Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

In terms of USN service? Does anybody have any news about the progress of the F414 EPE/EDE or the Block III SuperBug for the United States? Is the engine upgrade even actually being pursued for US service? I haven't been able to find much information aside from articles that are at least a year or two old, so I figured I'd check here if there's anything I'm missing.

I've always been a really big SH fan and really think it could use some more thrust. I'm also pretty excited about the new ideas and designs I've heard about the Block III.

Thanks. Razz

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The Block III hasn't been funded as of now, nor has the EPE/EDE engine upgrade.

wrightwing wrote:

The Block III hasn't been funded as of now, nor has the EPE/EDE engine upgrade.

What would you think is the possibility/viability/practicality of such upgrades, or even any upgrades at all on the SH in the next 10 yrs? I almost feel as though it is a discredit to the SH that it has to deal with only 44k of thrust.

I've no idea what the TWR of the F-18E is but i'd have thought the thrust it produces is plenty good enough, its the nasty pylon arangement that screws things up aerodynamically from what I understand.

joseph223 wrote:

wrightwing wrote:

The Block III hasn't been funded as of now, nor has the EPE/EDE engine upgrade.

What would you think is the possibility/viability/practicality of such upgrades, or even any upgrades at all on the SH in the next 10 yrs? I almost feel as though it is a discredit to the SH that it has to deal with only 44k of thrust.

I'm not sure about the priority on engine upgrades, as the Navy hasn't been clamoring for them, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the CFTs, and stealthy weapons pod(presumably with less drag), show up in the next 10 years. We may also see cockpit upgrades, along with new features/modes for the radar.

The SH has always been a 'compromise'. Get the most out of what you have and don't bitch about it. Kind of like how corporate yahoos run businesses today.

wrightwing wrote:

joseph223 wrote:

wrightwing wrote:

The Block III hasn't been funded as of now, nor has the EPE/EDE engine upgrade.

What would you think is the possibility/viability/practicality of such upgrades, or even any upgrades at all on the SH in the next 10 yrs? I almost feel as though it is a discredit to the SH that it has to deal with only 44k of thrust.

I'm not sure about the priority on engine upgrades, as the Navy hasn't been clamoring for them, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the CFTs, and stealthy weapons pod(presumably with less drag), show up in the next 10 years. We may also see cockpit upgrades, along with new features/modes for the radar.

The Navy is interested in the EDE because increasing the durability of the engine might also increase life and therefore might pay for the cost of the EDE development. They have shown no interest in developing the new fan that turns the EDE into the EPE, likely because the increase in thrust will not dramatically transform the plane in their view.

Its capabilities vs. money versus priority and for now they're rightly focused on the F-35C and UAVs for the medium to long term.

shep1978 wrote:

I've no idea what the TWR of the F-18E is but i'd have thought the thrust it produces is plenty good enough, its the nasty pylon arangement that screws things up aerodynamically from what I understand.

From the get-go it was acknowledged that the SH would not be as agile as the regular Hornet. In fact, in a remarkably candid public statement early on the development of the SH, a NAVAIR official stated that crews should lower their expectations regarding increases in performance of the new aircraft relative to what they were flying then. This was even before the decision was made to toe out the pylons. Even Boeing says the SH is not a "fast" aircraft.

The rationale given when pressed about threats in the future was that the SH would be using AIM-152 and that would make up for air-to-air performance of the airframe. Besides, the justification for developing the SH was, depending on when you asked, was given as more room internally for new systems, or increased range relative to the regular Bug or greater bringback, etc.

So lets say you have a nice big fat bus... You put a big enough engine in it and it will scream! I vote EPE. Ahh... the proper application of thrust! To bad it's not going to happen.

The higher output engines would be a great addition but are not the priority right now. There is a large number of upgrades for the super bug in the works though.

Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

What's the status of the Super Hornet and upgrades?