American carrier-capable supersonic, twin-engine, tandem two-seat, twin-tail, all-weather-capable variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experimental (VFX) program after the collapse of the General Dynamics-Grumman F-111B project. 

A large and well-equipped fighter, the F-14 was the first of the American Teen Series fighters, which were designed incorporating air combat experience against smaller, more maneuverable MiG fighters during the Vietnam War.

first flew on 21 December 1970 and made its first deployment in 1974 with the U.S. Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, replacing the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.

designed as both an air superiority fighter and a long-range naval interceptor, which enabled it to both serve as escort fighter aircraft when armed with Sparrow missiles and fleet air defense loitering interceptor role when armed with Phoenix missiles.

wing sweep can be varied between 20° and 68° in flight and can be automatically controlled by its Central Air Data Computer (CADC), which maintains wing sweep at the optimum lift-to-drag ratio as the Mach number varies; pilots can manually override the system if desired

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (pilot and radar intercept officer)
Length: 62 ft 9 in (19.13 m)
Wingspan: 64 ft 1.5 in (19.545 m)
Swept wingspan: 38 ft 2.5 in (11.646 m) swept
Height: 16 ft (4.9 m)
Wing area: 565 sq ft (52.5 m2) wings only
1,008 sq ft (94 m2) effective area including fuselage

Airfoil:
Grumman (1.74)(35)(9.6)-(1.1)(30)(1.1) root
Grumman (1.27)(30)(9.0)-(1.1)(40)(1.1) tip
Empty weight: 43,735 lb (19,838 kg)
Gross weight: 61,000 lb (27,669 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 74,350 lb (33,725 kg)
Fuel capacity: 16,200 lb (7,348 kg) internal fuel; 2 × optional 267 US gal (222 imp gal; 1,010 L) / 1,756 lb (797 kg) external drop tanks
Powerplant: 2 × General Electric F110-GE-400 afterburning turbofans, 16,333 lbf (72.65 kN) thrust each dry, 26,950 lbf (119.9 kN) with afterburner[N 4]

Performance:
Maximum speed: Mach 2.34 (1,544 mph, 2,485 km/h) at altitude
Mach 1.2, 794 kn (914 mph; 1,470 km/h) at sea level
Cruise speed: 420 kn (480 mph, 780 km/h)
Range: 1,600 nmi (1,800 mi, 3,000 km)
Combat range: 503 nmi (579 mi, 932 km) fighter escort
204 nmi (235 mi; 378 km) deck launched intercept
150 nmi (170 mi; 280 km) fleet air defense with 1.91 hours of loiter
Service ceiling: 53,000 ft (16,000 m) plus
g limits: +7.5 g (+6.5 g operational limit
Rate of climb: 45,000 ft/min (230 m/s) plus
Wing loading: 96 lb/sq ft (470 kg/m2)
48 lb/sq ft (230 kg/m2) effective[49]
Thrust/weight: 0.88 at gross weight (1.02 with loaded weight & 50% internal fuel)
Takeoff roll: 2,500 ft (760 m)
Landing roll: 2,400 ft (730 m)
Armament

Guns: 1× 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6-barreled rotary cannon, with 675 rounds
Hardpoints: 10 total: 6× under-fuselage, 2× under nacelles and 2× on wing gloves with a capacity of 14,500 lb (6,600 kg) of ordnance and fuel tanks, with provisions to carry combinations of:
Rockets: 7x LAU-10 rocket pods (for a total of 28 rockets)
Missiles: AIM-54 Phoenix, AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles

Bombs:
JDAM precision-guided munition (PGMs)
Paveway series of laser-guided bombs
Mk 80 series of unguided iron bombs
Mk 20 Rockeye II cluster munition
Other:
Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS)
LANTIRN Targeting System (LTS) pod (AN/AAQ-14)
2× 267 US gal (1,010 L; 222 imp gal) drop tanks for extended range/loitering time

Avionics:
Hughes AN/APG-71 radar
AN/ALR-67 radar warning receiver
AN/AAS-42 infrared search and track, AAX-1 TCS
AN/ASN-130 Inertial navigation system
Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver (ROVER) upgrade

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