F14 sv F15

[Dr Jekyll]

I was reading that when the RAF was trying to decide whether to go for an ADV Tornado or buy F15s or F14s, the F14 was favoured over the F15.

Does anyone know why? Was it just availability?

Come to that why did Iran choose the F14?

[stepwilk]

You probably ought to go to the military forum, where some people actullay know what they're talking about when discussing F-14s and -15s.

[Pure Pursuit]

ADV was British. We were never going to get anything else. Tomcats were extremely expensive to run. We could have afforded the F15.

Politics.

[sandiego89]

"Come to that why did Iran choose the F14?"

IIRC the AIM-54 Phoenix missile and radar combination in the F-14 had a good deal to do with the Iranian selection. They wanted something to counter the high speed/high altitude Mig-25 Foxbat. The radar on the F-14 and the Phoenix had much greater ranage than the F-15/sparrow. Grumman also pulled of an excellent demo flight in front of the Shah and other VIP's. The F-15 demo'd first that day and then a lightly loaded F-14 pulled out all the stops and apparantly stole the show- or at least sealed the deal.

The Iranian purchase likley kept the whole F-14 program alive as it provided much need cash for Grumman.