There is a story about several of the prototype F-14Bs visiting NAS Oceana near Norfolk, Virginia. On the other side of the Chesapeake Bay were the F-15's of the USAF's 1st Fighter Wing at Langley AFB, their premier air-to-air fighter unit. Normally, the F-15's easily defeated the F-14As with their anemic TF-30's; but this time the high-spirited Naval aviators decided to play a trick on their blue brethren and challenge the USAF pilots to an air-to-air "hassle" over an offshore training range. The Naval aviators showed up in the souped-up Tomcats, and left the two Eagle drivers running away screaming, "Who were those guys!" Clearly, the F-110 made the new-generation Tomcats a very different cat. The new bird still had one significant shortcoming, though. It was still equipped with the original 1960's-vintage AWG-9 radar and avionics systems.
The Tomcat community had always dreamed of making a final break with the old F-111B systems and producing an F-14 with a new generation of digital avionics. At one point, an F-14C model with more advanced electronics was proposed, but it was never developed. Finally, in the fall of 1990, the dream was realized in the form of the F-14D. Like the earlier F-14B program, some of the — D-model Tomcats were rebuilds of earlier — A-model aircraft, while the rest were new production airframes. The — D model has the same F110 engines as the — B, but adds a new radar (the Hughes APG-71) and a host of avionic, computer, and software improvements.
The APG-71 is a vast improvement over the earlier AWG-9, and is based upon the APG-63/70-series radars used on versions of the F-15 Eagle. This is a state-of-the-art, multi-mode radar with a variety of capabilities. In addition to the basic air-to-air functions of the AWG-9, the APG-71 is capable of both Low Probability of Intercept (LPI-making it difficult to detect with passive sensors) and Non-Cooperative Target Recognition (NCTR) modes. In addition, the APG-71 has the ability to perform advanced ground mapping in heavy weather, a feature that would come in handy when the Tomcat community got interested in air-to-ground operations in the 1990's.
Though the F-14D is the ultimate Tomcat, equipped with everything that a crew could want in a fighter today, budget cuts meant that less than fifty — Ds were built, just enough for two or three squadrons. When new production and conversions of — B- and — D-model F-14's were terminated, plans were made to phase out the aircraft. It began to look like the Tomcat might go the way of the A-6/KA-6 Intruders-straight to the boneyard-just as the aircraft had finally gotten the engines and avionics that the crews had always dreamed of. The hunger to cut costs within the Department of Defense in the early 1990's meant that a number of valuable aircraft types were retired, regardless of the consequences, and the F-14 almost suffered the same fate.
Fortunately for the Tomcat community, even allowing for the downsizing of post-Cold War CVWs, there was a shortage of tactical carrier aircraft. Meanwhile, new missions were found for the F-14. Now that there were no longer regiments of missile-armed Soviet bombers to defend against, the Navy planned to provide the Tomcat community with a rudimentary capability to drop "iron" (unguided) bombs (called "Bombcat" conversions) and perhaps fire AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARMs) against enemy radars. At the same time, members of the F-14 community were teaching their old Tomcats a few new tricks. While the majority of the Navy's aviation-procurement dollars were headed toward F/A-18 Hornets, the Tomcat operators found ways to squeeze a few of the scarce greenbacks to preserve their mounts. To better understand what they did, you need to know a bit about how many Tomcats of various models were built. Here is a look at the total production run of the F-14 program:
A total of 712 Tomcats were delivered to the Navy, the first in October 1972 and the last in July 1992.[51] While no USN F-14 has been lost in air-to-air combat, more than 125 have been lost in accidents-mostly engine-related (Iranian losses are unknown, at least in open sources). At the end of 1997 some 250 F-14's remained in U.S. Navy service. Most of the USN F-14As are now between ten and twenty years old, and have only had rudimentary upgrades to their structures and avionics. The two F-14As that shot down the Libyan MiG-23's in 1989 still had the same APR-25 radar-warning receivers (RWRs) that had been installed when they were built in the 1970's. These RWRs were so elderly they could not detect the signals from the MiGs' radars, which also dated back to the early 1970's. Because of their age, NAVAIR has decided to sacrifice the — A-model Tomcats to the boneyard, and preserve the fleet of remaining — B- and — D-model F-14's. It is unlikely that any F-14As will be in service past 2001, when the first F/A- 18E/F Super Hornet squadron stands up. That leaves approximately 130 F- 14Bs and — Ds to flesh out the ten remaining squadrons that will serve into the first decade of the 21st century.
All of these aircraft have F-110 engines, and are being given avionics upgrades such as the installation of new GPS receivers and radios. Tomcat crews have also been provided with Night Vision Goggles (NVGs) to give them improved low-level situational awareness in darkness. But the jewels of the upgrade program are the D/TARPS program (mentioned earlier) and an air-to-ground weapons-delivery system: the AAQ-14 LANTIRN targeting pod. This is a self-contained system equipped with a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) thermal-imaging system, a laser range finder, laser spot tracker, and laser illuminator. The AAQ-14 pod, one of two used on the USAF's F-15E Strike Eagle, has proven to be the best of its kind in the world today. It can detect targets on the ground from their thermal signatures, and then deliver LGBs and other weapons. The Navy version of the LANTIRN pod has an additional feature: a beer-can-shaped Litton GPS/Inertial Navigation System (INS), which provides the F-14 with the necessary navigational/ positional accuracy to deliver the new generation of PGMs that are coming into service. Carried on the starboard wing "glove" pylon, the LANTIRN is controlled by the RIO, and can deliver LGBs day or night with greater accuracy than any other aircraft in the fleet.
These improvements, however, did not come easily. They cost a great deal of money, which the senior leaders at NAVAIR controlled. Focused on acquiring the F/A-18, the NAVAIR "Hornet Mafia" was sworn to eliminate anything from the budget that might detract from that effort. On the other hand, there was also a "Tomcat Mafia" down at NAS Oceana (where all the F-14 squadrons had been consolidated), which was able to find small parcels of money, as well as support from out in the fleet. Also, contractors like Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the AAQ-14 LANTIRN pod, spent their own money to develop systems for use on the Tomcat. They worked better than anyone had imagined. Suddenly, regional Cincs wanted all the Tomcats they could get. The incomparable navigational accuracy of the GPS-EQUIPPED LANTIRN made them excellent "quick-look" reconnaissance birds, especially against mobile targets like SCUD missile launchers. Now, the twenty to thirty F-14's that are deployed at any given time are precious national assets and are doing far more than merely carrying their load until the first squadrons of Super Hornets arrive early next century. They remain the most versatile and powerful aircraft in the fleet. "Tomcat" Connelly would have been proud that his dream has proved so adaptable.
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Along with the U.S. Navy, there was a single foreign customer for the Tomcat: the Imperial Iranian Air Force (IIAF). The IIAF Tomcat sale was approved by the Shah of Iran, based upon the capability of the AIM-54 Phoenix to hit the fast, high-flying MiG-25 Foxbat-R reconnaissance aircraft that had been intruding across the border shared with the then-Soviet Union. Of the eighty IIAF Tomcats ordered, all but one was delivered, with the last F-14 being embargoed and eventually delivered to the USN. Very little has been published in open sources about the air battles of the Iraq-Iran War (1980-88), though some of the F-14's are reportedly still flying today.