During Desert Storm, identification rules limited the Tomcat's opportunity to exploit long-range missiles, though its radar could still drive Iraqi aircraft away and produce mission kills. One aircraft was lost to an Iraqi surface-to-air missile, while another achieved the Navy's final air-to-air kill of the war against a Mi-8 helicopter. The type continued through operations over the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Its retirement followed a shift from judging specialist aircraft by the capability they added to judging them against the maintenance savings of a smaller number of common airframes.
Chapter · 42:22-48:00
Desert Storm, later wars, and the path to retirement
The Tomcat remained operationally useful from Desert Storm through the post-9/11 wars, but post-Cold War cost logic favored consolidating carrier aviation around the Super Hornet.