F-14 X Tomcat

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Nightward
12/25/01 06:49 PM
203.134.12.8

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Type: F-14X Tomcat
Technology Base: Inner Sphere, House Davion 3063
Mass: 60 Tons
Chassis: F-14 Titanamite Alloy Compound IX
Power Plant: VLAR 300 XL
Cruising Speed: Mach 7
Maximum Speed: Mach 11
Armour: Gloster-12 Ferro-Aluminium
Armament:
1 5-Milimetre Vulcan Gattling Cannon (R-A/C-5)
2 Holly LRM-5 Packs
2 Diverse Optics Type 428 ER Medium Lasers
Communications System: Phased Array Lasercomm Type 15
Targeting and Tracking System: Pulse-Doppler/FLIR with Integrated Active Probe
Primary Manufacturer: Grumman Corporation
Primary Factory: Midway

OVERVIEW

In recent years, the Grumman Corporation (Formerly based on Le Blanc) has been producing and exporting F-90 Stingrays to the Free Worlds League. However, when Katherine Steiner-Davion usurped her brother’s throne in the late 3050s, she issued Executive 12, which prohibited the sale of war materiels to any foreign power. Since the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns does not deploy even a single Stingray, the Grumman Corporation knew they were in dire straits. They petitioned the Archon to produce Stingrays for the Lyran Alliance, but she refused on the grounds that the Grumman Corporation would then be competing with her own Defiance Industries of Hesperus.

The Board of Directors then called crisis talks, eventually deciding to submit another design to the Archon. Purchasing a few examples of the new Rotary Cannon, the Grumman Corporation resurrected their old Tomcat design.

This time, however, the Archon denied their manufacturing petition because it was conceivably powerful enough to rival her Lyran Alliance’s new Eisensturm fighter. She knew that because of heightening tensions between her and the AFFS, a conflict between the LLAF and AFFS was likely, and had no wish to provide a potential enemy with such a powerful weapon.

The Grumman Corporation was facing bankruptcy until fate intervened. The Draconis Combine had a ‘sleeper’ agent active in the Grumman Corporation. The agent contacted the ISF with the pertinent details, and the ISF turned their information over to the DCMS High Command. The Coordinator sensed a unique opportunity; by ‘rescuing’ the Grumman Corporation, he could possibly obtain copies of the new Rotary Cannon, and would certainly have a powerful manufactory at his disposal. He authorised the ISF operative to make the Grumman Corporation an offer; the DCMS would pay for all costs incurred in moving the Grumman Corporation into DCMS space in return for discounted AeroSpace Fighters. Seeing this as the only way to retain financial viability, the Grumman Corporation accepted the deal and relocated to Midway, where they are currently producing Stingrays for the DCMS. They have also continued the Tomcat project.

CAPABILITIES

The F-14X Tomcat is unique in the modern AeroSpace industries; it is visually identical to the twentieth-century aircraft whose designation it bears. It also retains the ‘swing-wing’ features of the original. Although modern aviation does not require swing-wings (largely because of the performance envelope granted by the Fusion Engine), Grumman engineers discovered that this feature would reduce the storage space needed to carry a Tomcat on an AeroSpace Fighter Carrier, as well as slightly improving its maneuvering capabilities.

Since the Grumman Corporation already produced a 60-ton fighter aircraft, they knew it would be a simple task to re-tool their production lines to produce a new one. The team also discovered that the VLAR 300 XL (of similar mass to the 240-rated engine, which powered the Stingray) could easily be fitted to the Tomcat by existing machinery. This powerful engine allows the Tomcat to reach speeds in excess of ten times the speed of sound-making it one of the fastest AeroSpace Fighters in existence. It is capable of matching speeds with the Clan’s standard Heavy Fighter, the Visigoth.

The team then considered weaponry. Since the new Rotary Cannon had found considerable acceptance amongst the AFFS ‘MechWarriors and Tank pilots, the Grumman engineers decided to add one to the chassis, protruding slightly underneath the Tomcat’s nose assembly. The weapon was provided with 3 tons of ammunition, although at its full rate of fire, the Tomcat can exhaust its ammunition bay in little over a minute. This was a radical departure from the original Tomcat, which used only missiles as its armament.

