I stronly doubt your conclusion considering the Navy is replacing the F/A-18s with F-35s which are closer to design of 18s than 14s. Perhaps there might be tim

I stronly doubt your conclusion considering the Navy is replacing the F/A-18s with F-35s which are closer to design of 18s than 14s. Perhaps there might be time to face the fact that the F-14 may not have been the most useful (and upgradable) planes for actually practical roles the carrier aircraft are expected to do? The F-14 maybe has been sexy in the air, but for effective and operational warfare the things like logistics, maintainability, reuse of parts and carrier space matter much more, especially if F-14s shortcomings made it less able to actually be in the air when needed. It's like taking your daddys 1970s charger (with new infotainmed and bolted on cruise control) into a desert expedition. Sure it has that gas guzzling V8 for the POWER when you need to hunt sand people, but in reality a modern Hilux is going to make the combined force a much more potent force and won't need truckloads of spare parts and mechanics to trail it. Even if it doesn't go 0-60 in 3s.