F-18 Advanced Super Hornet

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I mean the distance it can fly , not the speed.[/QUOTE]
I'm sure a Rafale can fly in full dry thrust (so in super cruise mode) more than 150nm. with 4AAM and no external tank.
 

DingDong

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F-16 and F-18 both failed several tests in Indian conditions including the high altitude tests. Let us not keep high hopes.

F-18s are carrier-borne and I don't think that we are dumping those Mig-29Ks for these birds anytime soon for logistical reasons.
 

Cutting Edge

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‘Tremendous cost!’ $379bn F-35 project in doubt as Trump asks to ‘price-out’ cheaper F-18s
Published time: 23 Dec, 2016 09:58


The fourth U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II © Daniel Hughes / U.S. Air Force / Handout via Reuter

US President-elect Donald Trump signalled that he might dump the controversial F-35 program after asking Boeing to cost up its cheaper and older F-18 Super Hornet jets.
The US President-elect slammed the huge cost of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter jet, saying in a tweet that he asked Boeing, the manufacturer of the F-18, to offer a lower price for the “comparable” aircraft.

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Donald J. Trump

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Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!

03:56 - 23 декабря 2016

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Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

The F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th.

The problem is, these are two very different aircraft, which means that it might be quite a difficult request for Boeing or the military to pull off.

At the moment, the US is slated to buy 2,443 F-35s, valued at an acquisition cost of $379 billion, according to Business Insider. This makes it one of the most expensive weapons projects in history, but there is a reason for that. The fifth-generation F-35 is expected to replace the aging aircraft of the Air Force, Marines, and Navy.

The F-35 was designed to accommodate the unique needs of each branch of the military: the F-35A is designed for the Air Force, the F-35B has capabilities that make it perfect for the amphibious Marine Corps, and the F-35C is designed for the Navy.

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Trump says F-35 program cost ‘out of control’, wants to save ‘billions of dollars’


The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II was chosen as a unified aircraft platform for the US Army, Navy, and Air Force under the Joint Strike Fighter program.

The program is notorious for significant delays and running over budget. The engineers have yet to resolve numerous issues related to software glitches and reliability, while the actual performance of the pricey plane is subject to debate.

While each aircraft has its own capabilities, they are also part of a family, which allows them to share what they see with their counterparts.

“Fifth-generation technology, it’s no longer about a platform. It’s about a family of systems, and it’s about a network, and that’s what gives us an asymmetric advantage,” Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said during a Pentagon briefing.

All aircraft in the F-35 family are also designed for stealth – even the shape of the F-35, as well as the material, make it nearly invisible to radar. The F/A-18 does have some radar-reducing measures, but it’s not the same thing.

The F-18 was designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft, capable of carrying a wide variety of bombs and missiles, supplemented by the 20-mm M61 Vulcan cannon. The Hornet saw its first combat deployment during the 1986 US bombing of Libya, and was subsequently used in the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War.

For its upgraded version – the Super Hornet – the Navy directed that the YF-17 be redesigned into the larger F/A-18 Hornet to meet the requirement for a multi-role fighter to complement the larger and more expensive Grumman F-14 Tomcat serving in fleet defense interceptor and air superiority roles.

Outside the US, it is currently used in the air forces of Australia, Canada, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain, and Switzerland.

To give the jet comparable stealth capabilities, Boeing would have to change the shape of the plane entirely. In order to replace the F-35, Boeing would need to redesign the F-18 from the ground up, which could take fifteen years to develop – if nothing goes wrong.

Scrapping such projects would have some precedent. In 1977, US President Jimmy Carter canceled the B-1 strategic bomber program, though it was revived by his successor, Ronald Reagan.

