F-14A - ECM 'bumps'

[MattP]

Did the late model F-14A's have the ECM 'bumps' by the intakes or was it just the B models?

Thanks in advance!

MattP

[Andre]

Short answer - yes.

See:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234910566-tomcats-101-article/

Cheers,

Andre

[Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy]

Yep, they appeared earlier than many realize. Here's a photo of VF-102 in 1981, and you can see they already have them.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/F-14A_VF-102_on_USS_America_(CV-66)_1981.jpg

[Darren Roberts]

It depends on which bumps you're talking about. The ones beside the intake were part of the Block 125 upgrade which also included the ECM antenna on the boat tail. Like Andrew said, these appeared in the early 80's. In the late 90's, the A's began to be upgraded again and received the ECM blisters on the leading edge of the wing glove area and on the left front gear door. At that point, they were almost identical to Bravos. The only way you could tell the difference was the engine nozzles the presence of the wing glove vanes. The A's had the vanes and the B's were puttied over.

[Neeko]

It depends on which bumps you're talking about. The ones beside the intake were part of the Block 125 upgrade which also included the ECM antenna on the boat tail. Like Andrew said, these appeared in the early 80's. In the late 90's, the A's began to be upgraded again and received the ECM blisters on the leading edge of the wing glove area and on the left front gear door. At that point, they were almost identical to Bravos. The only way you could tell the difference was the engine nozzles the presence of the wing glove vanes. The A's had the vanes and the B's were puttied over.

The second set of new bumps that Darren was referring to was the upgrade to ALR-67 from the older ALR-45 and 50. When the more prominent intake wedge bumps and the blister on the port NLG door appeared, it coincided with the disappearance of the tiny third blade antenna on the turtleback... as well as the one on the NLG door. That was for ALR-50 and was removed when the 67 hit the street.

[Darren Roberts]

The second set of new bumps that Darren was referring to was the upgrade to ALR-67 from the older ALR-45 and 50. When the more prominent intake wedge bumps and the blister on the port NLG door appeared, it coincided with the disappearance of the tiny third blade antenna on the turtleback... as well as the one on the NLG door. That was for ALR-50 and was removed when the 67 hit the street.

Thanks! I can never remember the designations of the ECM systems. i had forgotten about the smaller antenna being removed.

[MattP]

Thanks everybody for the information!

MattP