F-14 vs F-15 vs F-16 (2 Viewers)

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Soren

1st Lieutenant
6,457
25
Feb 6, 2005
Which is the best fighter in your opinion regardless of track record, based mostly on ability, flight characteristics etc etc..

I know this will be an interesting debate when I will start off by saying I believe the F-14 is the best, and yet it is the only one of the three to be out of service (mostly due to cost maintenance issues).
 
They each performed the role for which they were designed very well.

F-15 most dominating
F-14 most innovative
F-16 most cost effective

The F-14 was a fantastic plane but to attain the mantle of "Best" I believe cost, maintenance and longevity must be considered. That makes me like the F-15.

But If I were in a short war had to choose between an air force consisting solely of 500 F-14s or 500 F-15's, I'd have to choose the F-14 cause of the Phoenix missile.

,
 
Wow. Rather a silly discussion isn't it? Without some operational context, mission need and order of battle this quickly will blur into a debate about "top speed", "range" and "best load-out".

I'll pass.
 
Gotta go with the F-15, especially considering it's >100-to-0 victory ratio. Unfortunately, the F-14 was originally hampered by it's '60's-era TF-30 low bypass-ratio turbofans, which didn't provide enough thrust to make it competitive with contemporary fighters (like the F-15 and -16); it didn't really come into it's own until it (finally) received the engine it should've had from the beginning, the GE F-110, with a 25% increase in dry thrust. The ultimate model of the Tomcat, the F-14D, was really too late to have an effect on naval tactics.

However, if I had to chose an a/c for a 1-v-1 encounter, I would choose the F-15C over a late-model Tomcat, even with the Phoenix AIM-54C; for a fighter, the F-15 has the most advanced ECM suite of any a/c flying (with the exception of the F-22), so I believe the on-board AN/ALQ-135 EIC of the Eagle would probably defeat the terminal guidance radar of the Phoenix, giving the -15 the chance to hit the Tomcat with it's AIM-120C AMRAAM's at +/- 50 NM. If the F-15 fails to jam or spoof the Phoenix, it should be able to outmaneuver the Mach 6 Phoenix before impact.
 
>>it should be able to outmaneuver the Mach 6 Phoenix before impact.<<

For me that s the crux of the matter... an F-14 with 4 phoenix missiles is pretty damn menacing but the Phoenix is large and old school. Could the F-15 out maneuver a phoenix?

"Should" is not an answer.. what do the sims say?


.
 
The Phoenix is not a fighter-v-fighter weapon. It was designed to intercept slow and non-manueverable Soviet Bombers. While it does have a high max speed, that speed is NOT maintained during its continous flight. The Phoenix employs a maintainer motor once it reaches max-E altitude. Any fighter that detects the incoming missile has a high probability of outmaneuvering the Phoenix, since it was not designed to be a dogfighting missile.

Couple this with early problems Hughes encountered in mission readiness, the standdown of Soviet bombers and there is a reason that F-14Ds were not often seen loaded up with 6 Phoenix missiles as a typical loadout.
 
The Phoenix is not a fighter-v-fighter weapon. It was designed to intercept slow and non-manueverable Soviet Bombers. While it does have a high max speed, that speed is NOT maintained during its continous flight. The Phoenix employs a maintainer motor once it reaches max-E altitude. Any fighter that detects the incoming missile has a high probability of outmaneuvering the Phoenix, since it was not designed to be a dogfighting missile.

Couple this with early problems Hughes encountered in mission readiness, the standdown of Soviet bombers and there is a reason that F-14Ds were not often seen loaded up with 6 Phoenix missiles as a typical loadout.

Well said, Matt (as usual); in fact, the typical loadout for a late-model F-14 (B's D's) was four AIM-7F Sparrows and/or AMRAAM's on the fuselage stations, and four AIM-9M's on the glove pylons. The Phoenix was actually pretty useless for fighter-v-fighter combat, especially under current ROE.

And even during the height of the Cold War, a 6-Phoenix loadout was very rare; the A's typically carried four AIM-54's on the fuselage pallets, and Sparrows Sidewinders on the glove pylons.
 
Did the F-14D incorporate a fly-by-wire system?

And when was FBW introduced on the F-15?

How do the control systems compare to those of the F-16?
 
How about we take a look at the thrust to weight and aerodynamic properties of the a/c.

The key point is that you imagine a match up, the a/c facing each other in combat.
 
The problem is all 3 aircraft have varying roles and if flown properly should never see each other in close quarters.

F-15 for me.
 
Well in war different type a/c meet each other all the time, regardless if their flown properly or not ;)

Let me create a scenario:

Two bombers escorted by two F-15's are about to be intercepted by two F-14's fitted with 6x sidewinders and 2x Phoenix missiles.

At 80km away the Tomcats lock on to the bombers and fire off their two Phoenix missiles at them. The F-15's, armed with 8x AIM-7 Sparrow missiles peel off to intercept the Tomcats. The Bombers try to avoid the Phoenix missiles by the help of ECM.

The F-14's F-15's get within 20km, a wild dogfight is soon to follow, who wins ? Or should I say who have the odds with or against them ?
 
Wow. Rather a silly discussion isn't it? Without some operational context, mission need and order of battle this quickly will blur into a debate about "top speed", "range" and "best load-out".

I'll pass.

You're right, and so I added the scenario for ou guys to think about.
 
The F-14's F-15's get within 20km, a wild dogfight is soon to follow, who wins ? Or should I say who have the odds with or against them ?

Providing that the F-14s didn't get splashed first by the Sparrows, I'd go with the F-15s, but this will depend on who got their missiles off first and who had the better ECMs to counter the missiles. I do know in exercises conducted between the USAF and the USN the F-15s did come out on top most of the time in simulated combat scenarios. If I remember correctly in 1998 USAF F-15s shot down F-14s 3 to 1 during RIMPAC.
 
Well in war different type a/c meet each other all the time, regardless if their flown properly or not ;)
Ahhhh, NO.

My point is one should kill the other miles before coming into visual range, if flown correctly.
 
wow
if it came to the wire, f-16 would maul either of the a/c
but the eagle might be a close second, even if flown correctly

I doubt it; the F-15 has a better thrust-to-weight ratio (though not a better instantaneous turn rate), a better radar system (the latest F-15C MSIP's are getting the AN/ALQ-63(V)3 AESA radar), and a better ECM suite. The F-16 probably wouldn't get close enough to the F-15 to do any damage, unless the Eagle pilot really screws up. Even in a knife fight, it would be close . . . . .
 
Tomcat for me. Being able to deploy and rearm anywhere in the world is a big plus.
 

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