On Wednesday, Trump met with the CEOs of Lockheed and Boeing. After the meeting, Dennis Muilenburg of Boeing said the costs for a replacement to Air Force One would not go up – another project Trump has described as too expensive.

https://www.rt.com/usa/371388-trump-f35-replacement-cost/
 

gadeshi

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Don't imagine these conformal pods don't have induced drag .... they have !
And what about the non conformal pod.... see the bottom : a max drag effect.
Actually supersonic envelope strongly depends on Middel cross-section and F-15E/S CFTs encrease it dramatically. It is well known that F-15E cannot go supersonic speeds with CFTs attached.
 

StealthFlanker

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Actually supersonic envelope strongly depends on Middel cross-section and F-15E/S CFTs encrease it dramatically. It is well known that F-15E cannot go supersonic speeds with CFTs attached.
F-15 can go supersonic with CFT. I can post the manual page if you like
 

StealthFlanker

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Like the nonsense showing a sentence "Rafale eater" on a F4 with the drawing of a Eurofighter....
Bad drawings, that about it. If Eurofighter joined Frisian flag 2008, you would have got a point. But it didn't while Rafale and F-4 did.
 

WolfPack86

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Which fighter aircraft for Indian skies? Ageing fleets crying for replacement
The dogfight for picking the Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) for the security of the Indian skies is beginning anew, this time for a much larger number than the 2007 figure of 189 asked by the Indian Air Force (IAF) -- an estimated 400 for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and 60 for the Indian Navy.

While the IAF has already issued a global request for single-engine combat jets under the government's Make in India programme, the Indian Navy is looking for about 60 twin-engine shipboard fighters for delivery to begin within five years. The Navy's first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC 1) is due for delivery within the next couple of years, and the preferred choice this time is either the Boeing F/A 18 Super Hornet or French Rafale, which the IAF has already decided to buy.

The two single-engine aircraft being considered by the IAF are US Lockheed Martin F 16 Fighting Falcon and Swedish Saab Gripen.

Boeing, which developed the F 18 as a shipboard fighter, has also offered to make it in India while sources in Dassault, which makes Rafale, told India Strategic that they are aware of the Indian requirements and should be submitting a proposal soon. Rafale was also developed as a shipboard fighter.

Meanwhile, the IAF is buying 36 Rafale MRCAs under a government-to-government deal and the first contractual payment of 15 percent was made in November. The first batch of six or so aircraft is to be delivered to the IAF in 2019 as per the contract although India has requested the timelines to be advanced.

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba recently stated that the Navy had jettisoned the indigenous naval variant of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) because of low power. He did not specify the number or choice for the naval requirement but did say that only a couple of them are available in the market and that he wants them as fast as possible, say in about five years. He expressed confidence that the government approval would come along speedily.

As for the IAF, it has been losing two squadrons of Soviet-vintage MiG series aircraft every year, and although the numbers are being made up to an extent by the licence-production of 272 Russian Su 30MKIs, the depletion process of the IAF squadrons is continuing.

Notably, in 2007, the IAF's requirement was put at 126 plus 63 options (189), but their acquisition process was scrapped in 2015 over price differences with the French Dassault whose Rafale was selected in 2012 against Eurofighter in the finals.

The government then opted for a small number of 36 aircraft, or two squadrons, in 2015 for nearly 8 billion euro inclusive of about two billion euro for India-specific modifications and missiles as part of the package.

Air Marshal V.K. 'Jimmy' Bhatia (Retd), former Commander-in-Chief of the Western Air Command (WAC), and Air Marshal Ashok Goel (Retd), former Director General Inspection, say the government should work towards both numbers and timelines. The IAF needs to modernise 20 squadrons, or roughly 400 aircraft, as the need of the hour. An IAF fighter squadron has 18 aircraft for combat missions and another two for training. At least three more are kept for Maintenance Reserve and Strike off Wastage.

Notably, the acquisition process in India takes five to seven years, and that has to be factored in while planning for new fighter jets. An IAF proposal to upgrade some 100 1970s-generation Jaguars with more powerful Honeywell engines and better avionics to extend their lives by 10 to 15 years is also pending for rather long with the Ministry of Defence.

http://www.defencenews.in/article.aspx?id=229729
 

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