F-14A-GR-135 Early

[Swordsman422]

22 hours ago, RustBelt said:

As I understand it these got out “early” and aren’t technically implemented yet. They work, but ofcourse nothing we currently have has a GPS, so that’s probably a B(U) argument. The others are the mock -95 stuff that’s being worked on in the “Early A” rig. Because even early -135s had TCS. 

Y'know, I do wonder if the GPS arg can be applied to F-14B skins, removing the GPS dome and replicating pre-LANTIRN jets. I'm not in a position to test it, though.

[draconus]

1 hour ago, Swordsman422 said:

Y'know, I do wonder if the GPS arg can be applied to F-14B skins, removing the GPS dome and replicating pre-LANTIRN jets. I'm not in a position to test it, though.

Actually yes, all args work for B skins.

[irisono]

Am 27.10.2025 um 20:18 schrieb Swordsman422:

In the description.lua for each skin between the skin name and countries list:

custom_args = {
    --[115] = 1.000,         -- Remove Entire TCS Chinpod --
    --[116] = 1.000,         -- Add ALQ-100-only Chinpod --
    [701] = 1.000,         -- Spine GPS Dome Visibility --
    };

Excuse me, but I'm a newbie and have never modified a lua script before. How do I need to change the lines described above so that TCS disappears in the skin?

[RustBelt]

8 hours ago, Swordsman422 said:

Y'know, I do wonder if the GPS arg can be applied to F-14B skins, removing the GPS dome and replicating pre-LANTIRN jets. I'm not in a position to test it, though.

Oh GPS dome was with LANTIRN not the PTID? 
 

it’s hard to tell since they kind of came in around the same time, and documentation is still…..meh. 
 

I thought the pod had a self contained GPS, but antenna wired to the roof is probably more reliable.

Edited yesterday at 03:38 AM by RustBelt

[draconus]

7 hours ago, irisono said:

Excuse me, but I'm a newbie and have never modified a lua script before. How do I need to change the lines described above so that TCS disappears in the skin?

Try this:

 custom_args = {
    [115] = 1.000,         -- Remove Entire TCS Chinpod --
    [116] = 1.000,         -- Add ALQ-100-only Chinpod --
    --[701] = 1.000,         -- Spine GPS Dome Visibility --
    }; 

"--" comments the line removing it from code processing.

[LanceCriminal86]

11 hours ago, RustBelt said:

Oh GPS dome was with LANTIRN not the PTID? 
 

it’s hard to tell since they kind of came in around the same time, and documentation is still…..meh. 
 

I thought the pod had a self contained GPS, but antenna wired to the roof is probably more reliable.

Yep, the dome was added when a jet was converted to be LANTIRN capable. We'll probably work through and backdate the Gulf War/older skins on the B as all the art stuff gets completed, HGU-55, fix the BuNO and a few other outstanding things that needed to be done for the B. It needs some minor work around the dome in the textures so we may need to make a common set of roughmet/normals otherwise the size will start creeping up again.

[draconus]

2 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

Yep, the dome was added when a jet was converted to be LANTIRN capable. We'll probably work through and backdate the Gulf War/older skins on the B as all the art stuff gets completed, HGU-55, fix the BuNO and a few other outstanding things that needed to be done for the B. It needs some minor work around the dome in the textures so we may need to make a common set of roughmet/normals otherwise the size will start creeping up again.

Has HB decided what to do with rudder mishap?

Edited 14 hours ago by draconus

[flavnet]

Hello everyone, and sorry if I'm perhaps not well informed, but is the first-generation F-14A-GR-135 the one that entered service from 1977 to 1979? Now, I've never found a single photo demonstrating the presence of the TCS on these aircraft. So, if the developers propose a first-generation F-14A with the TCS, I think something's wrong, and I don't see why I should mess with the code files (with the risk of breaking the program's integrity checks). As I've read in previous posts, it would be sufficient to provide the option to disable the TCS.

[draconus]

5 minutes ago, flavnet said:

Hello everyone, and sorry if I'm perhaps not well informed, but is the first-generation F-14A-GR-135 the one that entered service from 1977 to 1979? Now, I've never found a single photo demonstrating the presence of the TCS on these aircraft. So, if the developers propose a first-generation F-14A with the TCS, I think something's wrong, and I don't see why I should mess with the code files (with the risk of breaking the program's integrity checks). As I've read in previous posts, it would be sufficient to provide the option to disable the TCS.

No, you've mistaken it for 90/95GR.

