Dominate South Asia

Grumman secretly sold Tomcat fighter spare parts to Iran. This matter was carried out in a very secretive manner. I originally thought that this matter would remain sealed forever, but I did not expect that under the guidance of some thoughtful people, the incident finally came to light, causing caused huge turmoil within the US empire.

The previous President Reagan and Secretary of Defense Weinberg were not spared. They were questioned by the Senate. The media and the Senate firmly believed that it was these guys' fault that caused such a terrible and embarrassing situation today: It has never happened. Like Iran, the United States sells arms Give it to it, and then get bitten hard by this country. You know, the hostage crisis in 1979 directly led to the downfall of the Carter administration, and some people actually dared to risk the world's disapproval and deliver weapons to this evil country. This This is a huge blasphemy against the spirit of Medici! Under strong pressure from Washington, the Senate and the media, Grumman and its "Tomcat" fighters soon became tragic victims.

In March 1992, US President Bush signed an order, and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney ordered that all the production lines and templates of the "Tomcat" fighter jet be destroyed. In the past, when a certain type of fighter aircraft was retired, the production line was merely sealed, but now, it is being completely destroyed. The reason is that the Iranians cannot obtain the production technology and parts of the "Tomcat" fighter jet from the United States! Although the US imperialism had already sold to Pakistan Tomcat fighter maintenance lines and related equipment, especially the F110 turbofan engine production line, the US imperialists and strategists insisted that even if Pakistan united with China, it would be difficult for Pakistan to do so. Really reverse-engineer the Tomcat fighter jet, even though Pakistan and China’s copycat “Tomcat” prototypes have After many appearances flying in the sky, they still wishfully believe that without the help of their technicians and engineers, Pakistan's repair lines and equipment will not be effectively maintained and upgraded. By then, whether it is those copycat Tomcats or those original ones The "Tomcat" fleet will automatically become a pile of "scrap aluminum" like the Tomcat fighters earlier sold to Iran.

This is a strategy that kills two birds with one stone, especially now that Pakistan's air force is so powerful. The implication against Pakistan is also very obvious, so that Pakistan's Tomcat fleet will not be able to receive effective follow-up protection, allowing them to retire this powerful fighter aircraft as soon as possible!

The US Navy suffered an unreasonable disaster. The Senate and the Pentagon forced the Navy to retire all F-14s within 3 to 5 years and replace them with Boeing's F/A-18E/F "Super Hornet" fighters. The reason is: Can't let big The United States is equipped with the same weapons and equipment as several potential enemy countries at the same time. Although this reason is too far-fetched, Iran was also equipped with 79 F14s, and the F-14s of the US Navy were not retired for this reason. And Boeing's lobbying group is indeed extremely powerful. For example, the F/A-18E/F, as an upgraded version of the F/A-18C/D, is very advanced. It can universalize the combat functions of carrier-based aircraft by replacing the F14 and A6 to save a lot of military expenses. This is for those who have always wanted to Lawmakers looking for excuses to cut military spending and divert it to other uses are attractive enough. Of course, Boeing has spent a lot of public relations money on this from outside lobby groups.

Faced with the enemy's huge disadvantage in the Senate, although the US Navy argued hard, many front-line pilots, many of whom had flown the F14 and F/A-18E/F at the same time, would be more intuitive to compare the specific performance of the two. , all believe that the overall performance of the F/A-18E/F is not as good as the F-14 at all, and its range and payload efficiency ratio is only equivalent to 32% of the Tomcat. Even if we dig deep into the potential in later improvements, we can only barely increase this ratio to about 50%. After all, the foundation of medium-sized aircraft cannot be compared with that of heavy-duty aircraft. Instead of equipping a brand new fighter plane. It is better to comprehensively upgrade the original F14D "Super Cat" to form a technological generation advantage over those earlier exported "Tomcat" fighters.

However, this view was obviously not accepted by the Senate and the Pentagon. The Tomcat fighter jets were eventually forced to plan to retire in the spring of 1996. Its retirement was not due to limited funds, but because Grumman was suspected of illegally selling Tomcats to Iran. The huge turmoil caused by Cat fighter spare parts, Pakistan and China’s joint mapping and copying operation of Tomcat fighter jets, the crazy lobbying of Boeing’s behind-the-scenes interest groups, and short-sighted bureaucrats. In short, the U.S. Senate is determined not to pay for the improved version of the F-14. They are also unwilling to pay for the NATF "Naval Advanced Fourth Generation Heavy-Duty Carrier-Based Fighter" (equivalent to The swept-wing carrier-based version of the F-22 is used to replace the F14 fighter) and ATF". The Navy's advanced fourth-generation carrier-based attack aircraft" (equivalent to the small carrier-based B2, used to replace the A6 attack aircraft) will allocate even one cent for the two projects. The reason is that the Mao Xiong Empire is about to collapse, and the US Navy The existing F/A-18E/F "Hornet" can be used to perform all current tasks! Therefore, everything becomes a last resort.

