Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

I have always thought about what would be the results of this dogfight. The F-14 Tomcat was one of americas best fighters and the F/A-18 is definetly Australias best. They have many things in common and it would be an exciting dogfight to watch... but who would win?

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Parkeran

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Hi,
Although I would want the F/A-18 to win I think that the Tomcat would win.
Keep Soaring High
Parkeran2 Cool

No...the 18 is more agile...now are we talking BVR or WVR...

Tomcat/Phoenix BVR. Depends on the drivers closer in.

Of course, a career Hornet pilot like Neptunus Lex would probably say the Hornet wins WVR Wink

.

Yeah, the AIM-54 has range for sure, but there's no guarantee it would hit. I read in one of the threads here the other day 1 was fired at a target, but missed. So on that note, BVR, AIM-120 off the F-18, we can't really speculate because AAMRAMS don't ALWAYS hit either.

Now WVR, it's either's game, both are AIM-9 capable. So there, it's hard to speculate too. I think as far as manueverability wise, the 18 has it hands down. But it's hard to say who would win a skirmish like this.

Hi,
I also guess it could come down to the indervidual skill of the pilots and the condition of the plane.
Keep Soaring High
Parkeran2 Cool

It will always come down to skills of the pilot. But, I try not to use that, because that's a huge variable.

Good point about A/C condition, I never thought of that to be honest.

Both very good aircraft. But the F-18 would win.

With the following loadouts, here's how I think it would go down.

F-14- 4 AIM-54C, 2 AIM-7F (since the Tomcat was never equipped with AMRAAMs), 2 AIM-9L

F-18- 2 AIM-120C-5, 2 AIM-9X

No tanks, full internal fuel when entering the opponent's detection range, Hornet has JHMCS, Tomcat has IRST/TCS combo and a good RIO.

Scenario 1-
In the closure before the merge, F-14 locks up F-18, fires 3 AIM-54 with several seconds between them. The Hornet manages to dodge the first 2, runs out of enough airspeed to dodge the third and is killed 50 miles away from the Tomcat.

Scenario 2-
In the closure before the merge, F-14 locks up F-18, fires 2 AIM-54. The Hornet dodges them or they fail to track, the 18 returns to bearing to close with the Tomcat. Our cocky Tomcat crew decides to close and save their last 2 phoenix missiles for a tail chase shot after the Hornet bingoes and has to run. The next shot is taken by the Hornet as it's AMRAAMs outrange the Tomcat's sparrows. The AMRAAM's head on aspect PK is pretty good, the AMRAAM hits, game over, Hornet wins.

Scenario 3- Same as the beginning of scenario 2, but our Tomcat crew somehow manages to evade one of the deadliest A-A weapons currently deployed. They are now defensive with their nose pointed away from the Hornet which is closing rapidly to 9X range. Hornet can fire it's other AMRAAM or choose to close to visual range. Our now confident Hornet pilot knows the Tomcat is defensive and decides to move in for the close kill. In the time it takes the Hornet to close, the Tomcat has recovered and is now heading back towards the Hornet, setting up for a sparrow shot. Tomcat ripple fires both sparrows. Hornet maneuvers to evade and does since the sparrow has an abysmal PK against fighter sized, highly maneuverable (and aware) targets. The Hornet is now defensive and the Tomcat moves into sidewinder range. First Sidewinder show misses, second one hits and kills the Hornet.

Scenario 4- Same as Scenario 3, but our Hornet pilot fires his second AMRAAM instead of closing. The AMRAAM is close enough to go active almost as soon as it's launched leaving the Hornet pilot free to close to optimum 9X range while the Tomcat is concerned about the incoming AMRAAM. Luck is not with our tomcat crew as the second AMRAAM hits and kills the Tomcat.

Yeah...that pretty much works for me... Laughing

That F-14 better dump its AIM-54s if its going into WVR. Those bastards are heavy.

Entropy wrote:

Yeah...that pretty much works for me... Laughing

Ditto!

Initially, I'd give the edge to the Rhino but the Tomcat has been around a while & there's some really experienced pilots out there!

Umm. All the Tomcat pilots in the Navy are now flying Rhinos, C's or a desk.

I suppose your right INO. So now we possibly won't ever now the result we have to judge it by stats and proformance.

Parkeran wrote:

I suppose your right INO. So now we possibly won't ever now the result we have to judge it by stats and proformance.

Wrong-o!! Just send a 4-ship of Hornets into Iranian airspace, and we'll test this theory.
$50 on the Hornets! Any takers??

Forum: Military Aircraft of the Cold War

F/A-18 vs F-14