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-serial-07.htm

[Ivandrov]

For -135, we're talking like mid to late 80's I am pretty sure.

Edited 14 hours ago by Ivandrov

[Zabuzard]

Im personally not much into the Tomcats history but what helps is to not think about the newly released A as "early A" but as the "standard A" while the existing A is a "late A".
So its earlier than the existing, yes, but not early in terms of the As history at all. In fact, its the A as it was used for most of its time. Its the more representable A than the existing A, which is a late A rather.

[SabreDancer]

I agree that the "early" A should properly be thought of as the "standard" A. Basically the upgrades that took the F-14A to -B standard (ALR-67 RWR, BOL chaff dispensers, MIL-STD-1553 bus) didn't arrive until the MMCAP program, the first conversion being finished in 1994. Thus the F-14A "early" is the only F-14A available until well after the end of the Cold War (minus the even earlier blocks, of course).

[LanceCriminal86]

Yep, the 'Early' and 'Late' are a bit of a misnomer if we're talking about the actual production blocks, and 'Early' doesn't really match the timeframe of the F-14's service either. I've been using the term 'Earlier' as it more correctly indicates that this represents an earlier configuration of the jet, but isn't really the 'Early', initial production run of the F-14A.

The -135s were the second to last production block of the F-14A, ordered up around FY 1984, delivered around 85-86, and most of them went right to the FRS/RAG at VF-124 and VF-101, and a few of the last ones from that block went to VF-1 and VF-2.

Additionally, most of the remaining airframes from the -60 and -65 production blocks, used for T&E and the initial VF-124 RAG to train VF-1 and VF-2, were flown or shipped to Calverton and rebuilt during that same time to -135 standard. Due to the Navy's directive to have the Reserves using the same aircraft as the fleet squadrons, the only way to accomplish the numbers to fill out the second pair of reserve squadrons with CVWR-20 was to rebuild the old jets, and an additional 2 airframes each from the very end of the last F-14A block were also provisioned.

The best way to think about it is this: The F-14A modules currently included represent the latter half of F-14A production, starting with the final jet of production block -110 (161168), through the final produced F-14A, in production block -140 (162711).

The -135 (Early) represents those later production blocks as they would have been configured from 1983 through approximately 1995. Around 1983 various updates such as the TF30-P414A, Sidewinder seeker head position, improved SEAM logic, the 2-line TID and scan volume updates, and the currently available radio setup (ARC-182) were being performed and incorporated in new build jets like the -130s & -135s. This also included the TCS, as it was greenlit around 1981 finally and sets were slowly equipping squadrons through the 80s. Until they had enough to equip all jets 1:1, sets were exchanged between squadrons returning from a cruise, and squadrons preparing to depart. A deploying F-14 squadron by '83 would have had TCS sets available. With the LANTIRN attached, this ALSO represents those jets from 1996 through 1998. During that period, only these serials of jets (and for some reason 159428) were converted to be LANTIRN capable, but with no changes to the RWR.

The -135 (Late) represents those same blocks of jets but around the 1998-1999 timeframe when the ALR-67 conversions were beginning. While ideally this jet should also have had the PTID and DFCS performed, this at least provided us an F-14A to play with during that window where the F-14A was being brought to similar parity with the F-14B, but before the F-14B started to receive the more significant upgrades of the B Upgrade program.

To be clear as well, the -95/IIAF jet will not be a 1:1 of the actual jets shipped to Iran, that would almost be a separate module's worth of development or at least a significant rework of the existing jet. While the real F-14As produced for the IIAF would have been missing the upgrades I listed that were rolling out in the early 80s, the MODULE will effectively be the above jet with some systems disabled such as TCS, payload restrictions, and *maybe* the changes to the tapes for the Sidewinder and SEAM. Seeing as the IIAF didn't ultimately get their Navy AIM-9s, SEAM probably would be disabled on that module.

As to what we should expect for the externals or configurable options on the Earlier -135, we should at a minimum get the 80s/production style gun vents and gas purge setup, the missing ALQ-126 jammer blisters added, and hopefully the ALR-67 stuff removed and the ALR-45/50 antennas added. Whether glove vanes come in visual form only is anyone's guess, though they were still an active feature of the F-14As as they were built in that time.

As to the -95/IIAF? The above earlier gun vents, ALR-45/50 antennas, and the restricted ALQ-100 only for the nose would be what I'd expect. No promises were made about the earlier "beaver tail" in the back of the jet to remove the ALQ-126 blister.

