Bah it's like the world's largest, heaviest, most lumbering fighter ever. The Tomcat has ONE purpose -- mach speed 150+ miles interception, using its powerful afterburning engines and its long range phoenix missiles.
The cold war is long over. We tried to update the Tomcat, it didn't help. The -14D had improved G-limits, but an F15 could still easily best it in 1 v 1 combat (one f15 driver mentioned "I could instantly tell the improved Ds from the 'plus' tomcats because they could turn a bit better and pull more Gs than the older version, but they were still nowhere close to what I could do").
We then tried using them as bombers (HAH!!! Whatta waste of resources) with the "Bombcat". Frankly, the times change. We no longer need F102s patrolling the northern ice cap for incoming russian Bear bombers, and neither do we need the F14 tomcat.
The design is old, and uneccessary. You can probably fit 3 super hornets in the space that 2 tomcats take up on a carrier hangar deck. Not to mention they have more efficient engines, can carry more, can do more (tankers, bombers, fighters, ELINT, recon, etc, etc). It's a practical decision made by the US Navy.
I agree from certain angles the Tomcat looks wonderful. And from certain angles the Hornet looks butt ugly. The reverse is true as well, from different angles
