Uncover the F-14 Tomcat's secret weapon: variable sweep wings. This innovation unlocked unmatched speed, dogfighting prowess, and tactical superiority in aerial combat.
By Kris Osborn, Warrior
The famous 2-seater F-14 Tomcat has found a permanent resting place in the hearts and minds of US Navy personnel and countless other aviation enthusiasts, as the airframe became known for its advanced speed and dogfighting ability.
The F-14 is known for its incredible Mach 2.3 speed, which places it alongside the F-22 as the fastest US fighter jet ever. As a two-seat fighter jet, the aircraft became known for its air-to-air prowess, given that several sets of eyes could monitor relevant targets, enemy maneuvers, and overall combat-zone awareness.
There is yet another Tomcat attribute which has for years been lingering beneath the surface of the jet’s often discussed merits, and that is the importance of its highly effective “variable sweep wing” enabling it to operate at a range of airspeeds. An interesting essay by the Aviation Geek Club cites several advantages associated with the wing, one of which is an increased ability to adapt and vary speeds in flight. The essay also points out a logistical advantage associated with the variable sweep wing, as it enabled an “oversweep” position moving the wings back 75-degrees, making them much easier to park together when not in use.
Tomcat Weapons
Despite this lesser recognized advantage, the Tomcat is perhaps most well known for its ground-breaking weapons. An earlier essay from the Aviation Geek Club catalogues some of the breakthrough technologies woven into the F-14, explaining that the high-speed, dogfighting aircraft brought air-combat into a new era well beyond the performance of the Phantom F-4.
“The Tomcat weapons system introduced a quantum leap in technology and capability that would dominate the outer air battle. Theoretically, two Tomcat divisions could engage and release missiles at over forty targets—well before the merge—with a high probability of kill. Once targeted, an enemy aircraft would most likely not survive a Phoenix or Sparrow attack by a Tomcat,” the essay states.
Tomcat Technological Breakthrough
Therefore, unlike its predecessor the Phantom, which could only maintain radar lock on a single target, a Tomcat could help defend against a so-called saturation raid of 20-Soviet fighters by attacking more than 40-targets at one time.
“Even if the Tomcat weapons system was only given a fifty percent probability of a kill, far less than models indicated, the Tomcats could splash all twenty attackers before they broke through the outer air defense grid. In short, the Tomcat’s Phoenix and AWG-9 capability greatly reduced the number of fighters needed to defend the fleet and greatly increased the probability that the fleet would survive a saturation raid.” the Aviation Geek Club explained.
While in flight, a pilot focuses on vectoring and locking in targets for the jet’s weapons; an aviator can simultaneously track additional targets, survey the surrounding area with additional line-of-sight observations, and offer time-sensitive constructive input and instruction to the pilot. The presence of the aviator lowered the cognitive burden placed upon pilots and allowed for a more focused air combat platform.
Tomcat at War
The Tomcat’s performance in combat is well documented, as former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman described the aircraft's performance against the Libyan Air Force in 1981.
“The very high-tech F-14s, with their two-hundred-mile radars, were able to maneuver into firing position long before the Libyans ever saw them,” Lehman said, as quoted in the Aviationist.
The F-14 even received a massive and highly impactful engine upgrade, given that its original TF30 was retired due to performance problems and replaced with General Electric F110-GE-400 engines which “solved” the TF30’s performance problems.
This adjustment helped support the aircraft’s propulsion and thrust-to-weight ratio in a manner that helped propel the platform’s successful combat performance in Vietnam, Libya, the Gulf War, and 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom. The aircraft was retired in 2006.
The Tomcat brought an unprecedented high-speed air-attack platform to aircraft carriers which has not returned since the F-14’s retirement in 2014. Did the arrival of the F-22 motivate the Pentagon to retire the F-14 quickly? It is possible, but the airframe’s departure left Navy carriers without a superior air supremacy platform because the F-22 could only launch from land Perhaps this is why the Navy is moving quickly to accelerate the F/A-XX.
The departure of the F-14 raises the key question of whether the airframe’s absence left aircraft carriers far too vulnerable and compromised the US Navy’s ability to project power. The size of the F-22 fleet was truncated, and the Raptor could not take off at sea. Continued upgrades to the F/A-18 have certainly been significant for the Navy’s maritime power, yet the craft lacks the speed and air-to-air maneuverability of an F-14.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University