U.S. Navy Fighters

U.S. Navy Fighters is a combat flight simulation game developed and published in 1994 by Electronic Arts for DOS PCs. The expansion pack Marine Fighters and a "Gold" compilation were both released in 1995.

Electronic Arts would re-brand the game as the earliest entry in the Jane's Combat Simulations series, issuing an rebranded version in 1996 for Microsoft Windows with additional content and a updated title, Jane's US Navy Fighters 97. The content from the base game, expansion, and reissue would be combined with Jane's Advanced Tactical Fighters into a unified interface for re-release in 1997 as Jane's Fighters Anthology.

Gameplay
The base game features a variety of 50 missions that can be played separately or as part of a campaign with full-motion video mission briefings. The campaign is set aboard the United States aircraft carrier "Ike" during a fictional 1997 war between Russia and Ukraine. The flyable jet fighters during the missions included the F-14B Tomcat, F-18D Hornet, A-7 Corsair, F-22 "Lightning II", and Sukhoi Su-33.

The Marine Fighters expansion added 35 new missions and a second campaign aboard the United States aircraft carrier "Wasp" during a fictional Russian-Japanese conflict over the Kuril Islands. It would feature three additional flyable fighters, the AV-8B Harrier II, FRS Mk 2 Sea Harrier, and Yak-141. The expansion's box art also touted faster frame rates, terrain masking, the addition of turbulence, and a "Tour of Duty" summary screen showing hit percentages, kills, and decorations.

The re-release Jane's US Navy Fighters 97 added a historical campaign taking place in 1972 during the Vietnam War's Operation Linebacker. The contemporaneous planes F-4J Phantom II, F-8 Crusader, MiG-17 Fresco, and MiG-21 Fishbed were now available as flyable fighters. In addition, archival footage originally aired on ABC News was used for briefings, and aircraft technical references and photos were included from Janes Information Services.

Jane's US Navy Fighters 97
Jane's U.S. Navy Fighters '97 (USNF '97) is a 1996 update of the 1994 version with added planes, music, and two new campaigns. It's also ran on Win 95 version rather than DOS. The game contains three campaigns: Vietnam War-era, a fictional Russian-Ukrainian war, and a fictional Russian-Japanese conflict over the Kuril Islands.

Reception
Next Generation gave U.S. Navy Fighters four stars out of five, and stated that "despite heavy system requirements, this is a must for every flight freak".

Reviews

 * PC Gamer Vol. 2, #2 (February 1995)
 * Score #13 (Jan 1995) - Czech magazine
 * Computer Gaming World (Feb, 1995)
 * PC Gamer (Feb, 1995)
 * PC Games - Jan, 1995