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Perhaps as a result of Top Gun the F-111B has received more bad reputation than almost any post-war major combat aircraft design. Now, what if the project management took a slightly different route and designed F-111B for dual roles of heavy attack airplane and fleet air defense fighter? As for strikes it would be accompanied by lighter VFAX fighter / attack planes.

With F-111 as a long range attack aircraft / interceptor the USN carrier aviation would be vastly more effective for the late cold war role demanded by Maritime Strategy: striking to Kola Peninsula. More range provided by F-111 would mean that carriers could stay far farther from Soviet coasts and / or could strike much deeper to Soviet homeland. Additionally, the superior loitering capabilities of F-111 compared to OTL F-14 would mean that fleet air defense would be much more credible than OTL.

Finally there's the issue of post-Cold War USN carrier missions. In all post-war conflicts the USN has had to rely heavily upon USAF tanker support. With F-111 the need for tanker support would have been much smaller.
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