I was reading in an old book of aircraft from the 80's, and it said that the F-14 was the only plane capable of carrying these. Does anything else carry them now?
To the best of my knowledge, no. The AIM-54 was originally intended for the F-111B, but this project was cancelled ( in 1967 ) and it didn´t enter service until 1973, with the F-14. I´ve never seen any record of any other aircraft carriyng the AIM-54, including the Super Hornet. I know the replacement for the AIM-54 was cancelled in 1992 ( the AAAM ), and as far as I know there has been no development of any advanced air to air missile since. But the Iranians are reverse-engineering their own AIM-54s and I believe there has been some speculations around their intended usage. Many believe that their F-14 fleet are reduced to only a few airworthy aircraft, and that the Iranian missiles will be used on other types of aircraft.
The picture, taken at an exhibition in Iran during the Summer of 2002, shows an AIM-54 in front of an Iranian Air Force F-14. I haven´t read anything about their progress on local production of the missile since the end of 2002 though, and the AIM-54 in the picture is most likely either a dummy or one of the missiles provided by the U.S.
And the AIM-54 is retired with it. But perhaps it will see service again with the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. Those guys have made reverse-engineering into an art.
When are they retiring it this time? They have brought that up so many times before, are they officiating it this time? Also, what happened to the stealth tomcat project started in '97?
I believe all the F-14As are allready retired ? The F-14Bs are scheduled for retirement by 2007 and the F-14Ds by 2008.
