Which aircraft was the F-14 meant to replace?

Short answer

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II: the F-14 first flew on December 21, 1970 and replaced it on its first deployment, in 1974 with the US Navy aboard the carrier USS Enterprise. Before that, the 1959 Douglas F6D Missileer project had been canceled in December 1961.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Which aircraft was the F-14 meant to replace?

Mc Donnell F-4C Phantom I Is of the 558th TFS in flight over South Vietnam, in December 1968

An interceptor for the carrier group

Since the late 1950s, the US Navy had been seeking a long-range, long-endurance interceptor to defend its carrier battle groups against long-range anti-ship missiles. Studies of that concept led to the 1959 Douglas F6D Missileer project, but that large, subsonic aircraft would have had little ability to evade supersonic fighters or defend itself once it had fired its missiles, and the project was canceled in December 1961.

From the VFX program to the Tomcat

In July 1968, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) issued a request for proposals for the Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program. The VFX's air-to-air missiles would be six AIM-54 Phoenix, or a combination of six AIM-7 Sparrow and four AIM-9 Sidewinder. The main element of the system is the Hughes AN/AWG-9 X-band radar, whose antenna is a flat array 36 in (91 cm) wide.

Replacing the Phantom II

The F-14 first flew on December 21, 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the US Navy aboard the carrier USS Enterprise, replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. The F-14's wing sweep can be varied between 20° and 68° in flight and is automatically controlled by its Central Air Data Computer (CADC), which keeps it at the optimal lift-to-drag ratio as Mach number varies.