Synopsis: The F-14 Super Tomcat 21 (ST21) was a proposed 1990s upgrade to modernize the U.S. Navy’s F-14 fleet with powerful F110-GE-429 engines, Mach 1.3 supercruise, and advanced avionics.
-Designed to be a formidable multirole fighter with extended range and payload, the project was ultimately canceled in favor of the more economical F/A-18E/F Super Hornet due to high maintenance costs and the shift toward stealth technology.
-While it never entered service, the ST21 remains a legendary “what if” for aviation enthusiasts, representing a path not taken before the era of fifth-generation fighters like the F-35.
The Super Tomcat 21: The ‘Ultimate’ F-14 Upgrade That Was Too Expensive for the Navy
The F-14 Super Tomcat 21 (ST21) was a proposed, advanced upgrade for the U.S. Navy’s F-14 Tomcat in the early 1990s, intended to modernize it as a 21st-century multirole fighter with significantly improved range, avionics (such as an AESA radar), engines (F110-GE-429), and payload, including supercruise capability. Still, it was ultimately canceled in favor of the more economical F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
However, the Super Tomcat 21 never entered service; it was a proposed upgrade that lost out to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet due to cost, maintenance, and evolving Navy needs.
Iran still flew a variant of the Tomcat until 2025, when Israeli airstrikes took out the last of them. Even if built, modern demands for stealth and network-centric warfare would likely see it retired in favor of newer 5th-gen or next-gen aircraft like the F-35 and F/A-XX.
Key Features of the Super Tomcat 21
Enhanced performance would have been provided by more powerful engines (F110-GE-429), a larger glove (wing root) for more fuel, and improved aerodynamics for supercruise (Mach 1.3).
The F110-GE-429 is a powerful engine, enabling Mach 1.3 supercruise, a significant leap from the earlier problematic Pratt & Whitney TF30, known for compressor stalls, offering better reliability, speed, and range.
F-14 Tomcat. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
F-14 Tomcat Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
With afterburners, the F110s produced over 27,000 pounds of thrust each, contributing to the F-14’s Mach 2+ speed. It featured variable geometry air intakes with movable ramps, controlled by the Air Inlet Control System (AICS), to manage airflow to the engines at different speeds and altitudes.
The ST 21 would have had an advanced avionics package. Upgraded radar (APG-71), FLIR systems, digital controls, and modern Electronic Warfare (EW) suites.
Greater range, payload, and the ability to carry advanced standoff weapons like AMRAAMs. The ST 21 was primed to be a multirole aircraft. It was designed to be a potent fleet defender and strike aircraft.
Background on the F-14 Super Tomcat
The US Navy was looking for ways to extend the service life of the beloved F-14 Tomcat in the 1990s. Due to the success of the film “Top Gun,” the Tomcat was arguably the most popular aircraft in the US inventory.
The ST 21 moniker came from the Navy, specifically, a “Super Tomcat for the 21st century.” In 1988, a joint McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics team was awarded a development contract for what was to become the A-12 Avenger II, or the “Flying Dorito.”
The A-12 Avenger II would have been the first true stealth fighter; unlike the F-117, it would have had AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, but the project suffered from massive cost overruns and was canceled by 1991.
McDonnell Douglas designed an attack aircraft based on the more economical and successful F/A-18 Hornet. Grumman, however, opted to offer an even more heavily upgraded variant of the F-14, available as a new aircraft or through the remanufacture of existing platforms.
In place of the problematic glove vanes on the F-14, which were maintenance nightmares and, in many cases, welded shut, the ST21 incorporated enlarged aerodynamic gloves that offered significant benefits in supersonic handling and dogfighting performance. These aerodynamic gloves provided an additional 2,200 pounds of fuel storage in each wing, granting the aircraft even greater range.
Super Hornet Navy Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
FA-18 Super Hornet. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet receives fuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker over Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve Oct 17, 2016. The KC-135 provides the core aerial refueling capability for the U.S. Air Force and has excelled in this role for more than 50 years. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Douglas Ellis/Released)
Super Tomcat 21s would house navigation and attack FLIR (Forward-Looking Infrared) sensors. With new upgraded computer systems and an improved Heads-Up-Display system, the ST-21 would take a 20-year fighter and outfit it with the best avionics package available.
The ST-21 would have been a formidable, bad-ass dogfighter. And it could have been continuously upgraded as well. But that wasn’t the issue.
Doomed For Failure
The F-14 Tomcat was never an economical aircraft to build and maintain. Its variable-sweep wings and the airframe that supported them were maintenance-intensive and expensive.
And at that time, the Pentagon was not in a position to spend lavishly.
While the improvements slated for the Tomcat were impressive, the advent of stealth aircraft, specifically the F-22 Raptor, initiated a shift in the US military’s combat aviation toward fifth-generation stealth fighters.
While many analysts believe that the ST-21 may still be in service today if it had been adopted, the gains of fifth-generation stealth aircraft by the US and China would have rendered the aircraft obsolete.
That’s why the F/A-18 Super Hornets are being phased out of service by the F-35 and the soon-to-be-adopted F/A-XX, as the Navy will jump to a sixth-generation stealth fighter with the F/A-XX, which is being developed in conjunction with the Air Force in the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.
It is another of those great “what if” type of scenarios, but it was never fated to be. And it was never built. It was a drawing board design, but it didn’t stop many aviation and Tomcat-loving enthusiasts from dreaming.
About the Author: Steve Balestrieri
Steve Balestrieri is a National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing on defense, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications.
GhostTomahawk
January 8, 2026 at 2:32 pm
We canceled the F14 due to costs to maintain. So it went with a cheap plane in a no peer environment. Then after years of espionage and the selling of secrets to China (Clinton) we have a peer and the US has gone to an expensive cost laden slow non lethal airframe. Enter the F35. Not long range. Not fast. Not lethal. Not a dog fighter.
The Navy doesn’t need F35s. They need planes that can stretch the envelope without drop tanks and aerial refueling (tankers aren’t stealth and that’s what I’d target). The Navy needs the ability to hit bombers and missiles at long range.
Not the F35. They don’t need stealth. They need long range lethality in volume. FAST DEADLY LOTS OF IT. Stealth ain’t stealth. It’s detectable. It’s the secret no one talks about because everyone is in on it. Stealth planes have been getting shot down for 35 years. Electronic warfare is the key. Not stealth.
H.R. Holm
January 10, 2026 at 2:58 am
Some good and interesting points made here, but I just checked with MS Edge CoPilot AI tool, and it confirms that the only stealth aircraft to have ever been taken out during hostilities was the USAF F-117A downed over Serbia in 1999. No F-22s or F-35s, or B-2s for that matter, are known to have been downed by enemy/hostile fire. A US F-35 operating against the Houthis in Yemen in 2025 came close, but ‘no cigar’ for the Houthis. And no other country has deployed stealth aircraft technology to the extent the US has, so that pretty well rules them out, too. Might want to check the facts more carefully before making outlandish claims such as stealth planes being ‘shot down’ for decades.