AEramper1974 From United States, joined Jan 2008, 23 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 month 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 1545 times:
Hi all! I was talking to friend earlier today about the retirement of the F-14 and a question came up to which we could not figure out a viable answer to... What will the US Navy do with all of the AIM-54 Phoneix missles they had for the Tomcats? I don't think that any other aircraft in the inventory is equipped to handle them... but I am sure certain modifications could be made to fix that problem. Anybody with an answer for this?
[Edited 2008-07-22 20:07:43]
The only time you have too much fuel is when you are on fire....
BladeLWS From United States, joined Dec 2005, 256 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (1 month 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 1540 times:
I'm pretty sure they will all be destroyed since they are solid propellant fueled and those do have a shelf life. I think they did not even carry them in active service the last few years because of cracks in the propellant?
I'm pretty sure they will all be destroyed since they are solid propellant fueled and those do have a shelf life. I think they did not even carry them in active service the last few years because of cracks in the propellant?
Correct. The Phoenixes were retired in September of '04, about 2 years before the Tomcat was put out to pasture.
Beyond that, the F-14 was the only aircraft in the inventory equipped to carry the AIM-54 and I can't foresee any other aircraft retrofitted in order to take up the fleet defense role.Too heavy of a missile and, as previously mentioned, it's solid fueled. If for some reason there's a belief that the air fleet defense mantle needs to be taken up and that the AMRAAM isn't enough to cut it, I think a clean sheet design would be favored over the Phoenix
[Edited 2008-07-22 21:03:11]
South Carolina - too small to be its own country, too big to be a mental asylum.
FlyingClrs727 From United States, joined Apr 2007, 389 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (1 month 5 days 9 hours ago) and read 1169 times:
Quoting LMP737 (Reply 4): The AIM-54 has found life after the Tomcat, sort of.
So how did they get an AIM-54 mounted on an F-15?
Image Above: An inert AIM-54 Phoenix missile nestled under the fuselage of NASA Dryden's F-15B aircraft is being studied as a possible test vehicle to obtain hypersonic data.
EBJ1248650 From United States, joined Jun 2005, 944 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (1 month 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 1109 times:
Quoting FlyingClrs727 (Reply 5): Image Above: An inert AIM-54 Phoenix missile nestled under the fuselage of NASA Dryden's F-15B aircraft is being studied as a possible test vehicle to obtain hypersonic data.
That's a novel use of phased out air-to-air missiles. It'll be interesting to see if this pans out.
Sure, but the government has all kinds of warehouse space, Davis-Monthan, etc.
For example, what about the AIM-9C, the only radar guided Sidewinder missile? It was only carried on the F-8 Crusader. However, during the '80's these missiles resurfaced- they were modified as an anti-radar missile (AGM-122 Sidearm) for the USMC Harriers. When the missiles were modified, the original motor & warhead were retained, though with a new fuse & modified guidance system.
I don't really think we'll see the -54s again though, considering the size & the fact that they're based on an even older missile than the Sidewinder (the AIM-47, which in turn was developed from the AIM-4 Falcon). Even its range will soon be rivalled by new versions of the AIM-120, or the Meteor.
Sprout5199 From United States, joined Feb 2005, 1389 posts, RR: 11 Reply 9, posted (1 month 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 1010 times:
Quoting FlyingClrs727 (Reply 5): So how did they get an AIM-54 mounted on an F-15?
Why didn't they just use a Tomcat?
Quoting Lumberton (Reply 7): The USN used the old Mach 3 Talos missiles as targets ("Vandals"). Perhaps the AIM-54 could find another life in this role?
My ship shot down two of those in Vandalex 89 in the Vacapes op area. We were the only one to fire, A lowly FFG put to shame 2 Tico class CG's, a Leahy class CG, and a Kidd class DDG, and a few other FFG's.
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