Golden Age Weaponsmiths F-14D Super Tomcat:

When Golden Age Weaponsmiths found a huge cache of F-14D Super Tomcats in storage, they refitted the fighters and sold the Tomcats. One of the first buyers was the Coalition, who was trying to create an air force at this time. Golden Age Weaponsmiths has also sold numbers of these fighters to independent governments and mercenary units. Since the CS has not purchased any more F-14 Tomcats, all sales of the fighter have been going to independents.

They replaced much of the outer skin with MDC armor to enable the fighter to survive MDC combat. The internal gun is unchanged but the original rounds have been replaced with Ramjet rounds that greatly increase the damage the gun does. All hard points have been refitted to carry the standard missiles built on Rifts Earth. The F-14 has a total of eight hard points. Four hard points are between the twin engines and can carry virtually any ordnance. The hard points have been refitted so that instead of Long Range missiles, the hard points can carry multiple medium or short range missiles. There are also four hard points on the supports for the wings. They are combined into a large hard point and a smaller hard point on the side of the other hard point. If the Super Tomcat is loaded down with six long range missiles on its main hard points, the Aircraft cannot land until it has lost two long range missiles.

The fighter is capable of carrier landing and take offs and has a tail hook for the purpose of carrier landings. The fighter also has variable configuration wings which allow for higher speeds and also better control at lower speeds.

There was originally a plan for a revised Tomcat design called the Tomcat 21, this aircraft would have been constructed out of all composites, have a fly by wire system, and have more powerful engines. This aircraft would have had about 90% of the capabilities of the F-22 while being much less expensive to construct.

Authors Note: In the author's opinion, this writeup should be used in place of the one written in the Coalition Navy Source Book because the writeup in the book cannot survive any combat and the fighter can be shot down by a light rifle and many energy pistols in one shot. This writeup, while not especially powerful in game terms, can survive a little combat. Also, the writeup in the Coalition Navy Source Book has long range missiles on the wings in addition to the aircraft carrying six Phoenix missiles. This created two problems, first is that the weight would be too much for the aircraft to take off and the wings of the fighter were not designed to carry ordnance.

Model Number: F-14D
Vehicle Type: Twin Engine Interceptor
Crew: Two

M.D.C. by Location:
[1] Wings (2):70 each
[2] Elevators (2):40 each
[2] Rudders (2):40 each
Cockpit:80
[3] Engines (2):100 each
Landing Gear (3):5 each
[4] Main Body:140

Notes:
[1] Destroying a Wing will cause the plane to crash
[2] Destruction of rudders or one elevator will still allow the fighter to be controlled by the varying of power levels of the engines but the fighter has a penalty of -10 to dodge, and a -30% penalty to all piloting rolls. Destruction of both of the elevators will leave the plane uncontrollable and pilot must eject to survive.
[3] The destruction of one engine will reduce the fighters top speed by half and give the pilot a -2 penalty to dodge as well as giving a 10% penalty to piloting. Destruction of both engines will cause the aircraft to crash. Pilot may attempt an emergency landing or pilot can choose to eject.
[4] Depleting the M.D.C. of the main body will shut the Aircraft down completely, rendering it useless and causing it to crash if in flight.

Speed:
Driving on Ground (Taxiing): Only possible for take offs and landings as well as for parking and storage. Speed is 40 mph (64 kph) when traveling and not on take off or landing.
Flying: The Super Tomcat can reach a top speed of Mach 2.3 (1,705.3 mph / 2,744.5 kph ) on full afterburner (the fighter can only last a few minutes at that speed). The fighter's normal cruise is about 600 mph (965.6 kph) but varies on the situation. The fighter has a maximum altitude of 53,000 feet (16,460 m).
Range: 1,738 nautical miles (2,000 miles/3,218.7 km) with no external ordnance load. The fighter can carry two fuel tanks (one on each engine) that extend range by about 105 nautical miles (121 miles/194 km). Reduce aircraft's range by 15% if partially loaded (Over 2 long range missiles, 4 medium range missile or 8 short range missiles) and by 25% if fully loaded. The Super Tomcat can be refueled in the air.

Statistical Data:
Height: 16 feet (4.8 meters).
Wingspan: 64 feet 1.5 inches (19.55 meters) with wings unswept and 38 feet 2.5 inches (11.56 meters) with wings swept back.
Length: 62 feet 8 inches (19.1 meters).
Weight: 41,780 pounds (18,968 kg) unloaded and 74,349 pounds (33755 kg) at maximum load.
Power System: Conventional, Two General Electric F-110-GE-400 augmented turbofan engines with afterburners, uses aviation fuel
Cargo: Minimal (Storage for small equipment), does not include hard points.
Black Market Cost: 4 million credits (Can sometimes sell for double that price).

