Todo sobre el F-18

[F-18Growler]

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http://news.usni.org/2013/08/27/documen ... per-hornet

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[F-18Growler]

Importante información adicional...

ST. LOUIS — With more than 600 copies of the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter in service, more still being built and the export market only starting to be tapped, Boeing has been eyeing ways to modify and upgrade the aircraft to keep it viable in an ever-changing threat environment.

The key is to reduce radar and heat signatures, improve fuel carrying capacity, upgrade avionics, cockpit and engine systems, and do it all at a price that won’t overwhelm potential customers.The result is the Advanced Super Hornet (ASH). Not a single aircraft, it is instead a package of options that can be bought singly or all together, made to order for new aircraft or retrofitted on existing planes.

“We want to give the customer options,” Paul Summers, Boeing’s director for Super Hornet and Growler programs, told a group of reporters brought last month, at company expense, to the Boeing factory in St. Louis, where all variants of the aircraft are built.From its beginnings in late 2009 as the Super Hornet International Roadmap, the concept has evolved into a package of enhancements aimed not just at export customers, but at the US Navy, by far the largest operator of the plane.

“It fits the domestic market better right now,” said Mark Gammon, Boeing’s program manager for Super Hornet and Growler advanced capabilities. The modifications are adaptable to all three Super Hornet variants: the one-seat F/A-18E and two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornet strike fighters, and the two-seat E/A-18G Growler electronic warfare version.

The ASH package includes a next-generation cockpit featuring all-new displays, an internal infrared search-and-track system, upgrades to the active electronically scanned array radar, enhancements to the General Electric F404 and F414 engines, conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) that merge into the aircraft’s fuselage and wing structure, and an enclosed weapons pod (EWP) to store and launch weapons previously carried on external wing stations.

Taken together, the enhancements greatly improve the Super Hornet’s radar cross section signature, particularly from head-on.“The current Super Hornet is considered a low-signature aircraft,” said Mike Gibbons, Boeing vice president for the Super Hornet and Growler programs. With the ASH enhancements, he said, “we’ve seen a more than 50 percent improvement in frontal signature [along with] improvements in other tactical areas,” upon which he declined to elaborate.

To test the most conspicuous ASH features — the conformal fuel tanks and enclosed weapons pod — Boeing leased a factory-fresh F/A-18F from the Navy for six months. Non-functioning CFTs and an EWP shape were fitted to the aircraft, which began flight tests Aug. 5. A total of 24 test flights are planned, both in the St. Louis operating area and out of the Navy’s Patuxent River, Md., flight test facility. The test data is being seen by both Boeing and Navy engineers. “They own this data,” Gibbons said of the Navy. The CFTs are not a new concept, having been developed for previous aircraft models.

The ASH fuel tanks are similar in concept to those Boeing is fitting on new models of the F-15, although the placement is entirely different. The Strike Eagle tanks are mounted outboard of the engine nacelles, while the ASH tanks are fitted atop the fuselage in a manner similar to tanks developed for Lockheed Martin’s F-16 fighter.

Designed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman, the ASH CFTs hold 3,500 pounds of useable fuel. Internal piping changes need to be made to accommodate the new tanks, although the tanks also can be removed. Production aircraft can be flown with or without the CFT, Summers said.

The Growler community, he noted, is “particularly anxious to get the CFT,” which would eliminate the need to carry standard 480-gallon fuel tanks and open the wing stations to more carrying capacity, including the Next Generation Jammer under development. A Growler fitted with CFTs, Boeing claims, would have the same mission performance with 3,000 pounds less fuel, reduce landing weight by more than 600 pounds and provide a clear field under the aircraft for the jammers.

The composite-and-metal CFTs were designed and manufactured by Northrop in 10 months, using — like Boeing — company funds to develop the system.Some observers have expressed concerns about added drag from the CFTs, but the companies claim “zero/negative drag impact” from the ASH design. “There is less drag than from a centerline tank,” said Northrop’s John Murnane.

The EWP is designed to carry AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120 advanced, medium-range, air-to-air missiles, AGM-154 joint standoff weapons, small diameter bombs and other weapons. Internal carriage provides a cleaner cross section and eliminates the drag produced by hanging weapons on external hard points. The production version of the EWP, Boeing said, will hold about 2,500 pounds of weapons, and operate through the full envelope of maneuvering capability.

