Super Tomcat or Super Hornet?

[Bort]

They dropped guided bombs, yes. But it was an EA-6B or an F-18, as well as infantry, doing the spotting. The F-14 has always had a FLIR pod capability, since they'd need it for interception, but when they were dropping bombs they had someone else spotting for them; sometimes it was the Airforce, sometimes the SEALS.

tycho102, I'm sorry but you're wrong about this. What you are thinking of is the Tomcats Infared Tracking System, which is mounted under the nose in some F-14A/B's while most of those tomcats have a TV camera instead. The F-14D mounts both of these systems but the key here is that this is an entirely different system than what I am talking about. The IR camera was designed for Air-to Air use only, primarily for finding and IDing soviet bombers without having to use radar. See this link for mare info
http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-chinpods.htm
What I am talking about is the LANTIRN pod that is removable and was fitted to Tomcats beginning in the mid 90's and is carried under the starboard glove pylon. This gives the Tomcats full capability to find, designate and drop on targets, independent of anything else. For more info see this linkhttp://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-lantirn.htm The LANTIRN has really transformed the F-14 into a truly multi-mission paltform. If you'd like to know more about how the F-14 w/LANTIRN worked in combat, I'd suggest you read Black Aces High, a great book about F-14s in Kosovo.