[lentulusgracchus]

If you must have a air superiority fighter for the Navy, you don’t now and won’t with the F-35, fix the F-22 for the role.

FWIW, Dick Cheney had the jigs and dies for the F-14 destroyed, but drawings remain for two followon versions of the basic F-14. Pick one and run with it. The NAV needs a better aircraft than the F/A-18 for fleet defense, and the F-14 variant "Tomcat II"/"Super Tomcat" (actually two designs to pick from) is that aircraft. Slather some radar-absorbent coatings on it and go for it.

[cva66snipe]

Though they were high maintenance the Tomcats ruled the skies. I never understood why they ended the program instead of keeping the plane and throwing the money into upgrading onboard systems. Ending the F-14's was a big mistake.

We also called the Vent Cleaners. During a Dependents cruise {in and out same day} they would do an airshow. A F-14 would come by at Flightdeck level about a quarter mile off port side full throttle. For about a week after we got trouble calls where the dust have come out of the vents LOL.