![]() ![]() The F-15 famously has a massive radar cross-section-bigger, in fact, than the heavy payload B-1B Lancer bomber at a mind-boggling 25 square meters (bigger than the aircraft itself). ![]() The F-14’s variable-sweep wing design was a relic of a pre-stealth era, and the aircraft is said to have a radar cross-section comparable to that of the still-in-service F-15.į-14 Tomcat in a training dogfight against an F-16 Fighting Falcon How would an old F-14 fare in a fight against the latest and greatest fighter Russia has to offer? Well, that’s hard to say. Eventually, the TF30 engines were replaced by General Electric F110-GE-400s which effectively solved all of the TF30’s problems, but many F-14s continued running the old engines well into the 2000s. These engines were powerful, but incredibly problematic, ultimately leading to the loss of as many as 40 Tomcats over the years. Each engine could produce 14,560 pounds of thrust under military power, with the afterburner kicking output up to 25,100 pounds. When the F-14 Tomcat first entered service, it was powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney TF30 engines that had been designed for the F-111B, which was more multi-role bomber than fighter. Its variable-sweep wing design gave it excellent handling at both the low speeds required for carrier landings and the high speeds needed to intercept Ivan before he could deploy his anti-ship missiles toward an American carrier. The Tomcat was such an incredible aircraft that a proposal to overhaul the platform into the ASF-14 Super Tomcat very likely could have kept it at the top of the 4th-generation fighter heap all the way into the modern era. If called upon to do so, the F-35C could potentially best the Super Hornet in a race, with a top speed of Mach 1.6, but it would come at the cost of some of its low observability (its radar absorbant coating begins to crack and flake off under the intense heat caused by air friction at these speeds).į-14 carrying six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles (U.S. ![]() It can carry only four weapons internally while maintaining a stealth profile, however, and because of concerns about damage to its radar-absorbent coating, this jet is largely limited to subsonic speeds except in emergency situations. The F-35C is powered by a Pratt & Whitney F135-PW-100 afterburning turbofan engine capable of pushing an impressive 43,000 pounds of thrust under afterburner, and it boasts a tiny radar cross-section (though larger than the F-22’s) at around. That extra wing area allows for slower approaches to the carrier, but also provides the added benefit of extra internal fuel storage-granting the carrier version of the JSF more than 8% more fuel than the landing-strip reliant Air Force version and a whopping 35% more fuel than the short take-off/vertical-landing F-35B used by the Marine Corps. The F-35C is the Navy’s carrier-capable iteration of the stealth Joint Strike Fighter, boasting a larger wing area than its sister jets, more robust landing gear, and of course, the requisite hook for carrier landings. ![]()
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