![]() As a result, only 37 new-build F-14Ds were produced along with 18 remanufactured A-models brought up to D-standards. He called it a “jobs program” and shifted the F-14D budget to the development of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. A long and complex political battle ended with then-SECDEF Cheney outright cancelling the F-14D in the FY 1992 budget. The Navy wanted at least 130 new build F-14Ds and around 400 F-14As and A(Plus)s remanufactured as Ds. The first production F-14D was delivered to the Navy in March 1990, but by then, the future of the F-14 was already doomed. Chaff and flares were carried in the ALE-39 dispensers in the boat tail, and later, more chaff was added in the LAU-168 BOL Sidewinder missile rail. The empty space in the wing glove box leading edge was then fitted with the ALR-45 and ALR-67 radar warning receivers (the AN/ALQ-165 Airborne Self-Protection Jammer was planned but never integrated). The extendible glove vanes were deleted, as they were rated as only marginally aerodynamically effective (though there is debate about that observation). 14 Naval Aircrew Common Ejection Seats (NACES).Įxternally, the F-14D carried over the NACA-style gun gas purge vents on the nose first introduced on the F-14A(Plus). The F-14D’s cockpit was updated with multifunction displays, a combined glass heads-up display, and Mk. The Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) provided a passive, jam-proof datalink where one “user” could share everything it saw to another fighter. The “brains” of the F-14D were a pair of digital AYK-14 Standard Airborne Computers that processed all the radar data, prioritized targets, managed the stores, and selected the weapons firing sequence. The “eyes” of the F-14D jet were the digital APG-71 radar with a range of up to 400 nautical miles that worked in concert with a chin pod combining a television camera and infrared search and track system (TCS/IRSTS) that independently allowed for identification of targets up to 100 miles away. It was called the Super Tomcat especially at Grumman, but at some point the Navy dropped “Super” from the official designation. The F-14D represented in many ways a reinvention of the core architecture of the Tomcat particularly from an avionics systems perspective. The F-14A(Plus) (later re-designated F-14B) was essentially a re-engined F-14A that was an interim step towards the next major planned evolutionary development of the Tomcat. The engine also conferred greater fuel efficiency, greater range, more loiter time, and ease of maintenance. Beyond the fact that the F110 engine lacked virtually all of the TF-30’s weaknesses, an F110-powered F-14 could accelerate from Mach 0.9 to Mach 2.0 in 90 seconds. The Tomcat finally had the engines it always needed. 7, and this led to contracts for the F-14A(Plus) and F-14D awarded later that year. In 1984, the General Electric F110 GE-400 was tested in No. It was a successful program but the F101 engine was not adopted. 7 preproduction F-14 that the Navy had bailed to Grumman) was taken out of storage to evaluate GE’s F101 DFE powerplant. In 1981, the propulsion testbed airframe (the No. Some F-14A pilots stated they flew the throttles instead of the airplane. The TF-30 was infamous for being underpowered, prone to compressor stalls especially at high AoAs, and suffered multiple catastrophic failures involving thrown compressor blades that claimed many jets and aircrews. It was a poor powerplant-airframe combination. The TF-30 was originally intended to only power the 12 pre-production F-14s, but delays with the F401 engine, politics, and budgetary constraints led to all F-14As receiving the TF-30. The origin of the -D goes back to the early 1980s after a decade of significant troubles with the Pratt and Whitney TF-30 engine. The final version of the F-14 Tomcat was the D-model, and it was the most capable Tomcat ever developed. Grumman manufactured 712 Tomcats between 19 across three major variants. Tomcats played central roles in both relatively limited actions from Grenada to Lebanon and from Operations FREQUENT WIND to IRAQI FREEDOM. ![]() The Grumman F-14 Tomcat hardly needs an introduction, achieving fame through its 32 years of active duty and appearances in motion pictures such as Top Gun.
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