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.

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),[2] while 16 Tomcats were lost, including seven losses to accidents.

The Navy was directed to participate in the Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) program with the U.S. Air Force (USAF) by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who favored versatile aircraft that could be shared by both services, reducing procurement and development costs.

[6] The TFX had adequate speed, range and payload for the FAD role, but was designed primarily as a fighter-bomber and interdictor that lacked the maneuverability and overall performance that the Navy expected.

[7] Around this time, Vice Admiral Thomas F. Connolly, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare, flew the developmental F-111A variant on a flight and discovered that it had difficulty going supersonic and had poor carrier landing characteristics.

[16] Though lighter than the F-111B, it was still the largest and heaviest U.S. fighter to fly from an aircraft carrier, a consequence of the requirement to carry the large AWG-9 radar and AIM-54 Phoenix missiles (from the F-111B) and an internal fuel load of 16,000 lb (7,300 kg).

To save time and avoid cancellation by the new presidential administration, the Navy skipped the prototype phase and jumped directly to full-scale development; the Air Force took a similar approach with its McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.

The United States Marine Corps was initially interested in the F-14 as an F-4 Phantom II replacement, going so far as to send officers to Fighter Squadron One Twenty-Four (VF-124) to train as instructors.

[31] In the 1990s, with the pending retirement of the Grumman A-6 Intruder and the cancellation of the McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA), the F-14 air-to-ground program was resurrected.

Following Desert Storm, F-14As and F-14Bs underwent upgrades to avionics and cockpit displays to enable the use of precision munitions, enhance defensive systems, and apply structural improvements.

The LANTIRN pod provided the F-14 with a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera for night operations and a laser target designator to direct laser-guided bombs (LGB).

[33] Some F-14Ds were upgraded in 2005 with a ROVER III Full Motion Video (FMV) downlink, a system that transmits real-time images from the aircraft's sensors to the laptop of a forward air controller (FAC) on the ground.

[35] However, the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in declining defense budgets and also in a steep increase in the unit cost of the ATF and NATF due to reduced production rates.

In 1989, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney refused to approve the purchase of any more F-14D model aircraft, stopping production after 37 F-14Ds had been built, although 18 more were produced by conversion of F-14As, giving a total of 55 F-14Ds.

[citation needed] The lifting body characteristics of the fuselage allowed one F-14 to safely land after suffering a mid-air collision that sheared off more than half of the plane's right wing in 1991.

[49] The F-14A was initially equipped with two Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-412A (or JTF10A) augmented turbofan engines, each rated at 20,900 lb (93 kN) of static uninstalled thrust, which enabled the aircraft to attain a maximum speed of Mach 2.34.

The TF30 was originally designed for the flight envelope of bomber applications, so in air combat they proved extremely susceptible to compressor stalls especially at high AoA and during rapid throttle transients or above 30,000 ft (9,100 m), which could easily result in loss of control, severe yaw oscillations, and could lead to an unrecoverable flat spin.

[citation needed] According to retired RIO Dave Baranek, the first two launch failures, on January 5, 1999, occurred when two F-14D Super Tomcats, carrying AIM-54Cs, fired two Phoenix missiles at a pair of MiG-23 jets.

[73] The F-14 began replacing the F-4 Phantom II in U.S. Navy service starting in September 1974 with squadrons VF-1 "Wolfpack" and VF-2 "Bounty Hunters" aboard USS Enterprise and participated in the American withdrawal from Saigon.

The unexpected demand for combat TARPS laid the way for high altitude sensors such as the KA-93 Long Range Optics (LOROP) to be rapidly procured for the Tomcat as well as an Expanded Chaff Adapter (ECA) to be incorporated in an AIM-54 Phoenix Rail.

The governing Rules of Engagement (ROE) also dictated a strict Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) requirement when employing Beyond Visual Range weapons such as the AIM-7 Sparrow and particularly the AIM-54 Phoenix.

[80][81] The U.S. Navy suffered its only F-14 loss from enemy action on 21 January 1991 when BuNo 161430, an F-14A upgraded to an F-14A+, from VF-103 was shot down by an SA-2 surface-to-air missile while on an escort mission near Al Asad airbase in Iraq.

Both crew members survived ejection with the pilot being rescued by USAF Special Operation Forces and the RIO being captured by Iraqi troops as a POW until the end of the war.

During the reign of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in the early 1970s, the IIAF was searching for an advanced fighter, specifically one capable of intercepting Soviet MiG-25 reconnaissance flights.

[94] The US Navy and Grumman Corporation arranged competitive demonstrations of the Eagle and the Tomcat at Andrews AFB for the Shah and high-ranking officers, and in January 1974 Iran placed an order for 30 F-14s and 424 AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, initiating Project Persian King, worth US$300 million.

A few months later, this order was increased to a total of 80 Tomcats and 714 Phoenix missiles as well as spare parts and replacement engines for 10 years, complete armament package, and support infrastructure (including construction of the Khatami Air Base near Isfahan).

Despite the circumstances the F-14s and their crews faced during the war against Iraq – lacking support from AWACS, AEW aircraft, and Ground Control Intercept (GCI) – the F-14 proved to be successful in combat.

The first was the Quickstrike, which would have been an F-14D with navigational and targeting pods, additional attach points for weapons, and added ground attack capabilities to its radar, turning the Tomcat into a multirole strike fighter.

[224] Per Rodriguez, "He asked me to draw a lifelike Tomcat wearing boxing gloves and trunks sporting a six-shooter on his left side, where the guns are located on the F-14, along with two tails."

[234] The F-14 served as an inspiration for various fictional aircraft, most notably the Macross franchise's VF-1 Valkyrie,[235] the TurboKat of SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron,[citation needed] and the Skystriker XP-14F from the G.I.