Congress is moving a bill that would let the Navy gift three retired F-14Ds to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center museum in Huntsville, Alabama, and could open the door for one of the iconic jets to be returned to flight status. The Senate cleared the legislation by unanimous consent on April 28, and the House now has the matter.
Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced the Senate version of the Maverick Act on March 23, with Sen. Mark Kelly as a co-sponsor. Rep. Abe Hamadeh introduced the House companion bill on April 16. Together, the measures would authorize transfer of three Tomcats — Bureau Numbers 164341, 164602 and 159437 — to the museum at no cost to the government.
The bill says any costs tied to conveyance, compliance, operation and maintenance would be paid by the commission. It also says the aircraft would not retain any capability to launch or release munitions, or any other combat capability they were designed to have. The Navy would not be required to restore, repair or otherwise modify the jets before handing them over, though it would provide maintenance and operations manuals and any excess spare parts available.
The legislation goes further on one point that has drawn attention: it directs the secretary of the Navy to provide excess spare parts to make one of the F-14D aircraft flyable or able to complete a static display, so long as the part comes from existing Navy stock. That opens the possibility, at least in theory, that one of the Tomcats could move beyond museum status and return to the air.
The aircraft in question are the only three F-14Ds currently in storage at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, and their current condition is unclear. The F-14 was officially retired from Navy service in September 2006 after 32 years in the fleet, but it remains under extremely tight export controls because Iran still operates the type. The museum at the center of the plan was established by the government of Alabama in 1970, and the legislation points to it as the intended home for the retired jets.
That mix of nostalgia, policy and preservation is what gives the bill its force. The Tomcat has been out of Navy service for nearly two decades, but the aircraft remains a sensitive military design because of its use abroad. The House now has the final say on whether the Maverick Act moves from symbolic tribute to the practical business of handing over three of the last surviving F-14Ds.