The Rotary Cannon is supported by a pair of Artemis-Equipped LRM 5s. Although these weapons do not have a high damage potential, LRMs have considerable range and accuracy. When combined with Artemis, this makes the weapons highly efficient. Each launcher was provided with 24 reloads.

The final weapons it carries are simple back-ups; a pair of ER Medium Lasers, mounted on the Fighter’s wings near the LRM Pods.

The Tomcat was also provided with a number of wing and fuselage pylon hardpoints, allowing it to carry a significant bomb payload should the need arise.

Unusually, the Tomcat is equipped with an Active Probe system to augument its RADAR/FLIR targeting capabilities. When meshed with the Artemis System of the LRMs, this allows for unparalleled targeting accuracy.

As a design necessity, the Tomcat had to have greater endurance capabilities than the Stingray. This caused the designers to wrap the Fighter’s ammunition bins in CASE, and to mount a significant amount of armour, in the form of 14 tons of Ferro-Aluminium. This makes the Tomcat the most heavily armoured AeroSpace Fighter in the Medium AeroSpace Fighter class-after the Corsair. It was also supplied with 7 tons of fuel, second in fuel capacity only to the massive Slayer AeroSpace Fighter.

VARIANTS

Whilst Draconis engineers study and attempt to replicate the Rotary Cannon of the Tomcat, the Draconis Combine have replaced one Tomcat’s cannon with an ER PPC and additional heat sinks. This weapon arrangement, for as-yet-undetermined reasons, sometimes fails. Until the reasons for this can be determined, the PPC-armed Tomcat has been grounded.

DEPLOYMENT

The Combine currently possesses three operational Tomcat prototypes, all stationed on the Mount Niitaka AeroSpace Fighter Carrier WarShip. The fourth (PPC Variant) is currently grounded.

MY BLURB

The Tomcat is just so damn cool that I had to bring it over to BattleTech. Up until I realized Australia had no Tomcats (largely because we have no Aircraft Carriers and they’re just too damn expensive), all I wanted to do was fly one. This is because, when I was 12 or so, my uncle took me flying in his Christian Husky (I think that is how it is spelt). As anyone who has ever flown in a civilian craft will know, this was an incredible experience. After that, all I wanted to do was fly. Two years later, I found out that I had a condition called Karataconis (it causes your cornea to thin at the ‘front’ and thicken at the ‘base’, resulting in an egg-shaped eye cross-section instead of the usual small ball of the eye, and in extreme cases can cause the cornea to segment, allowing the optical matrix to dribble out)-which disqualifies me from so much as *MAINTAINING* aircraft. Although I have a relatively minor form of the condition, I have to wear reading glasses to correct my blurred vision and stop me from getting migraines of a magnitude you cannot imagine, at least I will not go blind. Some consolation.

Enough b!tching. This is my attempt to convert the Tomcat to BattleTech and improve upon it. It was also a thinly-guised attempt to provide the DCMS with R-A/Cs. Enjoy.

MASS BREAKDOWNS

300 XL: 9.5 (The Tomcat is a 7/11 mover)
Cockpit: 3
SI (7): 0
Fuel: 7 (560 Points)
Ferro-Aluminium Armour: 14
1 Double Heat Sink: 1
Active Probe: 1.5
Rotary Cannon-5 with 3 tons of Ammunition in a CASE bay: 13.5
2 LRM-5s with Artemis IV and 2 tons of Ammunition in a CASE bay: 8.5
2 ER Medium Lasers: 2

LOCATIONS

R-A/C-5 with 3 tons Ammo, Active Probe: Nose
LRM-5+Artemis, 1 ton LRM Ammo, ER Medium Laser, CASE- Each Wing

ARMOUR DISTRIBUTION

Nose: 75
Wings: 70
Aft: 36

COST ANALYSIS

A Tomcat is worth 1,774 BV and costs 9,220,562 C-Bills.


Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
NathanKell
12/25/01 08:00 PM
24.44.238.62

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As another Tomcat lover, I'm afraid I have to disagree...

An F-14, in my mind, embodies three things:
Long Range Missiles
Longer Range Missiles
and Extreme Range Missiles!
(Not to mention Super-Duper-Extreme range radar!)

