Grumman F-14 Tomcat

The **Grumman F-14 Tomcat** is an American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing jet fighter aircraft that appears in Fighter & Attacker (as F-14D Super Tomcat), Top Gun series, After Burner series (F-14D Super Tomcat in After Burner Climax), U.N. Squadron, Carrier Air Wing, 1945k III, and it's namesake for its pinball game by Williams. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the collapse of the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B project. The F-14 was the first of the American Teen Series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.

The F-14 first flew on 21 December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard USS *Enterprise* (CVN-65), replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 served as the U.S. Navy's primary maritime air superiority fighter, fleet defense interceptor, and tactical aerial reconnaissance platform into the 2000s. The Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared for Night (LANTIRN) pod system was added in the 1990s and the Tomcat began performing precision ground-attack missions.

In the 1980s, F-14s were used as land-based interceptors by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War, where they saw combat against Iraqi warplanes. Iran claimed their F-14s shot down at least 160 Iraqi aircraft during the war (only 55 of these confirmed, according to historian Tom Cooper), while 16 Tomcats were lost, including seven losses to accidents.

The Tomcat was retired by the U.S. Navy on September 22, 2006, having been supplanted by the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet. Several retired F-14s have been put on display across the US. The F-14 remains in service with the Iranian Air Force, having been exported to Iran under the Pahlavi dynasty in 1976.

The F-14 Tomcat first appeared in the Arcade version of U.N. Squadron, where it serves as Mickey Simon's fighter of choice. It appeared again in Carrier Air Wing as Rick Ford's fighter of choice. On both games it is the fastest ship available, being specialized in air-to-air combat and having minimal air-to-ground weapons available. On the SNES version of U.N. Squadron the F-14 can be purchased with $300,000. It is the fastest ship available, being faster than even the F-200 Efreet, having a maximum firepower of 5.

The F-14 Tomcat reappears as the main jet fighter in After Burner by Sega. At the start of the game, the player takes off from an aircraft carrier called the *SEGA Enterprise* on a mission to destroy enemy jets over 18 stages. In the arcade version, the jet employs a machine gun and a limited number of heat-seeking missiles (in the Master System version the player has unlimited missiles). These weapons are replenished by another aircraft, after beating a few stages. The aircraft, cannon and missile buttons are all controlled from an integrated flight stick. The game itself was released in two variations in the US: a standard upright cabinet and a rotating cockpit version. In the cockpit version, the seat tilted forward and backwards, and the cockpit rotated from side to side. It featured two speakers at head-level for stereo sound, and had a seatbelt to hold the player when the cockpit moved. Both cabinets contained a grey monitor frame with flashing lights at the top that indicated an enemy's "lock" on the player's craft. Japan also received a commander cabinet that moved left and right.

   In Sonic & All Stars Racing: Transformed, the F-14 Tomcat from After Burner was used for AGES' aerial form

In Top Gun: Maverick, Maverick and Rooster stole an F-14 Tomcat from a destroyed enemy air base and engaging an dogfight against the enemy Sukhoi Su-57 Felons after their F/A-18 Super Hornets were shot down by SAMs (Surface to air missiles) after the bombing run and during the battle. Maverick and Rooster locked on into one of the Su-57 fighters and launched a homing missile, but it fails because the Su-57 pilot made a quick Cobra spin evasive maneuver and used its flares to take down Tomcat's last missile before Maverick switching weapons to guns. Then, Rooster and Maverick's F-14 Tomcat is completely out of weapons and flares while they're taking down the third Sukhoi Su-57 that came out from nowhere. Maverick commanded Rooster to eject, but the ejection handles were stuck during sacrifice. Luckily, Hangman managed to stop the third Sukhoi Su-57 to save their lives.

## Notable fighters:

* AGES
* Nightflight