Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Marc Eichler

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sportscommander wrote at 2011-04-13 06:51:43
Then DOD Dick Cheney called the F-14 a 1960 airplane and a jobs program. He advocated the F-18 because it was cheaper plane and originally was to compliment the larger F-14. The Super Hornet wasn't a variant but an entirely new plane because the F-18 Hornet was an inferior plane to the F-14A.  Here's the truth backed by research on articles written about the F-14D vs Super Hornet.  The Hornet program is one of the costliest planes project.  R&D plus fly away cost of the Super Hornet is almost twice the cost of F-14D. The F-14D finally got after 17 years since inception an engine that allowed the pilots to fly the engine and not vice versa, precluded spin outs like shown in TOP GUN.  This the same engine the F-16 uses. F-14D is faster, carries more payload, greater range and it's 1960's avionics were better than the Super Hornet until it further improved it's avionics to help our pilots.  In fact the avionics that the Super Hornet was given was to be given to the F-14D before Cheney terminated the program.  Jets in the 1960's fly faster than the Super Hornet.  Top end speed isn't that important in a dogfight, but the Super Hornet is first an interceptor to protect our carriers which is almost 500 mph slower than the F-14D. In a Congressional meeting Navy pilots testified they preferred the F-14D because the Super Hornet was a "dog."  So due to politics of terminating one "jobs program" for another by Cheney, the Navy has a more costly but inferior plane in the Super Hornet vs F-14D.  F-14s were costly to maintain because they had been in service so long but had the Navy received more than the 37 new built planes, this would not have been a problem.  F-35 was created to replace the Super Hornet because of its negative.  Service of the Super Hornet will not even come close to how long the Tomcat served the Navy.   F-15/16s were created about the same time of the F-14, so what does that tell you about the Hornets especially the Super Dog Hornet?

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