USN TOP GUN F14 VF-31 TOMCATTERS ENDURING FREEDOM PATCH

The Tomcatters currently fly the most capable and formidable strike fighter in the U.S. Navy, the F-14D Super Tomcat. Ten fighter/reconnaissance aircraft constitutes VF-31. Each Tomcat can track up to 24 targets simultaneously and attack six with Phoenix missiles while continuing to scan airspace. The F-14D has a new capability: It can strike with precision air-to-ground weapons using the Low-Altitude Navigation and Targeting Infrared and Night (LANTIRN) targeting system.
VF-31 participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 onboard USS Abraham Lincoln. The squadron flew 585 sorties totalling 1744 flight hours, dropping 239 LGB/JDAM/MK-82. Their very first mission in the war saw two F-14Ds paired with four F/A-18Es from VFA-115 as they attacked a missile production facility in the Karbala area some 40 miles southwest of Baghdad. Each F-14 carried two 2000-lb JDAM bombs. During this mission, an AWACS controller advised the strike package (which also consisted if a United States Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler and a section of USAF F-16 SEAD flight) that a Tu-16 had been located at the Al Taqaddum air base. The airfield was about 30 miles from their current position. The F-14 lead (crewed by the VF-31 commanding officer) quickly devised a new timing plan which allowed the F-16s and the EA-6B to provide converge for both strike packages and the JDAM bombs were quickly reprogrammed for their new target. The F-16s supported the ingress and quickly turned their attention to the Super Hornets as the F-14Ds destroyed the Iraqi bomber. The F-14s were greeted by intense AAA and SAM as they departed from the target area. All targets hit (as well as the missile facility which was attacked by the Super Hornets).
After returning from the last WESTPAC cruise for the F-14 on October 31, 2004 VF-31 returned home to Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana. As part of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 14, the squadron was deployed on USS John C. Stennis, and the squadron became the last to fly F-14 Tomcats over the skies of the Pacific Fleet. VF-31 continued to operate with the remaining F-14 squadrons as part of the Atlantic Fleet and was teamed up with VF-213 Blacklions, also flying F-14D, for the very last cruise ever with the F-14 in 2005-2006 onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt.

VF-31 are to transition to the F/A-18E Super Hornet in September 2006, making VF-31 the last F-14 squadron.