Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

discofishing wrote:

Anyone see a chance that these proposed upgrades will be applied to existing US Navy Super Hornets?

Possibly.

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I'm thinking the Supers should at least get the CFTs, F414 EPEs, and APG-79 for those that don't already have them.

bjr1028 wrote:

I don't know, but Boeing claims the CFT and Stealthpod give it a 10% range boost over a similar mission profile with the 3 external tanks.

That should be a good indicator how draggy the "Super" Hornet's design is...

discofishing wrote:

Anyone see a chance that these proposed upgrades will be applied to existing US Navy Super Hornets?

IMO, if they're smart, the CFTs and radar at least. The others are not as urgent.

discofishing wrote:

I'm thinking the Supers should at least get the CFTs, F414 EPEs, and APG-79 for those that don't already have them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the block I SH don't have the cooling necessary for the APG-79. That's what those exhaust are between the tails of the block II SH's are for. I wonder how difficult those airframe changes would be to retrofit to the block I's. If they can't be fixed, you're in the same boat as the F-22- you have different capabilities between the blocks.

Lightndattic wrote:

discofishing wrote:

I'm thinking the Supers should at least get the CFTs, F414 EPEs, and APG-79 for those that don't already have them.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the block I SH don't have the cooling necessary for the APG-79. That's what those exhaust are between the tails of the block II SH's are for. I wonder how difficult those airframe changes would be to retrofit to the block I's. If they can't be fixed, you're in the same boat as the F-22- you have different capabilities between the blocks.

I've personally promoted and supported the concept of RACR AESA sets for the block 1... as those would probably be a more plausible 'plug-in' upgrade..

Something will likely have to give though: either the SLEP hornets, (or substantial reduction in SLEP'd hornets), or F-35C (or substantial reduction in F-35C acquisition)... in order to see any significant near-term blkII Super upgrades and any new-build Super next-gens, to include CFT and F414EDE, etc. (IRST center tanks will apparently be the existing Super's upgrade in that respect). imo.

Quote:

I've personally promoted and supported the concept of RACR AESA sets for the block 1... as those would probably be a more plausible 'plug-in' upgrade..

I'm thinking that would be a great alternative, but what kind of logistics and maintenance burden does it create? On the other hand, I have read that the RACR shares 90% commonality with the APG-79, so maybe not. This might be the best we can put into early block Super Hornets given the current budgets. I know that AESA radars in general are ultra reliable when compared to the mechanically scanning radars which means that a RACR upgrade may very well pay for itself.

Some kind of AESA upgrade path for the Block Is and A-D export customers might not be a bad thing.

madrat wrote:

Whatever pod goes under the Silent Hornet should be compatible on other aircraft, otherwise it seems like a colossal waste of effort.

The link isn't working for me, any idea what capacity is for the CFT's?

Whatever stealthy pod designed for the Hornet would be suitable only for the Hornet. You can`t just hang a Lo Pod off of another aircraft and get the same results as far as Lo is concerned. That is in the realm of luck.

For example, hanging the Hornet pod on an F-16 may produce a huge radar reflector simply because the aircraft are different shapes.

If they can build them cheaply, worth it. However, is anything stealthy, cheap?

You also couldn't because even the legacy hornets can carry much larger centerline pods than the Falcon.

So the original F/A-18 has more clearance than the F-16? Amazing that the F-16 can lug around 600 gallon tanks underwing whereas the F/A-18 cannot. I always figured it was because the F/A-18 was squatted lower to allow it to fit its folding wings in the tight interior spaces of aircraft carriers. Where can we find out the clearances underneath aircraft? That's a topic I've always wanted to explore.

Actually, I just picked the F-16 as an example, insert into this space "........." whatever aircraft you want.

Madrat, not sure on clearances.

Forum: Modern Military Aircraft

Stealthy Superbug