 

 

I hope that makes it all clear as mud.

[irisono]

vor 12 Stunden schrieb draconus:

Try this:

 custom_args = {
    [115] = 1.000,         -- Remove Entire TCS Chinpod --
    [116] = 1.000,         -- Add ALQ-100-only Chinpod --
    --[701] = 1.000,         -- Spine GPS Dome Visibility --
    }; 

"--" comments the line removing it from code processing.

Works great. I appreciate your help.

[Tomcatter87]

10 hours ago, LanceCriminal86 said:

Yep, the 'Early' and 'Late' are a bit of a misnomer if we're talking about the actual production blocks, and 'Early' doesn't really match the timeframe of the F-14's service either. I've been using the term 'Earlier' as it more correctly indicates that this represents an earlier configuration of the jet, but isn't really the 'Early', initial production run of the F-14A.

The -135s were the second to last production block of the F-14A, ordered up around FY 1984, delivered around 85-86, and most of them went right to the FRS/RAG at VF-124 and VF-101, and a few of the last ones from that block went to VF-1 and VF-2.

Additionally, most of the remaining airframes from the -60 and -65 production blocks, used for T&E and the initial VF-124 RAG to train VF-1 and VF-2, were flown or shipped to Calverton and rebuilt during that same time to -135 standard. Due to the Navy's directive to have the Reserves using the same aircraft as the fleet squadrons, the only way to accomplish the numbers to fill out the second pair of reserve squadrons with CVWR-20 was to rebuild the old jets, and an additional 2 airframes each from the very end of the last F-14A block were also provisioned.

The best way to think about it is this: The F-14A modules currently included represent the latter half of F-14A production, starting with the final jet of production block -110 (161168), through the final produced F-14A, in production block -140 (162711).

The -135 (Early) represents those later production blocks as they would have been configured from 1983 through approximately 1995. Around 1983 various updates such as the TF30-P414A, Sidewinder seeker head position, improved SEAM logic, the 2-line TID and scan volume updates, and the currently available radio setup (ARC-182) were being performed and incorporated in new build jets like the -130s & -135s. This also included the TCS, as it was greenlit around 1981 finally and sets were slowly equipping squadrons through the 80s. Until they had enough to equip all jets 1:1, sets were exchanged between squadrons returning from a cruise, and squadrons preparing to depart. A deploying F-14 squadron by '83 would have had TCS sets available. With the LANTIRN attached, this ALSO represents those jets from 1996 through 1998. During that period, only these serials of jets (and for some reason 159428) were converted to be LANTIRN capable, but with no changes to the RWR.

The -135 (Late) represents those same blocks of jets but around the 1998-1999 timeframe when the ALR-67 conversions were beginning. While ideally this jet should also have had the PTID and DFCS performed, this at least provided us an F-14A to play with during that window where the F-14A was being brought to similar parity with the F-14B, but before the F-14B started to receive the more significant upgrades of the B Upgrade program.

To be clear as well, the -95/IIAF jet will not be a 1:1 of the actual jets shipped to Iran, that would almost be a separate module's worth of development or at least a significant rework of the existing jet. While the real F-14As produced for the IIAF would have been missing the upgrades I listed that were rolling out in the early 80s, the MODULE will effectively be the above jet with some systems disabled such as TCS, payload restrictions, and *maybe* the changes to the tapes for the Sidewinder and SEAM. Seeing as the IIAF didn't ultimately get their Navy AIM-9s, SEAM probably would be disabled on that module.

As to what we should expect for the externals or configurable options on the Earlier -135, we should at a minimum get the 80s/production style gun vents and gas purge setup, the missing ALQ-126 jammer blisters added, and hopefully the ALR-67 stuff removed and the ALR-45/50 antennas added. Whether glove vanes come in visual form only is anyone's guess, though they were still an active feature of the F-14As as they were built in that time.

As to the -95/IIAF? The above earlier gun vents, ALR-45/50 antennas, and the restricted ALQ-100 only for the nose would be what I'd expect. No promises were made about the earlier "beaver tail" in the back of the jet to remove the ALQ-126 blister.

 

 

I hope that makes it all clear as mud.

Thanks for clarifying. That means F-14As in Operation Desert Storm flew with that ancient RWR gear? Quite astonishing.

[Ivandrov]

Your strategic and medium-range SAMs were SA-2's, SA-3's and SA-6's. So, it was still sufficient.

Edited 1 hour ago by Ivandrov