Article 9868 of rec.aviation.military:
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From: jfb@usgp1.ih.att.com (Joe Baugher)
Subject: New Fighter Series--Grumman F-14 Tomcat (12 of 14)
Message-ID: <D1wrvr.Crt@ssbunews.ih.att.com>
Summary: F-14T, F-14X
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Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 1995 01:23:50 GMT
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The F-14T was a very austere Tomcat derivative designed during the 
early 1970s as a alternative to the F-14A and B, which were becoming 
increasingly costly.  The F-14T would have had only Sparrow and 
Sidewinder missile capability.  The Navy concluded that the F-14T 
would offer little advantage over the F-4 Phantom, and the F-14T 
proceeded no further than the concept stage.  

The F-14X was the designation given to several different proposals for 
cost-reduced Tomcats that were somewhat less radically-downgraded than 
the F-14T.  Some retained AIM-54 capability, but some eliminated it.  
Some of these proposals reduced simultaneous target tracking from 24 
to 12 targets, and removed the glove vanes and the approach power 
compensator.  The various F-14X proposals were discarded after the Yom 
Kippur War of October 1973, when high Israeli attrition rates 
suggested to the Navy that they had better equip their carriers with 
the best-available aircraft.  

Sources:

   Grumman Aircraft Since 1919, Rene J. Francillon, Naval Institute
   Press, 1989.

   Grumman F-14 Tomcat, Doug Richardson, Osprey, 1987.

   F-14 Tomcat: Fleet Defender, Robert F. Dorr, World Airpower
   Journal, Vol 7, 1991.
 
   Grumman F-14 Tomcat Variant Briefing, World Airpower Journal,
   Vol. 19, 1994.

   Encyclopedia of World Military Aircraft, Volume 1, David Donald
   and Jon Lake, AirTime, 1994.


Joe Baugher			  **************************************
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