	Background

Prior to recent congressional deliberations on the Navy’s fiscal year 1995 budget, the Navy planned to spend over $2.5 billion to add limited ground attack capability and other improvements to 210 F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft (53 F-14Ds, 81 F-14Bs, and 76 F-14As). Although the F-14 generally has greater range and endurance than the F/A-18C, the majority of littoral targets should be within the F/A-18C’s range, even with an aircraft carrier operating 100 miles or more offshore. Upgraded F-14s Will Be Less Capable Than Some Attack Aircraft

The Block I F-14 aircraft will not have all of the capability of the Air Force’s F-15E Strike Eagle (a long range, all-weather, multimission strike fighter with precision weapons capability), the Navy’s own F/A-18C Hornet, or its A-6E Intruder (see table 2). Upgraded F-14s Will Not Reach the Fleet Before A-6Es Are Retired

Although the Navy justified the F-14 upgrade as necessary to fill the gap between A-6E retirements and delivery of F/A-18E/Fs, no F-14s, under the original Block I plan, were scheduled to begin receiving upgrades until fiscal year 1998, a year after the last A-6s were retired. Therefore, the Congress may wish to defer authorizing or appropriating additional monies for the F-14 until the Navy can demonstrate that planned upgrades are essential when considering (1) the current F/A-18C capabilities; (2) the net weapon capability gain over current F-14A/B levels; (3) the absence of a ground attack radar in 157 of the 210 aircraft; (4) the lack of precision stand-off weapons capability in all 210 F-14 aircraft that limits the versatility and use of these aircraft in combat; (5) the nearly simultaneous delivery of upgraded F-14s and F/A –18E/Fs; and (6) the Navy’s willingness to deploy carriers without A-6Es or upgraded F-14s, as evidenced by the upcoming deployment of the USS Constellation. Scope and Methodology

Our data gathering and analysis focused on the Navy’s decision to upgrade 210 F-14 aircraft.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO reviewed the Navy's decision to spend about $2.5 billion between fiscal years 1994 and 2003 for a limited ground attack upgrade and other modifications to about 200 F-14 Tomcat fighters.

What GAO Found

GAO found that: (1) although the Navy has justified F-14 attack upgrades as necessary to replace the loss of A-6E aircraft, most upgraded F-14 aircraft will be less capable than F/A-18C aircraft; (2) although upgraded F-14 aircraft have greater range than F/A-18C aircraft, this capability may not be needed, since the Navy's shift to a littoral warfare strategy will bring the Navy's targets within range of the F/A-18C and other weapons systems; (3) delivery of upgraded F-14 aircraft is not scheduled to begin until after the A-6E fleet is retired, even though the Navy stated that the aircraft are needed to fill a gap between A-6E retirement and the introduction of the F/A-18E/F aircraft; (4) for several years, the Navy will deploy carriers without A-6E or upgraded F-14 aircraft and will rely on its F/A-18C fleet for all attack missions; and (5) the Navy has not adequately justified its $2.5-billion plan to upgrade the F-14 fleet.