C-Phoenix introduction

[Noctrach]

In all the campaigns that come with the F-14B (Cage The Bear, Reforger I and II), the jets are equipped by default with AIM-54A, mostly Mk60 types. I take it this is done from a gameplay perspective, but as the missions are set in 1990s and beyond, it gave me a bit of a shower thought:

How was the rollout of the AIM-54C handled in real life? Bit of a pedantic question, I know, but still curious. All shots I see from Desert Storm and later are of Tomcats equipped with the 54C model. Since the missile was only fired all of 3 times in anger, I'm curious what happened with "older stocks".

Considering the seeker tech was such a massive leap over the -A, was the earlier version still kept around in operational capacity or were they rendered obsolete/relegated to the shooting range with the introduction of the -C?

[LanceCriminal86]

Not a pedantic question at all! It's pretty common across any interest where a military adopts a new thing, and then rolls it out into use. You kind of have to mix official documents/statements, accounts from end-users, and photos together to build a good idea.

It's hard to find specific dates for squadrons or numbers, but if we're comparing to say the TCS rollout you'd expect the first batches of missiles after weapon tests to get to squadrons that are about to go on deployment, possibly in time for them to do a MISSILEX before their cruise with the new missile.  Apparently VF-2 may have taken the C on it's first cruise, trying to find the dates but '87 potentially. Operational testing and eval was going on in '84-'86 timeframe so '87 rollout to first fleet squadrons makes sense, putting decent numbers of them in place by Desert Shield/Storm. And there are photos of Cs being painted white, so before the Navy switched missiles to the tactical paint schemes. You can at least see on Ranger's 1987 cruise there is a photo of a 54C in white:

On the second part, basically the stocks of As were used for live fires and expended until they were either gone or the motors were unsafe to use. During the transition photos have been spotted where there were 54Cs with white motor/fin sections and grey seekers for example.

[near_blind]

The first operational deployment with the C, at least within PACFLT was with CVW-2 in 1987. That picture was probably taken as part of that.

As for why the AIM-54A in those missions. When the module was introduced there were far fewer differences in how the AIM-54A and C seekers worked, the C basically being an A with better CCM, and the Mk60 motor was far more optimistically tuned. I believe the opinion at the time was the booster performance from the 60 motor outweighed any CCM advantages the C seeker offered, and was the missile of choice for the mission making team. Since then the Mk60 motor has been reigned in quite a bit, and significant differences between the A and C seekers have been added. The missions should probably use the C, but haven't been updated to dos o. 

 

Edited December 14, 2023 by near_blind

[Noctrach]

Thanks a lot for the detailed responses guys very insightful!

20 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

On the second part, basically the stocks of As were used for live fires and expended until they were either gone or the motors were unsafe to use. During the transition photos have been spotted where there were 54Cs with white motor/fin sections and grey seekers for example.

That's exactly what I was sorta expecting to find, old motors with new seekers. Couldn't find any photos of them though.
Good stuff!

19 hours ago, near_blind said:

The missions should probably use the C, but haven't been updated to do so. 

One of the advantages of non-DRM campaigns I can fly these with the F-14A and "realistic"/personalized loadouts if I want to. Not super fond of 2/2/4 outside of BARCAP...

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Noctrach

[Nealius]

Speaking of the motors, wasn't the C only made with one motor type? I recall reading that somewhere on the forums here but I'm having a hard time finding the source.

[Dragon1-1]

Because it turned out there were Cs made with the Mk60 motors (not especially common, though). We have all of them now.

[Uxi]

Im Tomcat RIO Bio said they cross decked the new 54Cs from Constellation to Ranger in 1987.

He said Constellation had been the first deployment, which would make Ranger's (for Earnest Will), the second. 

[captain_dalan]

General question here, were the ECCM and ECCM/Sealed introduced and used only with the D and it's new radar, or were they compatible with the vanilla AWG-9 as well?