Originally Posted by
Lima Juliet
At the time for ASR 395 there were 4 options on the table:
1. F14A with a questionable set of engines and massive expense - which offered not much better performance than the Phantoms in service but was certainly a favourite at the time.
2. F15A with a really poor RADAR but seemed to have great performance - first flight 1972 - it broke eight time-to-climb world records between 16 January and 1 February 1975. But without the RADAR it was seen more as a long range Lightning than what ASR 395 was aiming for.
3. F16A was designed as a single-engine IR-missile equipped day fighter initially. First flight 1974. Deemed unsuitable for ASR 395.
4. Tornado ADV - the winner, which BAe made fit the entirety of ASR 395 and would keep the British aircraft industry in business.
I understand that F14A and Tornado ADV was a really close run thing too.
From what I recall, the other reason the F-15 was eliminated was for being a single seater, the preference in 11 Group at the time for an aircraft with a back seater to operate the navigation and weapons systems over the Northern Seas.
I think the fly away price of the F-14 was about twice the price of the F3, which also had the British industrial benefit as well, so although technically they were close, financially it was only ever going to go one way. So the answer to the OP's question would be 'not very'