ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy's F-14 Tomcat, built to protect the fleet from Soviet bombers, took its last flight off an aircraft carrier on Friday, closing one of the final chapters in its 32-year history.
The retirement of the Tomcat, made famous in the movie "Top Gun," clears the way for the Navy to start using new military aircraft that supporters say can meet post-Cold War requirements more affordably.
But for Tomcat pilots and aircraft enthusiasts, the end of the F-14 does not just mark an end of an aviation era -- it signals a trend in U.S. government weapons spending that favors cost-cutting over performance.
"It's a Cold War icon with modern-day lethality," said Cmdr. Jim Howe, commander of the Navy's last Tomcat fighter squadron and the pilot on the last Tomcat to make the two-second, 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) catapult launch off the carrier.
Lt. Justin Halligan, the pilot who dropped the last bomb from a Tomcat over Iraq earlier this year, said the plane was "at the top of its game or better, but times are different, money's different."
Pilots and machinists aboard the USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier, off the coast of Virginia, echoed those sentiments this week. So did industry analysts.
"We're kind of retreating from an era of best you can build and moving to an era of best you can afford," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group aerospace and defense consultancy.
"There's no better sign of that than the retirement of the F-14."
Beyond reflection about the aircraft's powerful image, supersonic speed and unmatched dog-fighting capabilities, many sailors and analysts agreed the Navy just doesn't need the Tomcat anymore.
While some in the Navy criticize Washington, analysts say there is a lot more room for further cuts in the military aircraft budget given the changing face of war.
Simple but deadly ground-based threats such as the roadside bombs used against U.S. forces in Iraq, difficulties securing access to foreign bases and the near total lack of a rival in the air, raise questions over the need for maintaining high spending levels.
Many critics point to the Air Force's plans to buy the F-22 -- the next generation of aircraft aimed at maintaining America's military superiority in the skies -- for a hefty $130 million each.
WHAT MISSION?
The Tomcat had outlived its mission once the Cold War ended, and the federal government was quick to decide the cost, at more than $60 million per plane, was outweighing the benefit. The first Bush administration terminated new F-14 production in its fiscal 1990 budget, and the Navy in 1991 ended its plans to convert older versions, saving $6 billion.
The Tomcat will be fully retired in September, with planes going to museums and a war reserve. The Navy has already begun transitioning to Boeing Co's F/A-18 Super Hornets, and it will then move to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, being built by a team led by Lockheed Martin .
But there is little agreement when it comes to the F-22. The Government Accountability Office urged Congress in June to delay funding the program, saying the Air Force had not made a business case for it.
John Pike, director of security Web site globalsecurity.org, argues the Air Force should start to depend on unmanned vehicles to conduct long-range missions.
"There's got to be a point over the next decade or two that the pencil pushers, the accountants, are going to say piloted aircraft are a luxury we can no longer afford," Pike said.
