Well Tomcat, how about some quotes given to me TODAY about the F-14 in IAF service during the Iran Iraq war by a gentleman who co-wrote a book on it...
From Tom Cooper, co-author of Iran-Iraq War in the Air 1980-1988
http://www.schifferbooks.com/military/a ... 16699.html
This is from a Mig-31 vs F-14 debate...
"IMHO, some of the most important aspects of the "F-14 vs MiG-31" comparission were not mentioned at all here so far.
The MiG-31 was namely developed as that what is usually said for the F-14: a "bomber-interceptor".
The plane can fly fast over vast distances, but is not as fast as the MiG-25, which can "super-cruise" at Mach 2.1 thru 2.3. It has an indeed powerfull radar (from the power-output), which was also the first AESA put into service, but is particularly primitive from the side of its processing capabilities. In fact, so primitive, that it can track a maximum of 10 targets simultaneously, with a theoretically capability of engaging four of them each with a single R-33 (this was never tried-out, not even in a test: a max number of simultaneously engaged targets during the testing was 2).
The Zaslon weapons system, however, is heavily optimized for tackling non-maneuvering targets, such like B-1 or B-52 bombers, or AGM-86 ALCM/CALCM (air-launched cruise missiles). During the testing it proved capable of engaging bomber-sized targets from ranges of only between 60 and 90km. Cruise-missile sized targets and such targets like B-1Bs (which has an RCS of hardly more than a US-produced cruise missile from the 1980s), could be engaged from much shorter ranges, i.e. between 25 and 30kms.
For comparission, the AWG-9 - originally developed in 1962 - has a capability to simultaneously track up to 24 targets, and simultaneously engage six of these by firing a single AIM-54A at each of them. This capability was confirmed by several tests, the first of which was undertaken in November 1973, and the last in October 1998 (during each such test a single F-14 attacked six targets with six AIM-54s, and usually downed at least four or five of these). The AWG-9/AIM-54 system proved capable of engaging bomber-sized targets - despite jamming - from ranges of over 200km (the record, scored during the testing in Iran, in the summer of 1978, was over 240km), and fighter-sized targets (RCS of 3sqm) at ranges over 120km. Engagement ranges for cruise-missile targets are nominally around 60km.
The difference is, however, that the MiG-31 was never tested in combat. The F-14 was - and throughoutly. And not only the F-14: the AIM-54 as well. And, the F-14/AWG-9/AIM-54 combo proved the best and most deadly air-to-air and air-defense system ever used in combat, with a confirmed pk of over 70%.
If pitted against each other in air-to-air combat, the MiG-31/Zaslon system have - despite their power - a significant disadvantage: the R-33, namely, is a purerly semi-active radar-homming (SARH) air-to-air missile (AAM). That means, for successfully striking the target, the radar of the launching MiG-31 must always be pointed at the target. If the radar loses the lock on (due to jamming or target maneuvering, or the maneuvering of the MiG-31 which launched the R-33), the missile will 100% miss, as it has no means of guiding itself to the target.
The AIM-54, on the contrary, is an active-radar homming missile. That means, that in the last phase of the flight it activates its own pulse-doppler radar, which detects the target and then guides the missile until the collision. That means, that sometimes after the launch (depending on the distance to the target), the F-14 is free to maneuver and let the missile do the job.
Besides, contrary to the MiG-31, which was always built as bomber-interceptor and never meaned to be very maneuvreable, the F-14 was initially constructed as an air-superiority fighter, based on experiences from maneuvering combats over North Vietnam, and with main weaponry consisting of a 20mm gun, Sidewinders and Sparrows. It was built to be able to outmaneuver such planes like MiG-17 and MiG-21 - and is perfectly capable of doing so. Only once such a design was finalized was the capability to carry the AIM-54s added (that's what the F-14 needs "pallets" to carry AIM-54s). Consequently is the F-14 far more maneuvreable than any MiG-31 and could easily win in a dogfight.
This is again confirmed with combat experiences: the MiG-31 lacks any, while the F-14s have probably up to 120 kills to their credit.
Finally, somebody mentioned the MiG-31BM as a "super air-to-ground fighter". Only two prototypes of this version were ever built, one of which was never completed, while the other was mothballed soon after doing some testing. Out of a fleet of some 300 MIG-31 produced, currently only some 20 are operational on average: the plane is a true "gas-guzzler" and extremly expensive to operate. In service, the Zaslon system proved complex to maintain, and all its secrets were delivered to the Americans by a Soviet spy already in the early 1980s (that was the reason why the Soviets then tried to develop the MiG-31M, and the R-37 ARH AAMs, but in the end couldn't complete that task for the lack of money).
For comparission, a total of some 70 F-14Ds are in active fleet service since 1992, and have a weapons system - the APG-71 - which includes the best modules of the APG-70 and the AWG-9. It is meanwhile compatible with a wide range of PGMs, foremost the superb GBU-24 laser-guided bomb, which can be dropped against targets up to 20km away (albeit, only if the target is designated by somebody who is closer to the target than 10-12km), as well as the JDAM. All the USN's F-14 now also carry LANTRIN navigational and targeting pods - the MiG-31BM would never get anything comparable - and a number of USN's F-14s is also TARPS-capable, i.e. they can do reconnaissance. Furthermore, the F-14A/Bs (only US examples) - which are in some cases even better equipped for air-to-ground operations than even the F-14Ds - are equipped with Television Camera Set (TCS), which enables their crews to detect and track targets from ranges up to 60km without activating their radars (and thus warning the opponents of their presence), while the F-14Ds have a combined infra-red-search-and-track (IRST) and TCS dual set mounted under the chin. Again, the MiG-31BM never got a chance of getting a similar equipment.
PS Oh, and before I forget: during the I Persian Gulf War (Iraq-Iran War, 1980-1988), the Iranian F-14s have shot down at least six or seven Iraqi and Soviet MiG-25s of different variants. As these were flying faster (usually at more than Mach 2.2) and higher (usually at more than 60.000ft) than the MiG-31 can, and have never managed to fire even a single missile at any of Iranian F-14s (although the R-40RD/AA-6 should have a range of up to 90km), I'm sure the conclusion is, that the F-14 Tomcat could very much "reach out and touch" the MiG-31."
Long distance- The next best thing to being there.
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