Super Hornet Next Candidate for Singapore Competition
Carrying its first combat markings, Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super
Hornet is a candidate for the next major fighter competition,
in Singapore. The island nation is looking for 20 high-end fighters
and expects to short-list three aircraft from six candidates (Eurofighter
Typhoon, Rafale, F-16 Block 60, Su-30MK, F-15 and the Super Hornet)
this summer.
While full details of the Super Hornet's performance in Iraq have
not been released as yet, the fighter performed a wide range of
missions. VFA-115, based on the USS Abraham Lincoln and one of
two single-seat F/A-18E squadrons engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom,
delivered 350,000 pounds of ordnance during the war. The aircraft
flew long-range close-air-support missions with 4,000 pounds of
recoverable ordnance and delivered weapon loads as heavy as 8,000
pounds per aircraft. VFA-115 Super Hornets were also used extensively
as tankers: the fighter brings the Navy an organic "combat
tanker" capability that it lost when the last KA-6 Intruders
were retired. The squadron's Hornets flew 18-20 tanker sorties
per day, each of them supporting two combat sorties.
The two-seat F/A-18Fs of VFA-41 were the first U.S. aircraft to
use a helmet-mounted display (HMD) in combat, employing the Vision
Systems International Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS)
on Strike Coordinating Armed Reconnaissance (SCAR) missions. Using
JHMCS, Super Hornet crews could detect a target visually, determine
its exact coordinates and pass its location to a single-seat fighter.
These aircraft also made the first combat use of the new Shared
Reconnaissance Pod (SHARP).
Now rolling down the St Louis assembly line are the first Super
Hornets with a redesigned forward fuselage. With a composite skin
and frames and bulkheads produced with the help of high-speed
machining, the new fuselage has 40% fewer parts than the original
design and offers better access for maintenance. It will also
accommodate the Raytheon APG-79 active electronically scanned
array (AESA) radar and advanced crew station (ACS) in the rear
cockpit, with an 8 x 10-inch display. Together, these are now
defined as the Block 2 configuration.
With the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter on the horizon,
Boeing is emphasizing the two-seater F/A-18F and its electronic
attack derivative, the EA-18G. The company has leased the first
F/A-18F back from the Navy and will use it to demonstrate the
value of a two-seat fighter in complex missions, and as a "node"
in a networked battlefield. The majority of the Super Hornets
yet to be delivered to the Navy are two-seaters, and the service
is carefully channeling its remaining F-14 radar intercept officers
(RIOs) through Block 1 F/A-18Fs so that they will form a core
group of weapon system officers (WSOs) on the Block 2 aircraft.
Boeing points out that the AESA and the big-screen rear cockpit
are complementary. The AESA can switch between air-to-air and
air-to-surface modes so quickly that they appear to operate concurrently-and
this capability can be exploited fully if the pilot takes charge
of the air-to-air picture while the WSO searches for surface targets.
Boeing expects to receive a contract for the second multi-year
production (MYP) batch of F/A/18E/Fs later this year. Under present
plans, the Navy intends to buy a total of 550 Super Hornets, including
90 EA-18Gs.
