F-14 Tomcat And F-15 Eagle,Which Is More Powerful?

The 1970s can be considered the most exciting decade in the history of US military aviation It witnessed the development of numerous iconic fighter jets such as the F-14 F-15, F-16 and the predecessor of the F-18 the YF-17 Not only were these aircraft plentiful in number but their performance was also world-class The F-14 and F-15, in particular shared many similarities Both were large, twin-tailed twin-engine air superiority fighters and which was stronger became a point of debate To compare the performance of these two aircraft it is essential to understand a concept The F-14 was not designed as a fighter but as a high-tech interceptor aircraft On the other hand the F-15 was initially conceived as an air superiority fighter In reality each of these four aircraft introduced in the 1970s had different mission profiles The F-14 was specifically developed to counter Soviet bombers During the Cold War US aircraft carrier battle groups dominated the world while the Soviets responded by building a large number of supersonic bombers and high-speed long-range anti-ship missiles When the Soviet Su-22 officially appeared US aircraft carriers were metaphorically referred to as "floating coffins" because the anti-missile systems at that time were not as advanced and couldn't intercept the Soviet saturation attacks The best solution was to shoot down the bombers before they could launch their missiles leading to the creation of the F-14 On the other hand the F-15 was an air superiority fighter Its primary purpose was air combat with superior overall performance It had some overlapping capabilities with the F-14 but the F-14 was carrier-based and primarily focused on interceptions while the F-15 was an all-weather fighter The two aircraft had different missions equipment and performance For example radar capabilities differed between them As an interceptor the F-14 required beyond-visual-range capabilities so it was equipped with the state-of-the-art AWG-9 radar which could detect large bombers within a range of 320 kilometers and smaller fighters within a range of 210 kilometers Coupled with the specialized AIM-54 Phoenix missile it could engage targets up to 100 kilometers away In comparison the F-15 lacked long-range intercept capabilities and did not possess air-to-air missiles with fire-and-forget capability The F-15 relied on semi-active radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow missiles The only drawback of the F-14 at the time was that the AWG-9 radar lacked IFF (identification friend or foe) capability It could only provide target bearing distance and direction information The IFF systems available at that time could not cover the large detection range of the AWG-9 The F-14 had to rely on carrier radar or airborne early warning aircraft systems to determine target positions and then engage them or force them to change direction That was essentially the primary role of the F-14 To handle various contingencies in air combat the F-15 had a sophisticated IFF system It had a good combat record with a ratio of 105: 0 in air-to-air engagements and having never been defeated The only things it lacked were long-range detection capabilities and long-range strike capabilities However it was precisely these two aspects that made the F-15 inferior to the F-14 In beyond-visual-range combat the F-15 would be shot down by the F-14 before detecting it Apart from their different missions and advantages the two aircraft held different positions The F-14 and F-15 were products of the same era with only a two-year difference in service introduction and minimal technological disparities The main distinction lay in their positions For the United States at the time the focus was on the Navy The fifth-generation fighters and the B-2 had not yet been developed and aircraft carriers were the most critical weapons The Air Force and Army could only vie for second place Moreover it was the stage for US-Soviet rivalry and the United States spared no expense in investing in the Navy The F-14 was created at all costs while the F-15 as an Air Force asset naturally had a lower status Furthermore the F-14 was 50% more expensive than the F-15 Presently, the price of the F-35 used by the US military itself has dropped below 100 million dollars In today's currency the price of the F-14 would be around 200 million dollars The Phoenix missiles it carried were already priced at half a million dollars per missile 40 years ago which would be around 10 million dollars per missile today Such exorbitant costs eventually became unsustainable even for the US Navy However it is important to note that it is somewhat one-sided to judge the superiority of fighter aircraft solely based on intercept capabilities and missile ranges Other aspects should also be compared For example the powerplant of the F-14 initially consisted of two Pratt & Whitney TF30 turbofan engines which were prone to malfunctions Later they were replaced with two General Electric F110 engines In comparison the F-15 used the Pratt & Whitney F100 engine at that time In terms of engine performance and thrust the F-14 was undoubtedly more advanced However the F-14 was heavier and had the additional requirement of taking off from an aircraft carrier which placed higher demands on the engines Conventionally it is commonly believed that carrier-based aircraft have an overall performance inferior to land-based aircraft This is because carrier-based aircraft require additional weight for catapult launches corrosion resistance and landing equipment due to the harsh environment of high salt and humidity The empty weight of the F-14 reached 18 tons while the F-15 had an empty weight of 12 tons However the F-14's engine performance was still superior to that of the F-15 and combined with the technology of variable-sweep wings the F-14 had comparable maneuverability to the F-15 However the most important aspect of aerial combat is the weapons system The F-14 fighter had a payload capacity of 6.5 tons It was equipped with an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and