gambit

US 'stealth' aircrafts flies with radar transponders, similar to airliners', so they can be tracked. There are no special radars currently that can track these aircrafts despite that the Russians and Chinese may claim.

Gambit,
How does USAF tracks F22 in it's Air Space?I mean it's stealthy and is ignored by radars as clutter so how does USAF know where F22s are flying?Does USAF have some special radars to track F22?

Gambit,
Welcome aboard defence.pk.

To continue...

Further...Say you lose an F-14 from a fleet defense sortie, but now you have no other F-14 to replace it. But with the Super Hornet, you can allocate another F-18 for tomorrow's fleet defense missoin planning. A common platform give you flexibility but will force you to accept concessions such as the less powerful radar of the F-18. Remember, an aircraft carrier has to be as independent as possible.

You are asking a complex question and the forum's software does not permit a detailed answer.

To continue...

But what if we have an airframe that can perform most of those functions, if not as well as a speciallized aircraft, but good enough? Which is preferable, more parts for different aircrafts? Or more bombs and missiles because there is only one airframe? The desire to streamline logistics was such that it affected the E-2, which is a propeller driven aircraft. Most propeller driven aircrafts have one engine rotate in one direction and the other engine on the other wing rotate in the opposite direction to negate torque. But that require some additional gearings for one engine to counter-rotate. The US Navy decided to make the E-2's two engines rotate in the same direction, removing several logistics overhead for the E-2. The result is that every time an E-2 pilot applies the throttle, he also has to apply rudder to use aerodynamics to counteract engine torque. The US Navy deemed this an acceptable trade-off.

There are several factors in the retirement of the legendary F-14, and no, the movie 'Top Gun' did little to help its fate. Most people are under the impression that the F-14 was retired due to age-related maintenance issue and the progress of technology. Those are very valid reasons but they are applicable to all aircrafts, not just the F-14.

To have a better understanding of the reasons behind the F-14's retirement, there has to be an understanding of force projection doctrine and the role of the USN in this doctrine. Take a look at past aircraft complement of a nuclear aicraft carrier (CVN) and it is obvious -- logistics. The greater the speciation of the deployed force, the greater the stress on the logistics to keep this force in combat status. Speciation means specialization and we have F-14s for fleet defense, F-18 for intermediate range fleet defense and ground strikes, A-6 for electronics warfare, and finally E-2 for airborne radar coverage.

Sir,
Although you are not a Navy man..i'd like to know why did USN retire F14 Tomcat?It appears to be far superior then Hornet and could be integrated with better radar, ECM Suite and other gadgets as it's quite big in size.
Thanks

I was not a pilot. But I was good enough at maintaining my aircrafts that I was awarded with what the USAF called 'incentive flights', meaning I went up with a pilot and get to fly what I maintained. I had two flights, one in an F-111 and one in an F-16.

Cool..Which fighter jet's did you fly in USAF?

Was USAF. And I was in post-Saddam Kuwait.

You are in US Military?