F-14A Tomcat

The F-14 Tomcat is a twin engine, two-seat, variable geometry carrier-based fighter aircraft developed by Grumman Aerospace Corporation.

History
The F-14 Tomcat was developed as a maritime air superiority fighter for the United States Navy by the Grumman Aerospace Corporation during the Vietnam War. Its genesis followed the failure of the F-111B, an aircraft forced upon the US Navy by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. After being appointed in 1961, SECDEF McNamara pressured the Navy and Air Force to collaborate in the Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) program to produce a joint service aircraft with the aim of reducing production costs, in spite of clashing inter-service design interests. The program produced the F-111 Aardvark and its Grumman-built F-111B cousin, which was too large and too heavy to be a naval fighter.

TFX was halted in 1968 on account of the Aardvark's poor carrier-based operations capabilities and its poor maneuverability. With the Vietnam War on going, and the realization that the next generation naval fighter needed to be able to fight its opponents even at gun range, Vice Admiral Thomas Connolly effectively killed the F-111B project, and thus the F-14A was born. The project, called VFX (Naval Fighter Experimental), led to a design contest that awarded Grumman the development contract for the F-14 (design 303-E). Named after Admiral Thomas Connolly and Admiral Thomas Moore (another staunch supporter of the F-14), the Tomcat was rapidly produced in the company's New York facilities and skipped the prototype phase to prevent interference from McNamara before first flying in 1970. The type was operationally introduced in 1972 and participated in the end stages of the Vietnam War in 1974-1975, flying Combat Air Patrols during Operation Frequent Wind.

Strangereal
The F-14A was employed by the naval aviation wing of various armed forces in the Strangereal world, along with the advanced F-14D Super Tomcat and the F-14B Bombcat.

Usea
Tomcats were operated by the Scarface Squadron and enemy forces during the 1995 insurrection in the Skully Islands.

During the Continental War, the F-14A was operated by Erusea and certain member-states of the Independent States Allied Forces' ISAF Navy. A particular operator of the aircraft was the 118th Tactical Fighter Wing, which employed such jets in carrier operations through the course of the war.

Circum-Pacific War
F-14As were operated by the Yuktobanian Navy and the Osean Maritime Defense Force, and were commonly deployed during the attacks on the Osean Federation and the early invasion of the UYR mainland in the Circum-Pacific War. OMDF Tomcat squadrons operating from the CVN-30 OFS Kestrel, including VF-10 and Marcus Snow's VFA-206 launched in defensive missions during the attack on Port St. Hewlett and the maritime retreat to the Eaglin Straits, where many of them were destroyed by the Scinfaxi's ballistic missile attack.

Yuktobanian Tomcats were among the escorts of the cargo aircraft involved in the exodus from southern Yuktobania after the seizure of the Bastok Peninsula. Towards the end of the conflict, abandoned F-14As from the Kestrel's deceased flight crews were obtained by the Wardog Squadron, becoming their flagship aircraft as the Razgriz Air Command Squadron during their campaign against the Gray Men.

Infinity timeline
In the Ace Combat Infinity universe, the F-14A Tomcat design was acquired by Wernher and Noah Enterprises following the Ulysses Disaster, and was later mass-produced by the company's Advanced Automated Aviation Plant systems along with the advanced Super Tomcat. The model produced by the company was a hybridized model with Super Tomcat features, adopting the AN/AAS-42 IRST pod and the AAX-1 TV tracking system - never used by actual -A models - while omitting the supersonic glove vanes of early-model aircraft.

Game analysis
Air Combat=
 * AVAILABILITY
 * Unlocked at start of game. Costs $3,000,000.


 * STATISTICS
 * Power: Superior
 * Mobility: Poor
 * Offense: Superior
 * Stability: Superior
 * Defense: Medium


 * WEAPONS
 * 20-mm M61A1 Vulcan six-barrel rotary cannon
 * Missile


 * COLORS
 * Scarface
 * Alternate color: White body with blue stripes.

Trivia

 * The F-14A is the oldest aircraft to appear on the cover of an Ace Combat game.
 * Erusian color scheme in AC04 is replica color scheme F-14A from NSAWC (Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center).
 * Osean color scheme in AC5 is replica color scheme F-14A from VF-84 "Jolly Rogers".
 * Yuktobanian color scheme in AC5 is replica color scheme F-14A of Iranian Air Force.
 * The F-14A Tomcat in Infinity is a possible reference to the real-life upgrade on a number of actual -A models into the F-14D Super Tomcat configuration, hence, the appearance of the aircraft.