanted to posit a scenario of US against China