You can blame Ronald Reagan for the retirement of the F-14 Tomcat. Because of Reagan's Defense spending from 1980 to 1988(Star Wars, ICBM "Peacemaker", cruise missiles, Pershing, 600 ship fleet, M1 Abrams, M2 Bradley, B-1B excalibur, B-2A Spirit, ATF program, Ohio class SSBN subs, etc)drove the Russians broke. No Cold War, no TU-95 Bears and Blackjacks for the AIM-54C Phoenix.