The navigation pod also contains a FLIR and terrain-following radar. The LANTIRN targeting pod includes a dual field of view FLIR and a laser designator / rangefinder. In 1995, the US Navy installed the Lockheed Martin LANTIRN precision strike navigation and targeting pod on the F-14. The first operational deployment of a precision-guided JDAM from an F-14 was in March 2003. The F-14D can carry four joint direct attack munitions (JDAM). The F-14 can carry up to six Phoenix missiles and can fire the missiles almost simultaneously at six different targets. Raytheon AIM-54 Phoenix is a long-range air-to-air missile with range of 150km. Lockheed Martin / Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder is a short-range air-to-air missile with range of 8km. The Raytheon AIM-7 Sparrow is a medium-range radar-guided air-to-air missile with range of 45km. The aircraft can carry the short, medium and long-range air-to-air missiles AIM-9, AIM-7 and AIM-54, and air-to-ground ordnance including the Rockeye bomb and CBU cluster bombs. The aircraft has eight hardpoints for carrying ordnance, four on the fuselage, and two each side under the fixed section of the wings. The F-14 is armed with a General Electric Vulcan M61A-1 20mm gun with 675 rounds of ammunition, which is mounted internally in the forward section of the fuselage on the port side. The cockpit is equipped with the NACES zero/zero ejection seat supplied by Martin Baker Aircraft Company. The rear cockpit for the radar intercept officer is equipped with a display that presents fused data from the AN/APG-71 radar and from the suite of aircraft sensors.Ĩ2 US Navy F-14Bs were upgraded with Flight Visions Sparrow Hawk HUD and FV-3000 modular mission display system, which improve reliability and night-vision capability. The F-14D front cockpit is equipped with a head-up display and two multifunction flat-screen displays. F-14 cockpitĬatseye night-vision goggles from BAE Systems have been installed in the F-14 since 1996. The wings are swept at 75° for aircraft carrier stowage. The variable sweep wings are set at 20° for take-off, loitering and landing and automatically change to a maximum sweep of 68°, which reduces drag for high subsonic to supersonic speeds. The variable-sweep wing and the twin almost upright tail fins of the F-14 Tomcat give the aircraft its distinctive appearance. The maximum take-off weight of the aircraft is 33.7t, while the empty and loaded weights are 19.8t and 27.7t respectively. It was also immortalized in the iconic motion picture, Top Gun.F-14 aircraft has a length of 19.1m, height of 4.8m and wingspan of 19.55m. The F-14 Tomcat was present during many pivotal historic moments such as the two Gulf of Sidra incidents, Operation Desert storm in Iraq, the conflict in Yugoslavia, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The AWG-9 allows employment of the powerful AIM-54 Phoenix air to air missile while the LANTIRN pod allows the ability to carry out precision ground strikes using laser guided bombs. Outstanding features of the aircraft are the swing-wing configuration, crew of two, and the powerful AN/AWG-9 Weapons Control System (WCS) and radar.
Over the course of its long service life it also became the US Navy’s premier precision ground-attack platform and lone airborne reconnaissance asset. The F-14 was the US Navy’s frontline fighter from the 1970s until the mid 2000s. The Grumman F-14B Tomcat was a two-crew, variable geometry, maritime air superiority fighter that served with the US Navy for 32 years and continues to serve with the IRIAF in Iran.
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