Grumman F-14 Tomcat

The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American tandem-seat, twin-engine maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defence interceptor, and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform. It is the largest and heaviest US fighter to operate from an aircraft carrier. Developed for the US Navy to carry the AIM-54 Phoenix missile, the first flight took place on December 21, 1970, entering service in 1974. Iran is the only other operator of the Tomcat. The US Navy retired their last F-14s in 2006, it remains in service with the Iranian air force. Production ended in 1991, with 712 airframes built.

Airframe construction is mainly of titanium and aluminium with a semi-monocoque fuselage, tandem-seat cockpit, crewed by a pilot (front), and Radar Intercept Officer (rear). Flight instruments are a mixture of analog and digital. Wings are a shoulder-mounted variable-sweep cantilever design; the tail is also of cantilever design with twin fins and an all-moving tailplane. The retractable undercarriage is a tricycle type.

F-14As uses two Pratt & Whitney TF30 afterburning low bypass turbofan jet engines; some were upgraded with the General Electric GE F110. F-14Bs and -Ds use the GE F110-400. The F-14 has a maximum speed of 2,485 km/h (1,544 mph), a range of 3,000 km (1,800 mi), a combat range of 926 km (575 mi), and a service ceiling of 16,000 m+ (53,000 ft+).

Armament consists of a single 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan cannon internally in the nose. Ten hard-points; six under the fuselage, two on the wing gloves, and two under the engine nacelles. Able to carry up to 6,600 kg (14,500 lb) of stores Ordnance includes air-to-air missiles, rockets, guided and unguided bombs, drop tanks, mission-specific pods.