Weapon Systems:

  1. 20mm MK-61A1 Vulcan Cannon: This is the original Pre-Rifts cannon mounted in the nose of the fighter. It is the same cannon design as is carried on the FA-18 Hornet. They have replaced the standard ammo with mega damage, armor piercing ramjet ammunition which allows the aircraft to hold it own against other Rifts aircraft. The gun mount is controlled by the fighter's pilot.
    Maximum Effective Range: 4,000 feet (1,220 m).
    Mega Damage: 1D6x10 for a burst of 30 round, 2D4 for each round.
    Rate of Fire: Equal to the combined hand to hand attacks of the pilot (usually 4 or 5).
    Payload: 660 rounds (22 bursts)
  2. Hard Points (8): The Tomcat has a total of 8 hard points with four of the hard points between the aircraft's engines and two of the hard points on each of the aircrafts wing roots. The two hard points are closely grouped together and one can carry much lower payload that the other. All but the secondary wing support hard points can carry bombs instead of missiles but the Tomcat was not designed to carry bombs so there are penalties when using bombs. The hard points were originally designed to carry one missile each but the hard points have been refitted to carry two medium range missiles or four short range missiles on each hard point. The smaller secondary wing root hard points are reduced in their payload.
    Fuselage Hard Points (4): ECM Pack or Missiles/Bombs (1 Long Range Missile /Heavy, 2 Medium Range/Medium, or 4 Short Range/Light each). Originally used for Phoenix, AMRAAM, Sparrow, and Sidewinder missiles but could carry bombs as well.
    Primary Wing Root Hard Points (2): ECM Pack, Towed Decoy, or Missiles/Bombs (1 Long Range Missile /Heavy, 2 Medium Range/Medium, or 4 Short Range/Light each). Originally used for Phoenix, AMRAAM, Sparrow, and Sidewinder missiles but could carry bombs as well.
    Secondary Wing Root Hard Points (2): Missiles only (1 medium range missile or 2 short range missiles) each These hard points were originally designed for Sidewinder missiles.
    1. Bombs and Missiles: The only restriction is that a hard point must carry all the same type of missiles or bombs. Both unguided and guided bombs can be carried. Missiles are controlled by the weapons officer except for short range missiles, which are controlled by the pilot.
      Maximum Effective Range: Varies by missile type for missile and varies by altitude bombs are dropped at (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
      Mega Damage: Varies by missile or bomb type (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
      Rate of Fire: Missiles can be fired and bombs can be dropped one at a time per hard point. Multiple hard points can be linked as one attack but must be the same size (light, medium, or heavy) and style of ordnance (all missiles or bombs in a volley)
      Payload: Varies by hard point (see above - all ordnance on a hard point must be the same size and type of ordnance)
    2. Active Jamming Pod: Th pod takes place of all ordnance on the Hard Point. Causes -25% to detection but when it is active, other vehicles/ bases can detect that it is jamming, and some missiles will home in on jamming signals. Jamming also causes a -4 penalty to all radar guided weapons.
    3. Towed Decoys (4): The pod takes place of all ordnance on the Hard Point. The aircraft can carry a special pod that carries four advanced towed decoy drones. These drones are dragged about 328 feet (100 meters) behind the aircraft on a thin cable. Each is a specially designed radar lure that creates a radar image to mimic the aircraft. If decoys are not destroyed, they can be recovered and repaired. Rifts Earth decoy systems are assumed to not operate against Phase World weapons due to technological difference.
      M.D.C.: 5
      Effects: The decoy has an 65% chance of fooling ordinary non military radars and non smart guided missiles, the decoy has a 35% chance of fooling military level radars (like those of the Coalition), and the decoy has a 10% chance of fooling advanced military radars (Like those of the New Navy and Triax) and smart missiles.
      Range: Not Applicable although the decoy is deployed 328 feet (100 meters) from the aircraft
      Rate of fire: One can be deployed at a time and requires 15 seconds to deploy (Reel Out) another decoy
      Payload: 4 Decoys each
    4. Anti-Missile Chaff/Flare Dispenser (1): Use the same effects as the TRIAX model. However, each time the system is engaged, the system fires off one chaff and 1D4 flares. Rifts Earth decoy systems are assumed to not operate against Phase World missiles due to technological difference. Reduce effects by 20% against smart missiles (Add +20% to rolls for smart missiles.)
      Effect:
        01-50 Enemy missile or missile volley detonates in chaff cloud - Missiles are all destroyed
        51-75 Enemy missile or missile volley loses track of real target and veers away in wrong direction (May lock onto another target
        76-00 No effect, missiles are still on target
      Also note that the chaff cloud will also blind flying monsters that fly through cloud. They will suffer the following penalties: reduce melee attacks/actions, combat bonuses, and speed by half. Duration: 1D4 melee rounds.
      Payload: 20 chaff, 40 flares. Each time the system is engaged, the system fires off one chaff and 1D4 flares.

    Special Equipment:

    The equipment of the fighter has been upgraded but many of the original systems are still on the fighter. Consider the fighter to carry all standard equipment that robot vehicles carry (not including loudspeaker and microphone) plus the following extra systems:

    Combat Bonuses

    [Golden Age Weaponsmiths, Wellington Industries, and TRIAX are trademarks owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc. ]
    [ Rifts® is a registered trademark owned by Kevin Siembieda and Palladium Books Inc.]

    Image drawn and copyrighted by Michael Donegan (NAVYDAZE@aol.com) .
    More Michael Donegan artwork at NAVYDAZE Navy & Aviation Artwork

    By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune ).

    Copyright © 1998 & 2001, Kitsune. All rights reserved.

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