The F-111A was heavier with a 46,172lb empty weight. Typically a navy aircraft would be heavier than a land-based counterpart due to the necessity of strengthening the aircraft for carrier landings and catapult shots.
I wouldn't put too much "weight" on this chart from the 15 May 1968 F-111B Flight Manual. It was Preliminary and issued prior to the July 1968 at-sea trials (which weren't the cause of the program's cancellation: it had already been terminated and, by the way, were being accomplished with an F-111B without the final carrier-suitability changes and were not as unsatisfactory as has been alleged). The SAC (Standard Aircraft Characteristics) chart lists the maximum catapult and field takeoff weight as 77,724 lbs. My guess is that this was a preliminary and very conservative number based on the lack of single-engine capability "at certain gross weights and ambient temperatures" of the prototypes that lacked the P-12 engines with 8% more thrust.
I don't have F-111B data, but I can compare F-14 and F-111F
Ordinarily I would have said the reinforcing necessary for carrier landings, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
But would have been a worse fighter in general. Less maneuverable, worse engines (compressor stalls!)
From view point as Dogfighter, Yes
Still only 6 as far as I know, unless the -B wings had the spots for the non-pivoting pylons like the rest of the F-111 fleet (probably does, the FB-111s used the -B wings).
Assuming that your plane will only ever operate 100km from enemy aircraft is what led to the deletion of the guns from planes in the early 1960s in the first place. Then Vietnam happened, when ROEs required getting close for a positive visual ID. Now you have to dogfight.
Huh. It might actually have been possible for the F-111B to haul 10x Phoenix but would be stuck subsonic to do so. And more importantly, Bring back all 10 but with a very low margin, then...
At that point, you might as well be using it as your AEW plane in place of the E-1.
Would you be so kind to double-check that F-111B combat range figure?
Any distance in RANGE is a one-way trip.
The F-111F had much more powerful engines than the F-111B. 25,100lbs vs 18,500lbs for the F-111B.
There were TF30 variants up to 30k considered for the F-111 so maybe.
Talk about a great way to defend your AEW platform...
It'd still be dead as soon as it was out of missiles, but you'd have more aircraft since it was nominally a fighter.
You still need 360 degree coverage,
but with a squadron of 12 on each carrier you can send a pair out with each of the AEW anyway.
For the FAD role it would be out of range of MiGs, so it would only have to worry about bombers with air to air missiles. And once it's out of missiles, it turns to go home and lets the incoming bombers deal with F4s (or F8U-3s had they been chosen) doing deck launched intercept.
So you have more flying.
I would expect not - as the F-14, for which the USN kept trying to get a more-powerful engine, never exchanged its TF30-P-412 (12,350 lb/20,900 lb) for the TF30-P-100 of the F-111F (15,000 lb/25,100 lb) as built in 1972 (or the TF30-P-111 {17,895 lb/25,111 lb} installed in the F-111s from 1985).
True, although hopefully it would be heading back to the carrier after it runs out. Assuming that was the plan for the Missileer design...
The USAF fixed that in later F-111s with inlet redesigns, so perhaps something could have been done for the TF30 in the F-14. And wasn't the P-412A variant supposed to help with those issues over the original P-412 variants?
The F-111 had the benefit of being a somewhat cumbersome aircraft that won't be pulling the sort of maneuvers a F-14 could do so the redesigned inlets and improved TF30 variants fixed those problems. I don't think you could expect the same result on the F-14 because it was a true fighter and would be flown as such. So I think it made sense for the USN to push for completely new engines.
For the tomcat or the f-111? Either way, talking about a very big bird. I’m guessing it would make for an extremely impress zoom climb, though.
Tomcat, though they'd fit in an F-111 with major inlet enlargements.
