"Bombcat" upgrades, yay or nay?

[Manuel_108]

Tried it right now, didn't allow me to get 2 2xR-60s but my wingman had no problem appearently carrying 8 missiles total. Weird.

 

Edit: My usual loadout consists of 4 R-60M and 2 SARs, rather than only 4.

[fltsimbuff]

Tons of missiles? I see only three types and all are A2A.

 

Maybe he meant literally "tons" of missiles, as a full load of Phoenix missiles will weigh in around 3 tons....

[Manuel_108]

^ :D And they are 13ft long each.

[PFunk1606688187]

I see a bunch of people whining about apparently being unsatisfied if their 1970s fighter plane can't self designate PGMs.

 

Oh man. Apparently requiring teamwork isn't an acceptable feature.

[turkeydriver]

No it is not. The F-14B is the F-14A+. The Bombcat is the upgraded F-14B.

 

Bombcat......

It's a name created by people on the ground who saw bombs on a tomcat.....

 

The upgraded F-14Bs weren't upgraded "to carry bombs", as any tomcat could do this. The VF-41 F-14As that dropped GBUs in Bosnia had no upgrades whatsoever.

The upgrade you are referring to is the F-14B(upgrade) and this can be seen sometimes on the side of the jet just above the BuNo. What it did was upgrade the capability of dropping bombs. It upgraded the databus(allowing for JDAM carriage-this is why those F-14Bs and Ds could drop JDAM and F-14A could not), replaced display components in the RIO seat(crystal clear huge screen for accurate laser designation-this is directly responsible for the huge display in the F-18F backseat), the control grip from the A-12 on the left hand side(looks like a backseat F-16 throttle, but its just for LANTIRN control) and a few other upgrades. Bombcat is an airshow name.

 

Now to topic, I'd like these upgrades but later and if it isn't too difficult. We need an accurate stores management system first and I gotta see how the RIO seat looks before I want this capability. Though FAC(A) mission in multiplayer would be amazing. In one mission during Desert Fox, a single F-14 crew took out 2 A-A gun emplacements and then lased for 8 more Hornets using AGM-65E and GBU-12. That capability would be great fun, as long as its done correctly.

[Dudikoff]

The upgraded F-14Bs weren't upgraded "to carry bombs", as any tomcat could do this. The VF-41 F-14As that dropped GBUs in Bosnia had no upgrades whatsoever.

The upgrade you are referring to is the F-14B(upgrade) and this can be seen sometimes on the side of the jet just above the BuNo. What it did was upgrade the capability of dropping bombs. It upgraded the databus(allowing for JDAM carriage-this is why those F-14Bs and Ds could drop JDAM and F-14A could not), replaced display components in the RIO seat(crystal clear huge screen for accurate laser designation-this is directly responsible for the huge display in the F-18F backseat), the control grip from the A-12 on the left hand side(looks like a backseat F-16 throttle, but its just for LANTIRN control) and a few other upgrades. Bombcat is an airshow name.

 

I believe the F-14A(Upgrade) also included a digital bus upgrade (although not sure if the same one as on the B) and later some F-14A's were made LTS capable (the new PTID screen was not necessary, apparently; the old TID could present the image, albeit at a lower resolution). The wiki states that those F-14A's over Bosnia in 1995 were the first F-14's to drop LGB's in combat, although the targets were designated by F/A-18's since the LTS pod was not integrated yet. I'm not sure though that the F-14A's could drop LGB's before the upgrade? How would they know if the LGB has locked onto a designated target before dropping it?

 

Regarding JDAM, it could have probably been integrated with the A, but the A's were probably (getting?) phased out by that time (JDAM integration was done in 2001 on the B and 2002 on the D).

Edited March 7, 2015 by Dudikoff

[PFunk1606688187]

Now to topic, I'd like these upgrades but later and if it isn't too difficult. We need an accurate stores management system first and I gotta see how the RIO seat looks before I want this capability. Though FAC(A) mission in multiplayer would be amazing. In one mission during Desert Fox, a single F-14 crew took out 2 A-A gun emplacements and then lased for 8 more Hornets using AGM-65E and GBU-12. That capability would be great fun, as long as its done correctly.

 

A-10 FACs had occasion to work with Tomcat FACs in Kosovo on those occasions when the LANTIRN could give them PID that their Binos couldn't, such as when things started getting dark.

 

A fun turn about to that would be for A-10Cs to lase for LN F-14s who can't lase for themselves.

 

@ijozic Bomb on Coordinate attacks specifically do not require that knowledge ahead of time if someone else is the one concerned with making the bomb track.

[Dudikoff]

@ijozic Bomb on Coordinate attacks specifically do not require that knowledge ahead of time if someone else is the one concerned with making the bomb track.

 

OK, they can just drop them over the target since the codes are apparently set on the ground, but if those F-14s have no LSTs to spot the track, unless they were flying in formation with those F/A-18's, locating the targets with no precise navigation and targeting pods sounds really tricky.

[PFunk1606688187]

It is tricky, but thats the game. A-10s made a career out of finding targets with binos and a map before TGPs and GPS, and not just at 5000AGL but much higher.

 

The Tomcat's ability to turn coordinates into a bombing solution depends entirely on what it does have.

But I don' t know what the full capability of the aircraft in question would have been.

Edited March 7, 2015 by P*Funk

[turkeydriver]

F-14As had only a 1553 digital data bus, and this is why they couldn't drop JDAM, They could have been upgraded, but there was no need, they were effective LGM carriers- VF-154 dropped GBU-24 Paveway 3 on several occasions and lased with their own LANTIRNs. VF-41 drop PaveWay III during Kosovo, but with it being a first time think and the crews not being wholly proficient, the results were not as expected. They were trying to seal a cave entrance that hid a lot of MiG-17 and MiG-21. The bomb hit the mountain and buried deep before detonation, possibly collapsing parts of the cave.