![]() ![]() The aircraft would utilize a crew of two (as in the F-111) to help spread the workload and operate the powerful onboard radar, weapons, and general missions systems. Additionally, it was to serve beyond the interception role and provide its crew with air combat capabilities that the F-111B was never going to match for it proved an overweight, underperforming system at its core. VFX called for an aircraft platform with enhanced agility (when compared to the outgoing fleet of F-4 Phantoms). The aircraft fell under the new project acronym of "VFX" ("Naval Fighter Experimental"). One of the resulting designs became company model "G-303" and, when presented to the USN, beat out a competing submission from McDonnell Douglas. Grumman, already having worked under the General Dynamics banner on the F-111B project, took on a private venture role in developing a future fleet defense fighter for possible sale to the USN. The B-model was intended to succeed the storied (though aging) McDonnell Douglas F-4 "Phantom II" line but the ballooning endeavor fell to naught, leaving the USN without a suitable replacement. Its existence was brought about largely due to the demise of the failed F-111B initiative, a carrier-based version of the large General Dynamics F-111 "Aardvark" swing-wing fighter-bomber. ![]() The Grumman F-14 "Tomcat" was the quintessential United States Navy (USN) fleet defense interceptor of the latter Cold War years. ![]()
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