"John Mullen" wrote in message
...
rstro wrote:

Ok let's see what you experts are made of.... other than the sake of
politics, why would the Navy "replace" F14 Tomcat with the F18 Super
Dud???
Unless the navy has kept some performance numbers secret--the F18 can't
even
carry the Tomcats drop tank!--I understand the operational cost --but
hell
the F18 can't carry half the weapon load, nor has the range.

"Lucy--you have some splainin to do!"


The F-14 was past its best. The F-18 is a better plane. Simple.

John

Yes and no. Far more maintainable. Better hi AOA performance (not
practical in a real world sense). Better weapons system integration,
particularly in cockpit ergonomics. Maybe better bringback capability (not
sure on this one).

Poorer range/endurance/speed. Poorer energy maneuverability.

In a practical sense, the F-18 can be turned around more quickly than the
F-14 and has better availability (less down for parts/maintenance jets).
Its weapons/avionics are thoroughly up to date (by comparison, the Navy
never even funded AAMRAM integration with the F-14 ... criminal IMO), the
F-14 less so.

The F-18E/F (which really shouldn't be called an F-18 at all ... its a new
airplane) is "good enough" to get us to the F-35. Its new. Its functional.
Its here. Its mediocre performance is inconsequential in the overall scheme
of things.

R / John