missiles such as the AIM-54 AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder Occasionally the F-14 also carried ground attack munitions such as laser-guided and unguided bombs The baseline F-15 fighter had a payload capacity of 7.3 tons which was later increased to 10.7 tons The F-15's weapons mainly included air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-7 Sparrow AIM-9, AIM-120 and the same M61 Vulcan cannon In terms of weapon quantity the F-15 had the advantage and its combat radius was more than twice that of the F-14 Before the introduction of the AIM-120 in an air-to-air engagement between the two aircraft the F-14 would easily come out on top In summary the F-14 had the advantage of radar and long-range air-to-air missile systems Its detection range could reach 300 kilometers and guide six missiles to attack six different targets simultaneously a capability only found in modern fighter aircraft In comparison the F-15's radar detection range at that time was only 180 kilometers Additionally the F-14 had a dedicated radar operator in the rear seat which significantly increased its efficiency in engaging targets like long-range strike bombers compared to the F-15 In terms of close-range dog fighting thanks to its variable-sweep wing design the F-14 had better low-speed maneuverability than the F-15 The variable-sweep wing was designed to balance high-speed interception and aircraft carrier landing performance Initially its operational targets were high-speed penetrating bombers like the Tu-22M and both its Phoenix missiles and radar were prepared for such targets positioning it as an interceptor aircraft However due to its limitations in the thrust-to-weight ratio the F-14's supersonic performance climb rate and stability were inferior to those of the F-15 But the advantage of the F-14's long-range missiles could essentially offset these disadvantages On the other hand the F-15 was developed as a pure air superiority fighter and during that era it was equipped with Sparrow missiles Therefore during the initial service periods of both aircraft the F-14 was undoubtedly stronger In terms of actual combat effectiveness US Navy pilots flying the F-14 could easily defeat the F-15 In the 1980s the US Navy and Air Force conducted numerous adversary exercises and the Navy consistently emerged victorious In 1975 the United States Department of Defense planned a large-scale air combat experiment to comprehensively coordinate the Navy and Air Force in order to study the characteristics of modern aerial warfare From 1977 to 1978 at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada four aircraft models namely the F-5E, F-14, F-15 and F-16 engaged in mutual air combat as part of the AIM/ACE joint operational tests Let's look at the air combat experiments between the F-14 and F-15 which took place in October 1977 The flying altitude ranged from 5400 to 11000 meters with a speed of 0.9 to 1 Mach Missiles were employed when engaging at distances between 6400 and 8000 meters and aircraft guns were used at distances of 300 to 900 meters The results of the experiments might have surprised many as the F-14 emerged victorious with an overwhelming 25: 1 advantage One of the main reasons for the Navy's success was the higher quality of Navy pilots compared to Air Force pilots Navy pilots tended to be more daring The F-14 also outperformed the F-15 and the combined results were a one-sided victory However it is worth noting that the F-15 still had a chance to defeat the F-14 The turning point came with the introduction of the AIM-120 missile After the AIM-120 entered service in 1991 everything changed Before that the performance gap between the F-14 and F-15 was primarily due to the Phoenix and Sparrow missiles The F-14 had a clear advantage in beyond-visual-range combat until the AIM-120 appeared Once the AIM-120 was introduced the F-14's Phoenix missile was no match for the F-15's AIM-120 Even if the F-14 began using the AIM-120 its cost-effectiveness and efficiency lagged behind the F-18 With the addition of the AIM-120 to the F-15's arsenal there was a noticeable difference in the air-to-air combat capabilities between the two aircraft Although the F-14 had previously won against the F-15 it was because the F-14 had been in service earlier and pilots were not familiar with the F-15's performance According to analysis by the Israeli Air Force when simulating engagements against an F-5E as the adversary the F-14 was unable to achieve full suppression while the F-15 could achieve it comprehensively The main reason was that the F-14's air frame was too heavy and its engine thrust was insufficient resulting in an inadequate climb rate acceleration, and roll rate This was also why Israel later chose the F-15 Furthermore the F-14 has since been completely retired while the F-15 is still in its prime Before 2000 the F-14 was undoubtedly superior to the contemporaneous F-15 However, starting in the 1990s the F-14 began to be phased out without subsequent upgrades On the other hand the F-15 has been continuously upgraded and improved over the past few decades with the latest radar missiles and cockpit technologies The latest models of the F-15 are undoubtedly superior to the F-14D If the F-14 had been given the same opportunities for improvement it might have continued to evolve At that point it would be difficult to determine which aircraft would be stronger Do you think that if the F-14 had not been retired and had continued to be developed until now it could still dominate over the F-15? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below See you in the next video

Channel: FP Defense News

Views: 57,703

Keywords: F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16, F-18, AIM-54 Phoenix missile, AIM-7 Sparrow, AWG-9 radar, TF30 turbofan engine, Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, F110 engine, AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120, M61 Vulcan cannon

Id: e1DL_XxGkQ4

Length: 14min 36sec (876 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 05 2023