Amazin Pix - and what beast of a machine! Hard to think its outdated.
As an 19 year old kid, being a plane-captain and watching "my" F-14 launch off the cat at night will always be one of my fondest memories.
.......indeed.....! on the other hand, and I believe I recall this correctly, on the History Channel or some such, with all of the upgrades, improvements, airframe modifications, and other enhancements already in place and projected, the U.S. Air Force's Boeing B-52 fleet will be close to 90 years old when those aircraft are slated to be retired....!! simply incredible....
If you want to see one of these beautiful machines, go the Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley, California. They have on of these aircraft outside and the actual Air Force 1 (Tail # 27000) inside the library. Quite an impressive visit for a VERY impressive man.
In capability it is not outdated. Although it was designed for a new engine which was cancelled by the Navy, most F-14s built were initially equipped with the obsolescent Pratt & Whitney TF-30 engine. That severely limited the airplane compared to its design capability, yet it was still far superior to any other Navy fighter and competitive in performance with the F-15 which had much more powerful engines.Despite its many upgrades over the years, from the F-14A, to the F-14B, and finally the F-14D with its powerful GE F110 engines and more sophisticated weaponry and surveillance equipment, it appeared the Tomcat's days were fading fast.
That is silly. The F-14B (a more powerful P&W engine) was tested but never produced. In 1980 I was appalled to learn that the F110 engine would not be tested for years. The F-14A was built throughout the '70s and well into the 1980s; I wonder if any other aircraft model was built longer than the F-14A.When the F101DFE was finally tested in the F-14 and redesignated the F110, it was a revelation. Not only far more capable than the TF-30, but far more operable since it was practically invulnerable to the stalling tendencies which were the bane of the F-14A pilot's existence. The adoption of the F110 engine was late in the F-14's production cycle; Dick Cheney cancelled the program fairly early in the GHW Bush Administration.
There were really only two versions of the plane, the A and the D. The basic aircraft was designed capable of air-ground mission, but the F-14 drivers actively opposed developing and testing that capability. Ultimately the F-14 became a good attack plane simply because it had good ordinance load capacity, and because with the advent of smart bombs it its no longer necessary to be able to release bombs with excellent precision to achieve excellent results.
If you would speak of a plane which actually has undergone "many upgrades over the years," look no further than the F-17. It was upgraded from the "lightweight fighter" competitor to the F-16 which was adopted by the USAF but rejected by the Navy. The Navy modified it into the F-18 carrying Sparrow missiles as well as sidewinders, and though various iterations into the F-18E/F which is bigger than, and almost 100% incompatible with, earlier F-18 models. Different engines, different wing, different fuselage. But it still is not the airframe that the F-14 was in terms of range, performance, and armament payload.
The reach of naval aviation is degraded by the retirement of the F-14.