F-14 and F-15 posted Mach speeds

HI Everyone.

Why does the F-14 have a claimed top speed of Mach 2.34 and the F-15 Mach 2.5 or in some cases 2.5+? Wouldn't it just make more sense for the F-14 to say Mach 2.3+?
The F-15 has a claimed speed of Mach 1.2 or 1.21 at sea level. Notice it doesn't say Mach 1.2+. Are these speeds at Level flight or on a dive at altitude? Similarly I've seen the F-16 posted as Mach 2+

I've also seen speeds posted in an actual number- F-15 at 1650 mph at above 36,000 feet or 915mph at 1000ft. The F-16 I've seen posted as 1320mph at altitude and 920mph at sea level.

Of interest- I also read the F-14 eventually removed the variable swept intake- giving it a lower top speed?

From what I've read on here, these Jets apparently never reached these top speeds in actual use anyways- but it's still fascinating to market these speeds at altitude and sea level. Why are they sometimes so precise?

Thank you.

HI Everyone.
Wouldn't it just make more sense for the F-14 to say Mach 2.3+?

Of interest- I also read the F-14 eventually removed the variable swept intake- giving it a lower top speed?

Thank you.

The 2.34 was politics so it was "faster" than the F-4s Mach "2.23". When Hahn converted from the F-4E to the F-16A they took the best engine they could find, and stuffed then in the same airframe. The Wing King and a few others went to the North Sea and tried to reach 2.23, and no one got it. So I take the "Top Speed" of the F-4 and F-14 with a grain of salt.
(Google F-4A and compare the cockpit/nose to the F-4B. Everything from the inlets forward changed. The F-4A set the official top speed)

The F-14 always flew with the external fuel tanks. These are not drop tanks! So the F-14 could not use its theoretical top speed. They were fast enough without the variable intake, and it saved money and man hours. Lots of man hours.

I can assure you the F-14 tanks can be dropped.

I can assure you the F-14 tanks can be dropped.

Correct

On Tomcat speed:
The F-14A was listed with top speed of 2.34, but actually made 2.41 during flight test (the RIO was tweaking the ramps via special control box in the test article).
A 1.88 limit in the B/D was an artificial one to insure the aircraft would remain stable with an engine out...
Also note that the B/D inlets were rescheduled for optimum transonic performance and the aircraft allegedly were somewhat slower than the A above 1.6.

Glove vanes were fixed in the later airplanes.
They deployed around 1.3 in the A to reduce trim drag by causing the aerodynamic center to move forward, thus improving acceleration.
With the 30% increase of thrust they weren't deemed necessary.

FYI, the F-18E/F, which appears to have a similar inlet, has a fixed one which does limit performance.

On a different note... Pax River had some makeshift tanks with cameras in them to monitor bomb separation during "bombcat" tests.

I can't recall where I read this, but supposedly an early F-14 in testing hit mach 2.6.

I found that hard to believe, but the author was pretty adamant. In the real world, I'd say the Eagle and Tomcat were evenly matched in speed, albeit I have heard many an F-15 driver say, "We don't get slow with the gents in F-14's"...

"We don't get slow with the gents in F-14's"...

because the F-14 has superior low speed lift capability and a great pilot can point the nose wherever they want... while a nugget will end up only pointing at the ground.

That good old quote from that great jet book:

I have a copy of that book.

In one of my F-15 books it said it could exceed Mach 1 going vertical.....................