Simviation Forums

Has the Grumman F-14 Tomcat seen its last days of active service or are they still flying?

MIKE

I think they are done.  I'm not 100% sure though...

For the US Navy it has. The Iranian Imperial Airforce still have some flying though.

IRIAF has 40 out of 79 flying (according to iranian sources, US sources say that they can put 20 in the air if they have a good day).

But if you can still call these 'Grumman F-14' is another question. They are probably highly modified (and there is a very slim chance that there are some new ones)

Well that really blows balls!!  The F-14 was what got me so interested in aviation in the first place.  So they are 100% pulled from US active service?  No other branch got second hand F-14s?

MIKE

Well that really blows balls!!  The F-14 was what got me so interested in aviation in the first place.  So they are 100% pulled from US active service?  No other branch got second hand F-14s?

MIKE

The final trap was made the 8th of february, 12:35 A.M., one hundred percent out of US service.

The last Tomcat flight is in september 2006. Check this site out for more information: www.tomcat-sunset.org

No other branch got second hand F-14s?

Negative. It was designed soley for the US Navy. Besides, no other branch wants a beat up 30 year old jet.

What's the next step for the Tom's?
Bone yard, scrap heap, drones?

All of the above is my guess. Perhaps the Navy will salvage one or two and save them for airshows. Most likely drones, as that's what most outdated fighters are used for (F-106's, F-4's, A-7's, etc.)

Maybe a few gate guards.

The rest will be going through the shredder at priority (to prevent the iranians getting hold of any useable spares)

Anyway... there were some upgraded ones at the latest Tehran parade... with a new colorscheme (Brownish white bottom, and Su-27 like blue pattern on the top) instead of the highly visible brown/yellow scheme they had in the past, which may indicate that they have changed role from exocet carrier to pure fighter or AWACS

theyre gone, but not officially retired...VF-31 was sent overseas for this stuff goin on with israel.

for some reason, the gov't thought the Superbug would be better than totally upgrading the tomcat. the A+++'s, B's, and D's have excellent radar, avionics and weapons packs, but their computers are old and outdated, and HUGE. there are more advanced packages on the 18E/F and even though the planes smaller, theres still plenty of room for upgrades. empty panels and racks and such. also, for what its worth, were not "technically" allowed to use phoenix missiles anymore, but..uh...yeah, anyway, the superbug cant carry them, but it can carry everything the tomcat and bombcat can, and more of it. (9 hardpoints).

an aside, the hornet has considerably less range than the tomcat, too. Texaco is making a killing off the VFA and VMFA squadrons.  

granted, the tomcats computers were among the first to have TB hard drives, but the superbugs have hundreds or thousands of terrabytes avaliable on their HD's(its classified, so im not sure). the tomcats radar was amazing, and is still classified, but its something over 200 miles (ill never tell), and relied on the E-2 to keep its eyes open for bogeys. with the superbug, their radar is linked to satellite, aegis cruisers, and a bunch of other stuff...

that means that with the replacement of the tommys with the bugs, E-2's are obsolete. and once the F-18G's come out, soon after, even the Prowlers will be grandfathered out or mothballed (probably the latter).  

the new navy is facing serious issues with this updating thing...our demand is gonna be smaller, and all of these tech developments will mean smaller and smaller carrier compliments. the new CVX's are only looking at about 3-3,500 berths, compared with the 6-6,600 with current flat tops.

i digress. theres rumors that some private companies MAY buy some tomcats as booster planes for rockets to go to space, but i have doubts. maybe we'll see them fly again one day. i hope so. long live the tomcat!

I would imagine they would mothball a bunch of them and sit them in the desert like they did with a lot of other jets.

It's sort of shame though, it was always my favorite jet aircraft. A good multi-role navy fighter with specially trained pilots and history of being effective against everything, whish is surprising because its huge. But like so many other ColdWar relics it has trouble hanging on and it's getting old anyway. Although I was hoping it would hang on a little longer.

In a few decades you will probably see one down in the keys offering F-14 rides. Although I'm probably too tall to ever fly one anyway.

Its really sad i to see them go and the navy really dose not have any thing that can really replace them if you ask me. but missle tech has gottin a lot better and the threat of super sonic sovite bomber attacks on the fleet has well disapered for now although im sure there are some contries that could gives a run for are money. but the reall thing that did the tomcats in was there complexity to many man hours of mantince for every flight hour cant really recall numbers but it was several times that of the f-18.

Its really sad i to see them go and the navy really dose not have any thing that can really replace them if you ask me. but missle tech has gottin a lot better and the threat of super sonic sovite bomber attacks on the fleet has well disapered for now although im sure there are some contries that could gives a run for are money. but the reall thing that did the tomcats in was there complexity to many man hours of mantince for every flight hour cant really recall numbers but it was several times that of the f-18.

Navy WANTs something to replace the, but there is no money (and some of the top brass want just one plane to do everything, which is easier budget wise)

The risk of supersonic attacks on the fleet hasn't disappeared, but any current US weapon is useless against Shkval torpedos. Further... Exocets are cheap and easy to get (see tanker wars in the 1980s), and maybe you haven't heard about the US top brass guy who was kicked from his advisor position after he managed to kill the whole US Navy Gulf fleet in a simulated Iran vs US Navy engagement, in a re-enactment of the 2002 surprise set up by Paul Van Riper. Only this time the main weapon was written-off civil airliners playing cruise missile instead of the Silkworms that Van Riper had to use.
Any of the counter arguments that were put up to keep the BLUEFORs honor up are not applicable in a real world situation. You just can't microwave any vessel in a 5 km range with your AEGIS radar if you are planning to keep civil and allied casualties low.

And F/A-18s are NOT as invincible as the official record claims. The one that was lost in 1991 was shot down by a MiG-25...
Furthermore, they are easyly outmanouvered by any Flanker series fighterbomber (Su-30 + variants, Su-32 and variants) with the same munition weight, even whitout TVC.