Gibbons claimed development costs for all the ASH features would cost “less than a billion,” although he pointed out that engine enhancements alone, if applied across the fleet, could save about $5 billion in fuel costs. The fly-away cost for a new Super Hornet today is just over $50 million, Boeing officials said.

Adding the total ASH package for a new aircraft would run $6 million to $8 million, Summers said, while a full retrofit would run about $9 million. The company noted that no US Navy requirement has been issued for the enhancements. The Navy, though, is watching the developments with keen interest.

“There are a number of enhancement to the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet that will sustain its lethality well into the 21st century,” a Navy official in Washington said in a statement. “These upgrades include critical growth capability and enhanced survivability.

“Naval aviation continues to study the capabilities required when the F/A-18 E/F reaches the limit of its service life beginning in 2025. It will evaluate a full range of consideration for addressing future Navy needs and recapitalization issues, including manned, unmanned and system-of-system options.”

[F-18Growler]

Video del Advanced Super Hornet.

[F-18Growler]

Hmmm otro interesante articulo...

http://blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts ... er-hornet/

[alejandro_]

Documento con muchos detalles de coste y desarrollo:

http://www.dod.gov/pubs/foi/logistics_m ... 202011.pdf



La última noticia es que la US Navy hará un último pedido para mantener la línea de producción abierta hasta al menos mediados de la década de 2020. Aunque a una tasa de producción muy mermada valga decirlo. El último pedido parece que serían estas 36 unidades.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... 15-392306/

Saludos.

[Anderson]

Hay Hornets para rato señores. La US Navy se ha dado cuenta que va a necesitarlos durante mucho tiempo mas todavía.

Ha contratado a Boeing que recupere 30 F-18C Hornets que estaban retirados y se los actualice para volverlos al servicio.



Y algo me dice que no van a ser los únicos aparatos retirados que tengan que ser recuperados y retornados al servicio.

PS: Con los retrasos que esta teniendo el F-35 es obvio que la Navy no solo seguirá recuperando Hornets retirados sino también adquiriendo nuevos Super Hornets hasta quien sabe cuándo.

[Anderson]

Boeing acaba de anunciar que la línea de producción del FA-18 Súper Hornet se cerrará en 2027, salvo que resulte algún cliente de exportación.

Dicen que van ahora a redirigir sus esfuerzos y talento humano a incrementar la producción de los nuevos T-7A Red Hawk, MQ-25 Stingray, y F-15EX Eagle.

Desde que el primer F-18 Hornet voló por primera vez en 1983 en total Boeing ha construido poco más de 2000 de estos aviones entre Hornets, Super Hornets y Growlers para la Marina de USA, y las fuerzas aéreas de Australia, Canadá, Finlandia, Kuwait, Malasia, España y Suiza.

[Andrés Eduardo González]

Pues recuerdo una noticia venida de India donde informaba que el ganador del caza embarcado indio ya estaba prácticamente elegido y era el Rafale M.

[Anderson]

Es lo mas seguro Gandalf, que India se vaya a por el Rafale M. Pero no han publicado una decisión oficial. Así que Boeing deja la puerta abierta.

En todo caso, la exportación de F-18 fue nula los ultimos años, la cadencia de producción estaba al mínimo y exclusivamente para la US Navy.

Su cierre de producción era inminente.

[Zabopi]

¡Hola!
Pues ojito con lo del Rafale para India, que Rusia va a saco y está volviendo a ofrecer el MIG-29K a un precio inigualable y unas condiciones espectaculares para el comprador.
https://www.cavok.com.br/india-recebeu- ... os-mig-29k
Que logren hacer olvidar los problemas que padecen con los MIG-29K los hindús, o sigan acordándose de ellos ya se verá.

[Andrés Eduardo González]

O será que le podrían dar una segunda vida al F-18 en su versión Super Hornet, porque parece que la US Navy volverá a portar y tener armamento antisubmarino para sus aeronaves...

Reviving The Use Of Navy Tactical Jets As Submarine-Hunters

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/r ... ne-hunters

[Anderson]

Hoy hace 30 años voló el primer FA-18 Súper Hornet: el 1ro de diciembre de 1995.

Su producción seguirá hasta 2027 gracias a un último pedido de 17 unidades para la US Navy.