F-14A/B Role Agility and Magnetic Tape

[Horns]

I've been listening to the F-14 Tomcast (I'm a little late to the party) and I noticed an interesting point during one of the episodes. I'm afraid I'm not sure which one, but I think it might have been the one about the F-14D Combat Systems. Apparently, when configuring the F-14A for the air-to-ground mission, the RIO had to read in magnetic tape to prepare the systems. I've got several questions, and I'm hoping the good people here might have the knowledge to be able to answer them. I don't believe the magnetic tape read-in requirement is modeled in our DCS F-14, so these questions are regarding the Tomcat IRL. FTR, although the read-in requirement might have affected our variants IRL, the F-14D doesn't seem to have the same requirement, so I think the DCS F-14 winds up having role agility that roughly approximates the F-14D. I don't think this is a bad thing.

My questions:

1) What is the earliest point in a mission when the magnetic tape could be read in and how long did it take? Could it be initiated prior to taxiing or take-off?

2) After the air-to-ground tape read-in, were any radar modes or air-to-air missiles unavailable, and if so, which ones, and until what event? If the radar was impacted, how would this impact the pilot being able to use ACM modes?

3) Was there any air-to-air usage that would require the RIO to repeat the air-to-ground tape read-in (eg radar guided missile employment)?

4) Did the tape read-in requirement also apply to the F-14B?

Thanks for reading

H

[Naquaii]

This is already modelled. That's why you have to wait for A/G when switching into that mode.

 

Basically any mode other than the standard A/A modes were on that magnetic tape but the read-in is automatic when those are selected.

So no read-in required for ACM or A/A.

[Horns]

4 hours ago, Naquaii said:

This is already modelled. That's why you have to wait for A/G when switching into that mode.

 

Basically any mode other than the standard A/A modes were on that magnetic tape but the read-in is automatic when those are selected.

So no read-in required for ACM or A/A.

Thanks for the explanation, I stand corrected. How long do we have to wait when we switch into a/g? Also, if we enter a/g, wait for the read-in, switch to a/a (eg select/employ AIM-54) and then switch back to a/g, so we have to wait for the read-in again?

Always impressed how deep Heatblur dove with the F-14.

[Naquaii]

2 hours ago, Horns said:

Thanks for the explanation, I stand corrected. How long do we have to wait when we switch into a/g? Also, if we enter a/g, wait for the read-in, switch to a/a (eg select/employ AIM-54) and then switch back to a/g, so we have to wait for the read-in again?

Always impressed how deep Heatblur dove with the F-14.

IIRC it's only the first time you press A/G. Then it's read into memory. The other modes requiring tape read-in are stuff that aren't implemented so not really a factor.