Nearly 20 years after the US Navy retired the F-14 Tomcat, one of the most recognizable fighter jets in aviation history could have the chance to fly again.
The US Senate has passed the Maverick Act, a bill that would allow the Navy to transfer three retired F-14 Tomcats to the US Space and Rocket Center Commission in Huntsville, Alabama, for preservation, public display and possible flight at airshows or commemorative events.
The bill, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana with Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona as a cosponsor, authorizes the transfer of three surplus F-14D aircraft identified by Bureau Numbers 164341, 164602 and 159437.
The bill would allow the Navy to transfer the aircraft at no cost, but the US Space and Rocket Center Commission would be responsible for the costs of moving, restoring, operating and maintaining them.
The Space and Rocket Center Commission is the Alabama state body that oversees the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, a major aerospace museum and education center best known as the home to Space Camp.
The legislation also directs the Navy to provide available maintenance manuals and excess spare parts “to make one of the F-14D aircraft flyable or able to complete a static display,” using only existing Navy stock. The aircraft would remain demilitarized and could not regain any weapons or combat capability.
The F-14 entered US Navy service in the 1970s as a carrier-based fleet-defense fighter. Built by Grumman, the twin-engine, two-seat aircraft became known for its variable-sweep wings, long range and AIM-54 Phoenix missile system.
It served as the Navy’s premier air-superiority fighter for decades and later took on precision-strike missions before the service retired the type in 2006.
The Tomcat became a pop-culture icon after starring alongside Tom Cruise in the 1986 film Top Gun, where the fighters sweeping wings, twin tails and carrier-deck launches helped define the public image of Navy fighter pilots for a generation.
The jet also returned to the screen in Top Gun: Maverick, when Cruise’s character climbed back into an old F-14 during the film’s final act.
After the Navy retired the Tomcat, the US moved aggressively to destroy many airframes and parts because Iran remained the only foreign operator of the type.
Congress previously restricted sales and transfers of F-14s and Tomcat parts over fears that components could reach Iran’s fleet.
The legislation comes after reports that Iran’s remaining airworthy F-14s may have all been destroyed in recent US and Israeli strikes, potentially ending the Tomcat’s last active military service.
Navy Times reported that retired F-14s at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base were ordered shredded after investigators found that some parts had reached foreign buyers.
The Maverick Act carves out a narrow exception for historic preservation of the type.
