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wabpilot wrote:

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pukalshik wrote:

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It looks like US can build F-14 in emergency if it buy one from Iran :-)

The Iranians have no production capability, thus an Iranian example would be no more, or less useful than one of our own, of which there are many in better shape. Conversely, we have the capability of zero timing the airframes and building new engines. NADEP Oceana has everything we need to zero time the airframes, and did so up to 2005. Production would be a much different story. First, there is no factory to build them in, so a new one would be needed. Second, the tooling has been destroyed. Third, thhe plans, if they exist, exist on paper, not as CAD drawings which modern manufacturing calls for. Thus, before any production could be contemplated, a set of CAD drawings would have to be generated. By the time that was done, we could produce thousands of F-18Fs and thousands of F-35Cs, for which production facilities, training pipelines and operational squadrons do exist.

What we could do, if money was no object and a degradation in capability was an object, is zero time several dozen F-14s. Of course there would be no training pipeline and no squadrons for them to serve. But we could produce them in short order. Now, what do we do with them? Lug around a bunch of Mk 82s? We could use them to drop JDAMS, but then F-18s do that just as well and at a lower cost with a higher unit availability. We could use them to drop JSOWs, but F-18s do that just as well and at a lower cost with a higher unit availability. Assuming our rebuilt F-14s were better than the final F-14s they would still take up deck space, and require a lot more crew than the F-18s and drop no ordnance that the F-18s cannot drop now. As no nation today can threaten our CVs protected by AEGIS ships, E-2Cs and F-18s, the F-14 as a fleet air defense fighter just consumes limited space, fuel and people for no good purpose.

Your choice, choose wisely.

Gee, you make it so tough ;-)

While I think Cheney's decision to end F-14 production was almost entirely political (we'd still be building Sopwith Camels if they were built in Wyoming), the USN's fighter force¹ isn't likely to face an significant air threat in the near (say ten or fifteen years out) future, and by that time the F-14 would be seriously obsolete. I do think the USN needs to start development of an aircraft comparable to the F-22, to enter service in about 2015.

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¹ Neither is the USAF.

wabpilot wrote:

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A far better aircraft is built in Wyoming, the Pitts Special!

I'm glad that the Pitts Special is still being built. The monoplanes used for aerobatics are just so uncool looking.

While I think that Cheney's motivation for terminating the F-14 production and improvements was largely political, I believe destruction of tooling in this case is fairly routine. I also think that the entire A-12 fiasco left quite a few people (of every political stripe) less than impressed with the general level of competence of the USN's aviation acquisition community, so NATF was doomed regardless of the occupant of the White House.

Intelligent governments -- and I think that usually applies to the US government -- don't rubber stamp their military advisors. I'm sure the politburo said "yes" to just about every hare-brained idea that Gorshkov (sp?) came up with, and look what good it did them.

Gunnersmate04 wrote:

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Why do certain groups claim that the Bugg is a worse aircraft than the Turkey? Apparently it can do all the F-14 could, less some range maybe? I would assume the F-35 is better still in all regards than the F-18? Of course, this won't be confirmed until its built and tested.....
GUNNER

Back when the F-18 was entering service, the USN's aviation community was regularly writing some pretty heated letters denigrating the F-18 to such radical publications as USNI's Proceedings; I think it's pretty much incontrovertible that the F-14 was better than the initial variants of the F-18. When the fUSSR collapsed, much the USN's reason for the existence of the its patrol, asw, and fighter squadrons and SSN fleet also disappeared.