Well, the F-14 can land with 6 Phoenixes, they just didn’t do it frequently. And there’s no possible way a much larger and heavier airframe is going to outrun an F-14 using the same engines. That’s just physically impossible.
So, the F-14 is just as fast as the F-111B, has the same 6 Phoenix missiles + 2 Sidewinders and an internal gun, can land with the required 6 Phoenix loadout, and can be used as an actual fighter and not just a missile bus… but the F-111B is better anyway because…?
Am I getting that right? What a very strange idea.
Last I checked the SOP was they were to drop 2 in the ocean if launched with 6 and didn’t spend any, due to being below safe fuel levels to attempt carrier landings with 6 and on correct weight.
The speed of the airframe is more of an engine limitation than an airframe one provided the slats are retained on the front for stability above mach 2.
Are you taking that top speed from Wikipedia?
I just checked the source for it. It says Mach 2.5 as the structural maximum speed, not as its actual top attainable speed in level flight.
There’s no possible way the F-111B could surpass the F-14 both using TF-30s. Not surprising considering that the TF-30 was considered insufficient for the aircraft.
Former USAF pilots and one of the few people who flew both F-15C and F-14A (through an exchange program) talking about how AWG-9 and Phoenix combination was much harder to notch than F-15C’s radar and AMRAAM combination, and how the notching tactics that they had learned to use in the F-15C vs F-15C combat was not effective in F-14A vs F-14A fights, as AWG-9 was able to maintain the lock and guide in the Phoenix.
Interesting, I’ve also seen interviews where F-15 pilots (from Kadena AB) have talked about how the F-14 AWG-9 and Phoenix missiles are pretty easy to beat if you know how to do it.
A guy who flew and practiced air to air combat with both F-15C and F-14A is pretty much as an objective of a source as you can get, barring a scientific study doing a practical comparison of both radars’ performance.
Subjectively, yes, but Kadena’s not lying. Techniques get upgraded, F-15Cs change, tactics and experience vary.
But it’s a good thing the AWG-9 wasn’t always just for “beauty”, as I often read from Eagle pilots when they talk about the F-14 Turkey.
Wouldn’t the IRSTS / TCS / IRST-21 make it almost functionally immune to Notching due to optical / IR lock-on? Why would it need to rely on the radar at all.
