Made by Grumman Aerospace to promote their newest high-performance aircraft F-14 ONE OF A KIND celebrates the Navy’s F-14 Tomcat, and features comments by Navy pilots and commanders. It gives an impressive overview of this amazing airplane. The opening of the film discusses how a multi-role interceptor is needed that can also “go it alone”, with long-range capabilities — and then states that the only aircraft in the world capable of performing that multi-role today is the F-14. The F-14 combines a high performance airframe with the Phoenix missile system AIM-54A, which can destroy targets air-to-air at long and short ranges. The film includes a wide variety of footage including of Soviet MiGs, Backdraft bombers and tactical interceptors starting at 1:20, and images of the Soviet missile systems shown at 6:00 including air, submarine-launched and other guided missile systems. At 6:30, the F-14’s airborne radar systems are shown in operation performing an intercept. At 7:23, Phoenix missile tests are shown striking a variety of drone targets. At 9:00, the aircraft’s two-man cockpit is shown with its ECM components and highly automated systems.
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy’s Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the collapse of the F-111B project. The F-14 was the first of the American teen-series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.
The F-14 first flew in December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 served as the U.S. Navy’s primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the 1990s. The Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pod system were added in the 1990s and the Tomcat began performing precision ground-attack missions.
In the 1980s F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War, where they saw combat against Iraqi warplanes. Iranian F-14s reportedly shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war, while only 12 to 16 Tomcats were lost; at least half of these losses were due to accidents. The Tomcat was retired from the U.S. Navy’s active fleet on 22 September 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.[4] The F-14 remains in service with the Iranian Air Force, having been exported to Iran in 1976.
The AIM-54 Phoenix is a radar-guided, long-range air-to-air missile (AAM), carried in clusters of up to six missiles on the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, its only operational launch platform. The Phoenix was the United States’ only long-range air-to-air missile. The combination of Phoenix missile and the AN/AWG-9 guidance radar was the first aerial weapons system that could simultaneously engage multiple targets.
Both the missile and the aircraft were used by Iran and the United States Navy. In US service both are now retired, the AIM-54 Phoenix in 2004 and the F-14 in 2006. They were replaced by the shorter-range AIM-120 AMRAAM, employed on the F/A-18 Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Following the retirement of the F-14 by the U.S. Navy, the weapon’s only current operator is the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. Brevity code “Fox Three” was used when firing the AIM-54.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
