WI: USN buys a 'better F-14' instead of Super Hornet

Huge boost to the F-14 would be imcorporating f-119 or f-120 engines (same as for f-22) development costs might drop dawn and user base widens.. Plus f-14 will gain more POWER.
 

SsgtC

Banned
Huge boost to the F-14 would be imcorporating f-119 or f-120 engines (same as for f-22) development costs might drop dawn and user base widens.. Plus f-14 will gain more POWER.
Look up the ASF-14. It actually was planned to use the F119 or F120 engines when they became available. With those engines, it was estimated that the Tomcat could supercruise at over Mach 2. Which, thinking about it @Burton K Wheeler this actually could help you get your 700 Raptors for the USAF. With many, many more airframes using the same engine, it should help bring down the unit costs of both the F-14E and F-22
 
Look up the ASF-14. It actually was planned to use the F119 or F120 engines when they became available. With those engines, it was estimated that the Tomcat could supercruise at over Mach 2. Which, thinking about it @Burton K Wheeler this actually could help you get your 700 Raptors for the USAF. With many, many more airframes using the same engine, it should help bring down the unit costs of both the F-14E and F-22

I know.
Another trick could be using systems from F-22s as part of f-14. Radar with more elements, ECM systems etc.
Plus reengining b-52 to four f119/120s would be aditional use.
 
As for how to get there.. Dorito is killed earlier and Navy does not buy Super Bug or Bug at all. NATF is seen as " we might not go there, but we like.." MDD helps with engine testing by putting those engines in f 14s and it turns out that it is great move.

How radical would be to put V tail from yf23 on f14? Would it screw up structure that bad?
 

SsgtC

Banned
As for how to get there.. Dorito is killed earlier and Navy does not buy Super Bug or Bug at all. NATF is seen as " we might not go there, but we like.." MDD helps with engine testing by putting those engines in f 14s and it turns out that it is great move.

How radical would be to put V tail from yf23 on f14? Would it screw up structure that bad?
Yeah, it would. You can't go getting too radical here. Otherwise you might as well give up all pretence of it being a derivative. And at that point, Congress will kill it. You can't butterfly the Legacy Hornet at this point. They're already in the fleet. And at the time, the Navy actually did need them. The Midway was too small for Tomcats and the F-4 was aging rapidly.
 
No V tail, bur using F-22 systems on super tomcat would drive dawn the cost. But radar could have more elements that in F22
 

SsgtC

Banned
No V tail, bur using F-22 systems on super tomcat would drive dawn the cost. But radar could have more elements that in F22
IIRC, that's basically what the ASF-14 would have been, a Raptor in a Tomcat's shell. With a better radar. The plan was to completely replace all the internal subsystems, thicken the wing root, install F-110 engines originally, then the F-119 or F-120 as they became available, add thrust vectoring and replace some of the aluminum and titanium with carbon fiber. The freed up internal volume and weight was to be used for increased fuel capacity. There were also plans in place to reduce it's RCS. Things like radar baffles over the engine intakes and edge aligned doors and access panels. It basically would have been the best fighter in the world when it was built. And short of a full up stealth aircraft, nothing would have beaten it. Even then, with as powerful as the radar would have been, it's possible the ASF-14 could have still gotten a lock on at long range.
 

Ak-84

Banned
Congress handed out project cancellations, like M&M's in the early 1990's. No one has satisfactorily explained just how they would agree to provide funding for multiple new projects.
 

SsgtC

Banned
Congress handed out project cancellations, like M&M's in the early 1990's. No one has satisfactorily explained just how they would agree to provide funding for multiple new projects.
I think BKW's TL has the US reaping a smaller Peace Dividend after a worse Gulf War and the Military having bigger budgets and retaining it's traditional high/low mix instead of small numbers of insanely high end (and high cost) platforms.
 
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Congress handed out project cancellations, like M&M's in the early 1990's. No one has satisfactorily explained just how they would agree to provide funding for multiple new projects.

No Tax cuts? Better econic policy.
But this is sort of ASB since libertarian or left libertarian economic policies which could have done it are inherently against trend in any democracy be default.
 
Congress handed out project cancellations, like M&M's in the early 1990's. No one has satisfactorily explained just how they would agree to provide funding for multiple new projects.

The scenario I had was a different Persian Gulf War that resulted in a much different 1993 bottom up review, basically. Dmaller peace dividend and the U.S. military having a 2000’s-style defense policy rather than the pre-Rumsfeld plan of pretending it was still 1989 forever.
 
I work on TL were Iran is military Junta after Islamic revolution turn to Chaos and USSR still exist, because Gorbachev never became leader.
And Cheney has in this TL a Hearth attack
you can imagine Persian Gulf War that resulted in 1991.

I made some change in Aerospace too like General Dynamics A/F-16V fighter, not the LWF/ACF version, but Convair Model 200 !
use by USAF, NATO as conventional fighter And US Navy, Marines also as Vtol/Stol, its more F-35 analog only 20 years earlier

what has that to do with F-14 ?
Now i look back in my paperwork and found out, i just killed thorough YF-17 - F-18 proposals
Mean in that TL the upgrade F-14 could still fly in 1990s and 2000s for US Navy, Iran and other costumers like Japan

Picture: a General Dynamics A-16 STOL fighter from USS Roosevelt
post-9221-012051900%201296425176.jpg
 
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playing with History

what if the "MRCA" / Panavia Tornado project collapsed, In that case would Luftwaffe buy F-14 instead ?
1970s F-14 as Multi role combat aircraft similar as that 1990s upgrade for ground Attack.
 
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