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Originally Posted by wabpilot
As promised, a little more about bombing from the F-14.
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Thank You wabpilot...very interesting!!!
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Originally Posted by wabpilot
Amazing thing, the software on the old bird did just what the highly classifed document said it would, it did appear to give a bombing solution.
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Was the bombing capability of the Tomcat simply built into the airframe and software because Grumman engineers could do it...and then hidden because this was not part of the aircraft requested by the Navy, or did it remain dormant for so long for another reason?
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Originally Posted by wabpilot
But, I can say the F-14 would have been a good low lever penetrator.
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That is what I have always though...although for no other reason than the airframe's design.
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Originally Posted by wabpilot
If we had had even a million dollars, I think the F-14 would have stayed in production and been the medium attack aircraft for the navy from about 1989 to the end of the century.
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Might have made a difference in the F-14D and propsed QuickStrike and Super Tomcat variants as well I would guess, perhaps the Tomcat would still be around present day.
One other thing I have always wondered about...how far can the infra-red search and track system, and the onboard closed circuit television camera be used effectively. And how useful were these systems in operational deployments?