Boeing to unveil stealthier F/A-18 aircraft

[angeldemon_007]

A mocked up version of Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet will be among the many metal birds to debut at the upcoming Aero India 2011.

Boeing, which is one of the contenders for the $10 billion medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contract, will unveil a stealthier version of the F/A-18 at the air show to be held at the Air Force Station Yelahanka between February 9 and 13.

Boeing’s vice president and country head for defence, space and security, Vivek Lal, said that one of the two F/A-18s which will be performing at the bi-annual show will be configured with conformal fuel tanks, enhanced performance engines, spherical missile laser warning, enclosed weapons pad, next generation cockpit and internal infrared search and tracking system.

The mocked up aircraft, which will be unveiled at the Aero India will be the first F/A-18 to be developed as part of the ‘International Super Hornet Roadmap’ programme which was announced by the US-based aerospace company at last year’s Farnborough Air Show in the UK.

Labelled as the next evolution of Block II Super Hornet, the aircraft is said to have features “which increase survivability, situational awareness, and performance for customers”.

Lal said that if India inked the 126 MMRCA deal with Boeing, it would also have the option of shaping its technology in future. “We are putting up a platform which will be combat worthy for the next 30 to 40 years,” said Lal.



People who are going to watch Aero India, please take lots and lots of pictures for your other friends, especially of this beast.

 

[farhan_9909]

i only want to see LCA in flying.

and then i will make a video of turn rate of LCA vs JF-17..

 

[GLOBAL HAWK]

i only want to see LCA in flying.

and then i will make a video of turn rate of LCA vs JF-17..

Arent there similar kind of discussions , debating about the lift achieved by delta wing platform vs rapid energy bleeding in turn manoeuvres

 

[tallboy123]

Mock version of F-18..Keep it in home itself...

 

[CONNAN]

---------- Post added at 04:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 PM ----------

 

[IndianArmy]

i only want to see LCA in flying.

and then i will make a video of turn rate of LCA vs JF-17..

It has been flown for over 1500 times, and If You havent seen it then either you arent lucky or You are Blind.... Both the ways You are not benefited, so why bother??

 

[Mani2020]

Interesting development, but i wonder what about the weapons bay, most probably it wont be internal bays ,so the aircraft will not be stealth rather new model with low RCS will be the most appropriate word

 

[REHAN NIAZI FALCON]

so now there are chances of ,,,,,,,,silent cobras,,,,,,,,,

 

[Mehmet]

I wander what the unit price of this variant of the F/A 18 will be?

Given that one of the characteristics of a 5th gen plane is the immense fly away cost of a single unit this sounds suspiciously like an attempt by the U.S to reduce the immense financial drain it's armed forces place upon the American economy.

Now I know that the air forces of emerging powers are going for a mixture of 4th/4.5gen and 5th gen combat aircraft however one would naturally expect the U.S as the only superpower in the world to have top of the line combat aircraft for it's army, navy and air force and not revitalize a platform that has been around for a long time.

IMO we should ask is this cost cutting? or the perceived lack of threat to the U.S air force as the question to ask regarding this new variant that is under development.

 

[sancho]

Not sure if that is the mock-up that will come to Aero India, but that's how the F18SH options should like:

I wander what the unit price of this variant of the F/A 18 will be?

Given that one of the characteristics of a 5th gen plane is the immense fly away cost of a single unit this sounds suspiciously like an attempt by the U.S to reduce the immense financial drain it's armed forces place upon the American economy.

Now I know that the air forces of emerging powers are going for a mixture of 4th/4.5gen and 5th gen combat aircraft however one would naturally expect the U.S as the only superpower in the world to have top of the line combat aircraft for it's army, navy and air force and not revitalize a platform that has been around for a long time.

IMO we should ask is this cost cutting? or the perceived lack of threat to the U.S air force as the question to ask regarding this new variant that is under development.

