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At the time of its introduction the F-14A’s AN/AWG-9 radar was the most sophisticated airborne intercept radar in the world. The powerful radar allowed an F-14 RIO to register up to 24 targets from a distance of over 200 kilometers, and launch fire-and-forget AIM-54 Phoenix missiles against six of them. The system was unique at the time – and was extremely expensive. The individual price of an AIM-54 was over a million US dollars!