So...It's either the AIM-54 Arrow IV missile or the Arrow IV 'Phoenix' missile, whichever you prefer ;)

Here's my take:
100t (because the F-14 ain't small)
Thrust: 5/8 (because the D and B are (now only moderately) underpowered, but the A...well, I'm glad they don't use the A anymore...Plus the fact that a Tomcat's more of a I-can-barely-turn-even-with-my-wings-unswept plane than a whoops-I-did-a-snaproll-in-.37-seconds plane. But I love it anyway ;)
Fuel: 5 (Although this really should be something like 3+external tanks (maybe, 4t ext fuel / 4 bombs...)
Armor: 18t Ferro-Alumin [ i ] um
Active Probe 1.5t (AN/AWG-9, baby! (or, now, AN/APG-71)
11 DHS
Armament:
2x Arrow IV (@ 3t)
2x LRM-15 (@2t)
2x S SRM-6 (@1t)
3x ERML (well, OK, a tribarrel instead of a gatling...)

Note: On refreshing my memory on the designation of the F-14's radar I stumbled across a great clip of a Tomcat going supersonic (the MPEG at the bottom of FAS's Tomcat page). Dunno if you've seen it already, worth a look if you haven't.
-NathanKell, BT Space Wars
Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear.
Thomas Jefferson
SoyBigHead
12/25/01 11:58 PM
24.4.252.178

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that...is one...big ass tomcat....
"There are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
-Mark Twain
Deathshadow
12/26/01 04:34 AM
24.61.78.77

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The Grumman Goose is a unmanueverable underpowered pig whose only advantage lies in a weapon system that Navy ROE would never EVER allow you to fire. Only real advantage the 'cat has is in it's high wing loading, allowing it to carry heavy loads despite it's having no thrust, and making it good at forcing an overshoot close in (although after that it has no energy, meaning if a hard turner separates on the horizontal you are SCREWED. Good thing most Ruskie pilots are taught to manuever in the vertical)

It is real pretty though.

Sorry. Just the ranting and raving of a former Viper driver. Guess I'm a bit predjudiced.

Don't feel bad about the vision. When I entered the USAF I had 40/20 vision, now thanks to a decompression accident and a dislocated right eye (they put it back in...) my vision has degraded over the past 9 to 10 years to 20/one-quarter. (what most people see at 20 feet, I see at 3 inches).
Kept my cool under lock and key,
and I never shed a tear,
another sign of my condidtion.
Deathshadow
12/26/01 04:36 AM
24.61.78.77

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It ain't small, but a 100 tonner she aint, especially since the plane originally built for it's role, the F-111 is MUCH larger (although it takes up less deck space... @#$ing Navy.)

And I was thinking... Could you use TAG on a fighter to designate your own targets?
Kept my cool under lock and key,
and I never shed a tear,
another sign of my condidtion.
Bob_Richter
12/26/01 03:00 PM
4.35.174.250

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1)5 milimetre is a RIFLE, not an AUTOCANNON.
2) I dunno. It really doesn't seem much like a TomCat to me. Not that any Battletech Superplane could.

-Bob (The Magnificent) Richter

Assertions made in this post are the humble opinion of Bob.
They are not necessarily statements of fact or decrees from God Himself, unless explicitly and seriously stated to be so.
:)
Nightward
12/26/01 05:17 PM
203.134.12.8

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It was supposed to be '50 mm'. Ooops.
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
Nightward
12/26/01 05:23 PM
203.134.12.8

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I gotta learn to proof-read what I post. First the '5 mm' incident, now the Karataconis thing. It should have been 'Thickens at the 'front' of the cornea and thins at the base'. Ooops. Otherwise you would get an upside-down cone and not the egg-shape. Duh.
Yea, verily. Let it be known far and wide that Nightward loathes MW: DA. Indeed, it is with the BURNING ANIMUS OF A THOUSAND SUNS that he doth rage against it with.
neochu
12/17/02 11:54 AM
209.202.75.74

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sidewinders are very short range missiles 5 miles the tomcat can carry 4 along with 6 sparows or phenoix's (28 miles and 108 miles(AIM-54C) and the tom cat carries 2 20mm vulcans wich can be supstituted with RAC/2's appropriate for 3063. the sidewinders I think could be alowed as LRM-5s a pair and either 2 LRM-15's w artemis or a thunderbolt 20 as this appears to be the closest thing in the bt universe to this missile. I will look at this later and figure it out

kyle t
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