Well… despite that AIM-9H is an insufficient IR missile for 12.7
and AIM-54 are only good for harassing 3rd-gen planes who have the same level or worse RWR as F-14A
(as long as it is still ARH, which has some advantage over SARH, but seems not marginal I guess.)
Still, I think ‘6x AIM-7F’ can be considered as ‘decent’ or ‘above average’ weaponry compared to some counterparts.
As long as it is one of the best Western SARH missiles in this game.
Just not the best one. (from the east)
Maybe the current F-14A can be considered an A6M-ish bully type of plane I guess.
As one of the first 4th gen in history, it dominated the match on downtiers
but easily got dominated by another 4th gens in uptier.
I’ve read online it was superior to AN/APG-73s (though I have no source to confirm that) and even one incident during Operation Deny Flight that it put to shame a US AWAC. It might have only been mounted on a Harrier I, but it was a powerful package and dont be decieved by Gaijin’s modeling. The FRS1 kicked the living hell out of USAF Aggressor F-5Es in 1v1 combat (7:1 win ratio) and USAF F-15As in 2v2 combat (3:1 win ratio). The FA2 was far more capable than the FRS1 with a better enigne, RWR, radar, CMs, etc.
Was arguably the best all-weather naval fighter of the 1990s (more than a few stories of it taking off during training exercises in weather conditions that grounded other nations aircraft, including the US)
The Blue Vixen also formed the core of teh CAPTOR-M which is widely considered the best mechanical radar in the world
I’ve heard a lot about the harrier’s implementation in WT. Based on what I’ve seen it should be a way better dogfighter. However, I didn’t know it kicked the F-15’s ass. That’s impressive.
I believe it. A friend of a friend flies F-35Bs and apparently, the jet isn’t actually the limit to what it can do in the weather, just the fragile outside coatings and systems are the main factor.
Check out “Sea Harrier over the Falklands” by Sharkey Ward, goes into more detail. But essentially 3 pilots from NAS801 were pitted against the F-5E aggressor squadron and the SHars did so well the F-5E pilots thought they were the ones being evaluated. Then a squadron of F-15s based in Germany heard about it and asked to have a go against the SHars.
Pretty sure it can’t cobra, assuming that’s what you mean.
Power / detection range isn’t absolutely everything in all cases, the lack of digital signal processing really put a hard limit on other performance metrics of the AWG-9 (Yes, a talented RIO could make it perform well), which is why the APG-71 borrowed components out of the APG-70.
Well, sure but Relaxed static stability is definitely something the F-15 has over the -14 (I guess there is an argument for Swing wing + lifting body resulting in variable stability though wing-sweep/ Speed / Fuel loading mappings).
Sure, there’s even video evidence of an F-14 making 13G without significant warping the airframe.
It matters as to which specific characteristic are prioritized for the mission at hand.
You do get that the F-111B has an internal bay(no drag penalty for internal stores, like 2x AIM-54 for example), and Standoff range matters far more for that specific mission set ((150 - 475, = 325 Nmi) delta in combat radius, in favor of the F-111B) when similarly loaded with 6x AIM-54 (mostly due to the internal fuel weight disparity), and then there is even the difference in external fuel with the F-111 using a pair of 450Gal tanks, where the F-14 only uses 267 Gallon tanks.
The issue was that the Fleet Air Defense mission wasn’t the only mission the Navy had in mind, which is where the hyper-specialized for Long range Air intercept F-111B did not perform well due to said tradeoffs and so why the F-14 got greenlit.
Ok that’s honest and very true. It is annoying having to play in a specific way because F-14s are there. However, that was the power of the plane IRL. When it was there people had to “play” a specific way…
Somewhere i read , F-15s in excercise got targeted and nulified as soon as they were taking off from the airport… That IS annoying.
They are manageable , key point is how many and at what altitude/distance they are coming and if you are aware. I find MICA more dangerous (i won’t say better) . On the other side, even if EVERY MICA i’ve launched had connected, not all of them have killed. WIth AMRAAM it’s the opposite.
Well , the limit of 7,5G later became 6,5G … but that was for maintenance reasons. In general naval planes are stressed a lot in landings .Even the 7,5G . Snort describes a 1v1 gunfight with F-15 , when he watched G-meter at a point it was over 10. Go see the video. In the end, he says, both planes come down missing parts .
That’s precisely it. Thanks for acknowledging that I don’t have to explain it.
Eh, not the big of an advantage. The F-14’s weapon stations between the engines were designed to create a wind tunnel/very low drag space to allow the F-14 to carry phoenixes while going extreme speeds.
I’m sure the range is great and all, but on top of the F-111B already being a boat, I’m not sure making it worse and lowering the top speed (the only thing it’s good at) is a great idea. Not to mention the F-14 still has great range with those 267 tanks. Being able to surpass the F-35C and match (or even surpass) the F/A-18E is great.
