Harrier Dude said:
I love the part when the Apllo 13 footage was used to intro the change of mission. Classic! LMAO!
That was quite a miracle the Tomcat dudes did switching it into multi-role. It extended the entire program 15 years or so, probably.
I heard that the USAF was going to hand bombs on F-15Cs. Haven't confirmed it yet. These are the same lame-asses that say "Not a pound for air-to-ground". They aren't even allowed to say "bomb" in their ready room or bar. They say "B-word". Were the Tomcats ever like that?
Although Tomcat was designed to carry bombs and had a Stores Management System (AWG-15) in every jet for A/G, release problems in tunnel with original racks led to it being abandoned after USMC opted out of Tomcat. It was toyed around with in the fleet briefly in mid 70s and then threat and cost of Tomcat drove it to be a blue water Fleet Air Defense fighter. The DECM was not adequate so the doctrine wasn't to go over the beach at all so, yes, situation was similar to USAF in that regard.
However, Tomcats picked up TARPS role after RA-5C and RF-8G left the fleet and when 6th fleet needed overland Recce over Lebanon, Tomcats were flying a high speed gauntlet every day. Still, Tomcats weren't supposed to go anywhere near SAM sites (knowingly). In 1986, we stayed over the Gulf of Sidra while F-111 and A-6 strikers went feet dry for same attitude that Tomcats stayed feet wet (also because A-6 tactics at time were low and...sorta fast, but they didn't like Tomcats too close as they thought the powerful AWG-9 would act as a beacon for interceptors).
During Desert Shield, it became obvious that with the Cold War over, who needed two squadrons of Tomcats in every air wing for Fleet Air Defense and TARPS? NAVAIR came up with a new bomb rack configuration that avoided the earlier problems. By then the attitude over dropping iron changed for two big reasons:
1) A-6 community was going away and top 30% of aircrews were transitioning into Tomcats and they loved to drop bombs
2) With have Tomcat community going away and little relevance in air wing power projection (air superiority was considered first priority in USAF, but assumed in Navy) so strike was where everyone wanted to be
Still, dropping drop bombs from a platform that could blot out the sun wasn't very practical or prudent. Supposedly, the Tomcat was to be upgraded to a Block 1 Strike configuration to adequately fulfill the A-6 strike mission, but by 1994, budgetary pressure from the so-called peace dividend (in aftermath of end of cold war) resulted in draconian cuts. Then came the unorthodox contractor driven rapid protoyping of LANTIRN Targeting System integration. Overnight, the community shook off the blues and went from a special team assignment warming the bench to back on the first string. The miracle was a bunch of believers getting r done in 200 days from concept to fielding. I feel very privileged to have watched it unfold from day one and known and worked with some true great Americans; some of who really put their careers on the line to make it happen. What a ride!