In the end, all but a few of the American Tomcat fighter jets were sent to aviation museums. The rest were not even placed in the aircraft cemetery in the Arizona desert. They were all broken down by laser cutting machines into pieces averaging less than 5 square meters. . Then they were buried in the desert (just like the reason for destroying the production line, the Iranians, Pakistanis, and Chinese were not allowed to obtain Tomcat fighter parts from the US empire). Tomcat is a high-tech machine worth tens of millions of dollars that countless people spent countless days and nights creating. Now it is broken down by a cutting machine like a simple wooden board. At that moment, many people are heartbroken! They cried bitter tears, there were Navy pilots flying it. There are naval crews who maintain it, workers who manufacture it, engineers and scientists who design it and finally "care and raise" it like children...Mhamad's father-in-law, Grumman Corporation Pierre, the CEO, was so angry when he saw this scene that he suffered a stroke and a heart attack.

Although. Afterwards, the US government and military handed over the Air Force's new generation bomber order to Grumman's B2 "Phantom" stealth bomber as compensation. However, the Tomcat fighter jet has completely become history in the U.S. Empire, and the NATF and ATF projects that had high hopes for the U.S. Navy were also forcibly terminated. Grumman, which had suffered repeated heavy losses, was almost completely destroyed. Withdrew from the U.S. Navy carrier-based aircraft market, a large number of outstanding engineers and technicians engaged in Tomcat fighter improvement and production were forced to accept major layoffs caused by the company's declining profits and recession. Grumman's vitality was seriously damaged.

Now, Grumman is immersed in the haze of the Tomcat fighter being withdrawn from the US Navy carrier-based aircraft market. From far away in South Asia, a piece of favorable news came. Pakistani President Mhamad heard that his husband After he was bedridden because of the Tomcat fighter jet, he sent his wife to comfort his bedridden father-in-law. At the same time, when the Gulf War broke out, Pakistan With the cooperation of Pakistan, the United States provided a large amount of military aid to Pakistan. In order to help his father-in-law, Hamad immediately used the military aid to purchase forty F14Ds from Grumman. The price of an F14D is US$38 million. In fact, the United States also has the mentality of disposing of scraps. Otherwise, based on the prices in the 1990s, the price of an F14D would be at least US$50 million! And this does not include the cost of spare parts and ammunition. Now, the U.S. Navy will no longer continue to equip Tomcat fighters and will retire them. The U.S. Navy does not have the last forty F-14Ds produced by Grumman. The purchase by Mhammad helped his father-in-law's factory recover a lot of losses.

Pakistan President Mhamad, who is the son-in-law of Grumman CEO Pierre, indeed gave Grumman a hand at a critical moment! A total of 40 F14D "Super Cat" fighter jets, priced at 38 million U.S. dollars each, plus supporting parts and weapons, totaling 2 billion U.S. dollars in military purchase orders, allowed Grumman to sweep away the "Iran-Contra" "In spite of the gloom, the company's stocks in the stock market are still showing an upward trend.

Although, the fire control radar configuration of this batch of exported Super Cats is in accordance with the consistent export policy of the United States. The original AN/APG-71 radar was replaced by the slightly backward AN/AWG-9 radar, and some of the ground targets were shielded. Attack the synthetic aperture function, but the F110-GE-400 turbofan engine has been retained, and the Tomcat fighter is still the world's first-class fighter. Everyone was very satisfied with the contract, but neither party expected that many years later, the situation would change drastically, and now, Hamad's wife, the first lady of Pakistan, Lilith, came in person. Arrived at Grumman Corporation.

"Father, please rest peacefully." The first thing Lilith visited was old Pierre in the hospital bed. In the past ten years, Lilith has been in Afghanistan and Pakistan and rarely returned to her country. However, she has feelings for her father. But it has never changed.

Old Pierre on the hospital bed looked much better. Facing his daughter, old Pierre sighed: "Lilith, it's thanks to Mhamad this time. If Pakistan hadn't taken our company Once all the newly built fighters have been received, our company will really not be able to survive this crisis smoothly.”

Recalling that Grumman was on the verge of danger several times, but in the end it was Pakistan that helped digest the inventory. Pierre was also very grateful to his daughter. She married a good husband and had a good son-in-law.

"Father, you must rest in peace and recuperate. Your health is the most important thing." Lilith said next to her. (To be continued ~^~)