The F-14B was pretty good for a while but now it’s outclassed by the F-16C in every way but raw missile count and flare count. However, IRL it could carry the AIM-9M, which would make it at least comparable to the F-16C (it would still have a worse flight model though).
Maybe add F-14D on 12.3 with 9M?
The F-14D would be better than 12.3 largely due to the radar + IRST and TCS. It also may end up having the most diverse A2A weapon set for US aircraft depending on what the devs give it.
What is TCS?
Television Camera System or AN/AAX-1. The pod under the nose. The F-14B has it but it’s not modeled to its true capabilities. F-14s with TCS (and later the IRST) could slave the radar (and all sensors) to a locked target and it would be capable of maintaining a lock through the notch.
That’s the simplified explanation. The F-14 discussion page has some documentation on it and there’s a F-14 podcast where pilots discuss how they would manage the different systems.
Yeah, TARPS was a photo recon pod that was huge and in the tunnel between the engines. The TCS and IRST were A2A systems.
It was planned to have AIM-120s but they were never added due to budget issues, so realistically it’d have AIM-9M/AIM-7M/MH/AIM-54 (and various ground attack weapons). Not super diverse but at least a bit more so than just 9M/7M
The 1985 SAC for the D has AMRAAM loadouts. For some aircraft in game, that is enough to get a weapon added.
Yep, as we can see gaijin started to add experimental vehicles and weapons in the game, so it’s possible.
Thats some good news i didnt realize existed!
Yes it should get them and be moved to 12.3 or 12.7 (F-15 should be moved up too).
See page i-5, and Table i-3 on page i-10 "AIM-9 Capable Simulators. The document states, “The AIM-9M can be employed on several Navy and Marine Corps tactical aircraft. The AIM-9M has been integrated on F-14…”.
They were able to use aim120 they where test successful just weren’t in service cause of budget
