>>64365859
Correct, Grumman overall and the F-14 in particular was deliberately kaboshed.

also correct, the F-15 and F-14 were contemporaries in engineering technologies and design. Tomcat 21 ought still be around

the F/A-18 was a much later program that took lessons from the A-4/A-6/A-7/F-14 as far as maintanability, began its flight test program a decade later. It's a later-gen airframe. A-7 could have been kept in service with unafterburning Tomcat 21 engines, and the A-6F would have had unafterburning F/A-18 engines.

>>64368907
>"saw service in Vietnam"
Wrong the war ended in January 1973.
This thread is filled with uneducated plebbitard responses

>>63884120
the A-6F with proper modern EA-18G electronics would have replaced it.