11bee Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 I stumbled upon a very well done podcast focused exclusively on the F-14. If you are interested in this aircraft, you definitely want to check this out. It's hosted by a high time pilot and RIO and the guests are all subject matter experts. You can find it at: F-14 Tomcast on Apple Podcasts One thing I found fascinating was the two episodes where they did deep dives into the F-14D, first with a pilot and then with a RIO. I always sold the Tom short, but the D model seems to have been a beast. The interesting part was that the best feature of the jet seemed to have been the IRST (or "Urst" as the crew referred to it). According to them, it was a massive game changer. They could detect targets radar silent at close to 200 miles and using a data link to another jet, they could triangulate to get a rough range estimate and take a no-radar Phoenix shots. Makes me wonder why we never bothered to make the IRST a standard feature on all of our jets. The RIO interview is especially interesting for techno-nerds like me. He goes way in depth on the various radar modes, intercept techniques, etc. Well worth checking out for all you F-14 fanbois!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Cartwright Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Thanks for the link, I'll have to check it out. And I have always wondered about IRST on US aircraft as well. It seems like just about every other country put it on their fighters, and the F-14 had it (at least some models) and it seemed to work well, so I am surprised it's not more standard. I figure there must be a reason, but the Block III Super Hornets are getting a centerline tank with IRST built in, so some value must be seen in it. Maybe the US figure AWACS would handle things well enough? I don't know... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 2 hours ago, Ken Cartwright said: Thanks for the link, I'll have to check it out. And I have always wondered about IRST on US aircraft as well. It seems like just about every other country put it on their fighters, and the F-14 had it (at least some models) and it seemed to work well, so I am surprised it's not more standard. I figure there must be a reason, but the Block III Super Hornets are getting a centerline tank with IRST built in, so some value must be seen in it. Maybe the US figure AWACS would handle things well enough? I don't know... It’s also getting mounted in a (Legion) pod on F-15C’s and I believe it was going to be integrated on the F-22 but it was abandoned to save $. I wonder how well the F-35 fairs in this area? From what I have read, it’s FLIR system is closer to what you’d see in a targeting pod. I think the fact that our AWACS are now vulnerable and the bad guys are flying stealthy-ish jets might account for the recent push to field these. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) Super Hornets and F-15EX are both getting IRSTs ... VFA-94 has already done Fleet Testing last year on deployment ... Thanks for the link, 11bee ..! -Gregg Edited February 12, 2022 by GreyGhost Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 Ward Carroll (Tomcat RIO) has an interesting channel but he doesn’t exactly focus on the F-14. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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