That's not an 5. gen fighter, because it neither has a stealthy airframe design, nor real internal weapon bays. That's nothing more than an attempt of Boeing to sell a few more F18SH,
The F22 will not be produced anymore, the F15SE don't seem to get approval of US gov for exports, because they want foreign countries to buy F35s, which leaves Boeing only with the SH, which so far has only a single export customer. That means to remain comparable to latest Eurocanards, of F16 versions the SH needs upgrades. Integrated IRST, modern cockpit designs, enhanced SA, good thrust and a low RCS are features that they already have and that's why Boeing offers these options for export customers now as well.

The important point here is, that these options needs to be funded and developed first, which means additional cost that increases the unit cost as well. The USN don't show much interests in upgrading the SH with these features so far, because they focus on the F35 too and all they want is to reduce the costs of older fighters, not increase them.
Imo, the F15SE would be closer to 5.th gen, because it carries no external loads anymore unlike this SH version (weapon pod is also on an external pylon + WVR missile still on the wingtips), but again no stealthy airframe and other missing NG features.

 

[SpArK]

Interesting development, but i wonder what about the weapons bay, most probably it wont be internal bays ,so the aircraft will not be stealth rather new model with low RCS will be the most appropriate word

The same facilities that is using production line of F-18 has came up with internal bays for F-15 Silent eagle..

 

[SpArK]

 

[Kinetic]

Boeing SH++

The Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet international roadmap aircraft will be on static display on February 8 & 9 at AeroIndia this month. According to Boeing, the platform features enhanced performance engines, a next-generation cockpit, spherical missile laser warning, internal infra-red search & track (IRST), conformal fuel tanks, an enclosed weapons pod, designed-in stealth and future survivability technology that will "make the Block II Super Hornet harder to detect, harder to hit, and harder to kill". More here.

 

[gubbi]

Not sure if that is the mock-up that will come to Aero India, but that's how the F18SH options should like:

That's not an 5. gen fighter, because it neither has a stealthy airframe design, nor real internal weapon bays. That's nothing more than an attempt of Boeing to sell a few more F18SH,

Not exactly. This whole business of upgrades is part of the modernization roadmap drawn up by Boeing along with USN. The F-18SH has only two customers, IIRC - the USN and the RAAF. Do not confuse F-18SH with the F-18s, they are very different aircraft! Actually the US Congress was fooled in to opening its purse strings for the F-18SH by USN by pitching the Superbug as an upgrade for the old F-18, when in fact the F-18SH was a new design inside out! THe dimensions speak volumes about how different the two aircraft really are.

That means to remain comparable to latest Eurocanards, of F16 versions the SH needs upgrades. Integrated IRST, modern cockpit designs, enhanced SA, good thrust and a low RCS are features that they already have and that's why Boeing offers these options for export customers now as well.

The important point here is, that these options needs to be funded and developed first, which means additional cost that increases the unit cost as well. The USN don't show much interests in upgrading the SH with these features so far, because they focus on the F35 too and all they want is to reduce the costs of older fighters, not increase them.

Again the F-18SH is an early 90's design which first flew in 1995, as opposed to the original F-18s which was developed from the YF-17 (from a competition where YF-16 was selected to become the F-16) an early 1970's design! IIRC YF-17 first flew in 1974.

You cannot compare the F-16s with the F-18SH. The F-16 design has
matured a lot leaving little room for development or improvement. EFT is a new design, again designed in late 80s with the first flight in 1994! While the EFT is still being developed, F-18SH has already made its bones!

That doesnt mean that upgrades are necessary for the F-18SH to survive or be a viable option to other airforces. RAAf is the only other customer which operates this aircraft apart from USN. And both have plans to keep this aircraft in service for a pretty long time, with this upgrade roadmap in place to maintain the technological edge over European fighters! USN plans to operate F-35s along with the F-18SH.

 

[GUNS-N- ROSES]

i only want to see LCA in flying.

and then i will make a video of turn rate of LCA vs JF-17..

do apply for a visa. i am sure indian govt will specially consider u request. we see them flying daily in sulur and bangalore.

next time be carefull enough so as not to de-rail the thread.