McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet

E/F Super Hornet

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The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet are twin-engine carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.

The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more advanced derivatives of the F/A-18C and D Hornet.

The Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm gun and can carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapons.

Additional fuel can be carried with up to five external fuel tanks and the aircraft can be configured as an airborne tanker by adding an external air refueling system.

Designed and initially produced by McDonnell Douglas, the Super Hornet first flew in 1995.

Full-rate production began in September 1997, after the merger of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing the previous month.

The Super Hornet entered service with the United States Navy in 1999, replacing the Grumman F-14 Tomcat since 2006, and serves alongside the original Hornet.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which has operated the F/A-18A as its main fighter since 1984, ordered the F/A-18F in 2007 to replace its aging F-111 fleet.

RAAF Super Hornets entered service in December 2010.

Development

Origins

The Super Hornet traced its history back to the earlier 1980s, when an early version was marketed by McDonnell Douglas as Hornet 2000.

The Hornet 2000 concept was an advanced version of the F/A-18 with a larger wing and a longer fuselage to carry more fuel and more powerful engines.

The study for the Hornet 2000 was officially announced by McDonnell Douglas on 11 January 1988.

At the same time, the U.S. Naval Aviation faced a number of problems.

The McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II program, intended to replace the obsolete Grumman A-6 Intruder and LTV A-7 Corsair II, had run into serious problems and was canceled. During this time, the end of the Cold War resulted in military restructuring and budget cuts.

With no clean-sheet program in the works, the Navy considered updating an existing design a more attractive approach.

As an alternative to the A-12, McDonnell Douglas proposed the "Super Hornet" (initially "Hornet II" in the 1980s) to improve early F/A-18 models, and serve as an alternate replacement for the A-6 Intruder.

At the same time, the Navy needed a fleet defense fighter to replace the canceled NATF, which was a proposed navalized variant of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.

Testing and production

The Super Hornet was first ordered by the U.S. Navy in 1992.

The Navy would also direct that this fighter replace the aging F-14 Tomcat, essentially basing all naval combat jets on Hornet variants until the introduction of the F-35C Lightning II.

The Navy retained the F/A-18 designation to help sell the program to Congress as a low-risk "derivative", though the Super Hornet is largely a new aircraft.

The Hornet and Super Hornet share many design and flight characteristics, including avionics, ejection seats, radar, armament, mission computer software, and maintenance/operating procedures.

In particular the initial F/A-18E/F retained most of the avionics systems from the F/A-18C/D's configuration at the time.

The Super Hornet first flew on 29 November 1995.[5] Initial production on the F/A-18E/F began in 1995.

Flight testing started in 1996 with the F/A-18E/F's first carrier landing in 1997.

Low-rate production began in March 1997 with full production beginning in September 1997.

Testing continued through 1999, finishing with sea trials and aerial refueling demonstrations.

Testing involved 3,100 test flights covering 4,600 flight hours.

The Super Hornet underwent U.S. Navy operational tests and evaluations in 1999, and was approved in February 2000.

The Navy considers acquisition of the Super Hornet a success with it meeting cost, schedule, and weight (400 lb, 181 kg below) requirements.

Despite having the same general layout and systems, the Super Hornet differs in many ways from the original F/A-18 Hornet.

The Super Hornet is informally referred to as the "Rhino" to distinguish it from earlier model "legacy" Hornets and to prevent confusion in radio calls.

This aids safe flight operations, since the catapult and arresting systems must be set differently for the heavier Super Hornet. (The "Rhino" nickname was earlier used by the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II, retired from the fleet in 1987.)

The U.S. Navy currently flies both the F/A-18E single-seater and F/A-18F two-seater in combat roles, taking the place of the retired F-14, A-6 Intruder, Lockheed S-3 Viking, and KA-6D.

An electronic warfare variant, the EA-18G Growler, will replace the aging EA-6B Prowler.

The Navy calls this reduction in aircraft types a "neck-down".

In the Vietnam War era, the Super Hornet's capabilities were covered by no less than the A-1/A-4/A-7 (light attack), A-6 (medium attack), F-8/F-4 (fighter), RA-5C (recon), KA-3/KA-6 (tanker) and EA-6 (electronic warfare).

It is anticipated that $1 billion in fleet wide annual savings will result from replacing other types with the Super Hornet.

In 2003, the Navy identified a flaw in the Super Hornet's under wing pylons, which could reduce the aircraft's service life unless repaired.

The problem has been corrected on new airframes and existing aircraft have begun to be repaired starting in 2009.

Improvements and changes

After initial fleet integration began, Boeing upgraded to the Block II version of the aircraft, incorporating an improved Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, changing to larger displays, integrating joint helmet mounted cuing system, and replacing many aircraft avionics.

The Block II configuration has the avionics and weapons systems that were being developed for the proposed production JSF version of the Boeing X-32.

As part of the Block II configuration, new-build aircraft received the APG-79 AESA radar beginning in 2005; earlier production aircraft will have their APG-73 replaced with the APG-79.

In January 2008, 135 earlier production aircraft were to receive the AESA radar via retrofits.

In early 2008, Boeing discussed the development of a Super Hornet Block III with the U.S. and Australian military, featuring additional stealth capabilities and extended range; a long-term successor is to be developed under the Next Generation Air Dominance program.

Development of an improved F414 engine with better resistance to foreign object damage, and a reduced fuel burn rate began in 2009.

Work is also being done on possible performance improvements to increase thrust by 20%.

Boeing is studying a centerline pod, which will have four internal stations for two AIM-120 AMRAAMs and two 500 lb Joint Direct Attack Munitions in a similar fashion to the Boeing F-15SE Silent Eagle's Conformal Weapons Bays, but with less stealth.

Other improvements include a chin mounted IRST and all aspect missile and laser warning, in the same fashion as the F-35.

A next-generation cockpit is also under development which has a very large 19 in x 11 in touch-sensitive display.

Boeing has offered India and other international customers the Super Hornet "International Roadmap", which includes conformal fuel tanks, enhanced engines, an enclosed weapons pod (EWP), a next-generation cockpit, a new missile warning system, and an internal infra-red search and track (IRST) system.

Three EWPs could be carried, one belly mounted and one under each wing, for a total combat load of up to 12 AMRAAMs and 2 Sidewinders.

By holding the weapons in the streamlined pods the aircraft can reach higher speeds and altitudes, which can increase the standoff ranges of the weapons.

In the future, air-to-air target detection using Infrared Search and Track (IRST) in the form of a passive, long range sensor that detects long wave IR emissions will be an option with a unique solution.

This new device will be a sensor built into the front of a centerline external fuel tank. Operational capability of this device is expected in 2013.

On 18 May 2009, Lockheed Martin announced it had been selected by Boeing to conduct the technology development phase of this sensor.

Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to develop the IRST on 22 November 2011.

Boeing has been issued a contract to develop a new mission computer in November 2011.

Design

Overview

The Super Hornet is largely a new aircraft. It is about 20 percent larger, 7,000 lb (3,200 kg) heavier at empty weight, and 15,000 lb (6,800 kg) heavier at maximum weight than the original Hornet.

The Super Hornet carries 33 percent more internal fuel, increasing mission range by 41 percent and endurance by 50 percent over the "Legacy" Hornet.

The empty weight of the Super Hornet is about 11,000 lb (5,000 kg) less than that of the F-14 Tomcat which it replaced, while approaching, but not matching, the F-14's payload and range.

The Super Hornet, unlike the previous Hornet, is designed so it can be equipped with an aerial refueling system (ARS) or "buddy store" for the refueling of other aircraft, filling the tactical airborne tanker role the Navy had lost with the retirement of the KA-6D and Lockheed S-3B Viking tankers.

The ARS includes an external 330 US gallons (1,200 L) tank with hose reel on the centerline along with four external 480 US gallons (1,800 L) tanks and internal tanks for a total of 29,000 pounds (13,000 kg) of fuel on the aircraft.

Airframe changes

The forward fuselage is unchanged but the remainder of the aircraft shares little with earlier F/A-18C/D models.

The fuselage was stretched by 34 inches (860 mm) to make room for fuel and future avionics upgrades and increased the wing area by 25%.

However, the Super Hornet has 42% fewer structural parts than the original Hornet design.

The General Electric F414 engine, developed from the Hornet's F404, has 35% additional thrust over most of aircraft's flight envelope.

The Super Hornet can return to an aircraft carrier with a larger load of unspent fuel and munitions than the original Hornet.

The term for this ability is known as "bringback". Bringback for the Super Hornet is in excess of 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg).

Other differences include rectangular intakes for the engines and two extra wing hard points for payload (for a total of 11).

Among the most significant aerodynamic changes are the enlarged leading edge extensions (LEX) which provide improved vortex lifting characteristics in high angle of attack maneuvers, and reduce the static stability margin to enhance pitching characteristics.

This results in pitch rates in excess of 40 degrees per second, and high resistance to departure from controlled flight.

Air intake of an F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and an F/A-18 Hornet

Maarten1980

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