Jose- So what do you think? Are the politicos (in and out of uniform) giving
the
Buffalo the thumbs down for reasons other than performance? Is the F-14 a
more successful fighter than we have been lead to believe? Or not? BRBR

Don't think that is the issue, that of giving the thumbs down vs a 'thumbs up'.
The design is old, the tooling is essentially gone, the chance for a modern
Tomcat was lost in the 80s when Reagan was POTUS and $$ was everywhere.

The AIM-54 and F-14 are a matched set. Lose one, lose the other. Altho a good
missile in the correct envelope, it was designed to knock down Soviet Bombers.
Considering today's and future 'threats', I think the AIM-120 and a follow-on
are a better, cheaper and more compatible to more A/C, solution.

The F-14B, C, strike Tomcat would have been great and 'may' have precluded the
development of the F-18F, but it wasn't and it didn't. The F-14 is history, the
same way the F-8 was when I got my wings(1974), the same way the F-4 was when I
entered my Department HD tour.
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer