A MORE SUPER SUPER HORNET - F-16.net
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
A MORE
SUPER
SUPER
40
HORNET
AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com
THE NAVY’S
BOUNCER HAS
BULKED UP.
■ BY MARK PHELPS
These already-
potent F/A-18 Super
Hornets, returning
to Naval Air Station
US NAVY/LT CMDR DARIN RUSSELL
Lemoore after a
2019 training
mission, are about
to get an upgrade. A
new radar, new fuel
tanks, and a new
computer will give
the Hornets more
ability to sting.
December 2020/January 2021 AIR & SPACE 41
DURING A SUNNY AFTERNOON bike ride Super Hornets, themselves deeply redesigned
atop the hills overlooking San Diego in December derivatives of the original “legacy” Hornets (models
1990, Navy test pilot Rob Niewoehner and a fel- A through D) that first flew in 1978.
low Naval aviator paused to practice one of the “From a lieutenant’s perspective,” Niewoehner
privileges afforded members of the fighter pilot recalls, “we wanted to fly the shiny toy, as opposed
community—complaining. “We were both junior to the commanders, captains, and admirals who
officers at the time,” Niewoehner recalls, “and the had to pay the bills for that stuff. The conversa-
Navy had just canceled the F-23 fighter program, tion on our bike ride that day was, ‘What’s our
just weeks before I was scheduled to fly the pro- leadership thinking? What are these guys doing
totype. I was not happy.” with our future?’ ”
Northrop’s experimental YF-23 and the But that was then.
McDonnell Douglas A-12 attack airplane project Now a U.S. Naval Academy professor groom-
(canceled just weeks later) were advanced-tech- ing the next generations of ship-borne aviators at
nology stealth programs, so-called fifth-generation Annapolis, Maryland, Niewoehner says: “At the
jets. The two were among the leading candidates to time, I was feeling like we’d been sold out. Now I
replace fourth-generation combat aircraft on the look back and think, ‘Wow! Those guys were so
decks of Navy aircraft carriers. To Niewoehner, wise. They saved naval aviation!’ ” It’s a message he
abandoning both programs meant the Navy was drives home to his students when teaching what
pulling the plug on the newest technology. he considers one of the most significant eras in
The Air Force would go on to get the latest and naval aviation history.
greatest in the stealthy Lockheed Martin F-22. The Leveraging the benefit of hindsight, Niewoehner
Navy would eventually be stuck with doing what explains: “Leadership decided to invest in small,
it could to further modify and soup-up its Boeing steady, incremental improvements rather than
F/A-18E (single-seat) and F/A-18F (two-seat) taking the giant leap into costly stealth technology
After the retirement
of the “legacy”
Hornet (left), Super
Hornets (right) are an
aircraft carrier’s only
fighters. That will
change with the
F-35’s first cruise in
2021.
US NAVY/PHOTOGRAPHER’S MATE JONATHAN CHANDLER
42 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com
F/A-18C Hornets, that so often comes in way late—and way over
like these over the budget. The net result? A Super Hornet coming
USS Ronald Reagan
off the Boeing production line in St. Louis today is
in 2007, were retired
from Navy service not at all like the Super Hornet I last flew in 1998.”
last year, but some The venerable F/A-18 is today transformed
C models continue into a “Generation 4.5” combat airplane. Fourth-
to fly with the generation airframes designed for 1970s battles
Marines and the
Navy Reserve.
were subsequently re-engined, reconfigured,
and re-equipped to accommodate 21st century
missions. They have significantly greater range,
a larger weapons payload, and improved carri-
TOP: US NAVY/LT CMDR TAM PHAM; BOTTOM: THE BOEING COMPANY
er-deck performance. With its larger wing and
greater power, the Super Hornet can slam onto the
deck with close to a full load of undropped bombs
(known as “bringback”), giving fleet commanders
far greater flexibility in planning missions.
And from the fiscal perspective, those decisions
The Super Hornet’s
made three decades ago meant that the Navy would
Block III cockpit not only have highly capable multi-role fighters,
replaces four it would have them in great numbers. The Navy
screens with a would be buying the modernized Super Hornets for
10-by-19-inch less than $70 million each. As of April 2020, Boeing
touchscreen
display, here
had delivered 608 to the Navy, cementing the Super
showing three views Hornet’s role as the “backbone of the fleet.”
of data. Meanwhile, the F-35C carrier-capable variant
December 2020/January 2021 AIR & SPACE 43
of Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter initially crowds at airshows like the marquis fifth-generation In 2009, a “stack”
carried a sticker price closer to $109 million, since F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II, today’s Super of F/A-18Cs,
including an
reduced to $94.4 million according to the manu- Hornets are quietly, competently, and cost-effec- aggressor (top),
facturer. While it has achieved initial operating tively serving as the Navy’s hardest worker. flew over southern
capability, at press time, the Navy’s version had The Navy has been scaffolding improvements on Louisiana for a
yet to qualify for combat. Boeing’s Super Hornet production line in St. Louis photo shoot. The
But the difference in initial acquisition cost over the past three decades. The latest iteration Hornet is the
Navy’s do-it-all
between these two aircraft pales compared with of that stepping-stone strategy is the F/A-18E/F mainstay: fighter,
the Super Hornet’s much lower marginal operating Super Hornet Block III. Despite intentions for a attacker, electronic
costs. Fuel, maintenance, and other expenses cal- 273-strong fleet of the fifth-generation F-35C, warrior, refueler,
culated on a per-flight-hour basis average around scheduled for its first operational cruise in 2021, and mock-MiG.
$35,000 for the F-35C fleet. The Super Hornet the Navy also has 79 brand-new Super Hornets
comes in at around $10,500. Over the course of on the order books. And Boeing forecasts more
its 10,000-hour service life, that difference adds sales from abroad.
up to a lot of fiscal responsibility. Now undergoing testing at Naval Air Station
While they rarely capture the headlines or draw Patuxent River, Maryland, the Block III Super
Hornet boasts some significant improvements
over its immediate predecessors, and all Block II
Off the California
F/A-18s will be upgraded to a full or partial Block coast in 2003, a
III configuration. F/A-18F from
The Block III cockpit retains Raytheon’s APG-79 squadron VFA-122
radar, introduced on Block II aircraft, but adds a launches from the
new computer processor and advanced data link. USS John C.
Stennis. The
Put together, these upgrades enable the new multi-role Super
Super Hornet to transmit and receive enormous Hornet replaced the
amounts of data, which means it will be able to heavier (but faster)
receive targeting information on distant adver- F-14 Tomcat in
2006.
saries and ground objectives without turning on
its own radar—thus giving away its position—and
will be able to share the data its radar picks up
TOP: US NAVY/PHOTOGRAPHER’S MATE JOSHUA WORD; BOTTOM: US NAVY/MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST CHRIS CAVAGNARO
with stealthier platforms closer to the targets.
The latest infrared search-and-track pod gives
the Hornets a greater stand-off strike capability.
They can detect their targets from far away via
the heat those airplanes give off, again allowing
Post-flight
maintenance on an
F/A-18E aboard the
USS George
Washington. With
upgrades, the Super
Hornets will stay on
carrier decks
through the 2030s.
The Navy even has
79 more new-builds
on order.
44 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com
US NAVY/MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST JOHN P. CURTIS December 2020/January 2021 AIR & SPACE 45
Secretary of the Air the Hornet’s radar to stay off as it stalks its prey. though not on a Block III airframe.
Force Barbara The new Super Hornets also include 10-by-19- R. Lee “Fanus” Watkins, one of the Block III
Barrett (left) inch cockpit displays to make life easier for their test pilots at Patuxent River, reports his test-flight
examines an F/A-18
model, used for
pilots. Perhaps most importantly, a service life results with the conformal fuel tanks. “[Among]
testing air-to- modernization extends airframe life to 10,000 the distinct advantages of the Super Hornet are its
ground missile flight-hours from 6,000. carefree handling qualities in just about any con-
separation, at the But the most visible change in the Block III is figuration,” he says, even when it is heavily loaded
Arnold Air Force
the addition of “conformal” fuel tanks. The tanks with bombs or missiles. The computer-managed
Base wind tunnel.
blend aerodynamically onto the “shoulders” of the flight control system allows pilots to maneuver “to
existing fuselage, a design that minimizes drag so the very limits of the aircraft,” letting them con-
that the extra 3,500 pounds of internal fuel can be centrate on targeting and firing weapons. Those
used to extend the fighter’s range by 125 miles. excellent flying qualities also mean the F/A-18
It can strike from farther away or fight longer. is rock-solid when approaching to land aboard
Block III upgrades are The Block III upgrade is itself being rolled out an aircraft carrier, still among the most difficult
already underway in incrementally. A Critical Design Review is sched- routines in aviation.
San Antonio. All the
Navy’s 532 Super
uled for next year, and once it’s completed, flight Watkins also notes that he was able to confirm
Hornets will be testing will start. Laboratory testing has already the differences in handling qualities that had been
upgraded to Block III. begun, and prototype conformal tanks have flown, predicted because of the fuel-tank modification.
“These small differences are planned to be cor-
rected with slight adjustments to the control
laws,” he writes.
Another vital element of the improved Block III
Super Hornet is its advanced networking capabil-
ity. Dan “Oddjob” Catlin completed two combat
deployments flying F/A-18s during Operations
Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom with the
Strike-Fighter Squadron 147 “Argonauts,” so he
is well aware of the importance of cooperation
in today’s aerial combat. He is currently the com-
manding officer of the VFA-106 “Gladiators.”
Catlin explains that the Block III Super Hornet
is “designed to operate in and contribute to a net-
work-enabled battlespace.” The newer avionics
allow pilots to join a network with other aircraft
in a strike package. With shared information,
every airplane in the package has a better view
of what’s going on around them—improved “sit-
uational awareness,” in fighter pilot-speak. They
cooperate to eliminate enemy aircraft.
IN GOOD COMPANY
Other fourth-generation fighters are undergoing
similar metamorphoses. The U.S. Air Force has
ordered eight new-production F-15EX Strike
Eagles to replace older models, which have aged so
TOP: USAF/JILL PICKETT; BOTTOM: THE BOEING COMPANY
much that high-speed maneuvering could result in
structural fatigue. (The Air Force has had to limit
the speeds at which these older aircraft perform
certain exercises.) Up to 144 new F-15s may be
built. While awaiting retirement, however, the
1980s-vintage F-15s will be retrofitted with the
F-15EX’s new Eagle Passive/Active Warning
Survivability System (EPAWSS) to detect and
counter threats from enemy radars and other
sensors. EPAWSS “won’t make the F-15 an F-35
or an F-22,” General James Holmes, head of the
U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command, told Air
46 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com
Red-shirted Force Magazine in a 2019 interview, “but it will has its eye on still more sales. According to Thom
ordnancemen load make it a whole lot better.” Breckenridge, Boeing’s vice president of interna-
up legacy and Super Similarly, the Air Force’s fleet of F-16 Fighting tional sales for the F/A-18, Boeing will compete
Hornets aboard the
USS Kitty Hawk in
Falcons will receive $5.4 billion in upgrades to to replace older Hornets in Canada, Switzerland,
2005. The Super replace older mechanically scanned radars with and Finland. A massive fighter contest in India is
Hornet can carry much more effective Active Electronically Scanned still shaping up.
17,750 pounds of Array (AESA) radars, which the Super Hornets
missiles on 11
are also equipped with. The F-16s are also getting
hardpoints, about
4,000 pounds more upgraded avionics and self-defense systems, and NEW, NEWER, NEWEST
than F/A-18C a life-extension program is planned to add 8,000 This is not the first time the Hornet has been
models. hours to each airframe’s service life. revitalized.
Despite the availability—and popularity—of the The legacy Hornet (originally designed by
exportable fifth-generation F-35, fourth-gener- McDonnell Douglas and later acquired by Boeing)
ation fighters are also undergoing a renaissance was for the Navy a return to past glory: It followed
abroad. The Eurofighter consortium recently in the footsteps of the McDonnell F-4 Phantom,
US NAVY/PHOTOGRAPHER’S MATE AIRMAN DYLAN BUTLER
announced plans to retrofit existing airplanes which excelled at both fighter and attack missions.
with AESA radars, and build more Eurofighters Much of the reason it could handle both roles is
for Germany, Kuwait, and Bahrain. India, Egypt, its fly-by-wire control system, arguably the most
and Greece have just accepted batches of French significant advance among fourth-generation
Dassault Rafale fighters, and Brazil took delivery of aircraft. With fly-by-wire, computer algorithms
the first of 36 Swedish-built Gripens it purchased. compensate for purposely built-in aerodynamic
Super Hornets are also popular among the instability that would make the aircraft impossi-
world’s air forces. Kuwait closed a deal for 28 of ble to fly by hand. That instability provides much
the new airplanes to replace its legacy Hornets, greater air combat maneuverability and mission
and Germany appears set to buy 45 Super Hornets flexibility. In fighter mode, the Hornet was an
and derivative EA-18G Growler electronic warfare excitingly nimble aerobat. In attack mode, it was
variants to replace its aging Tornadoes. Boeing a rock-stable platform for delivering ordnance.
December 2020/January 2021 AIR & SPACE 47
As one of the first fighters with fly-by-wire tional job making sure the Super Hornet would Front to back: a U.S.
USAF/TECH SGT MATTHEW PLEW
controls, the original F/A-18 was a favorite among be consistently combat ready. F-15C and F-35A, a
pilots. Tammie Jo Shults, the former F/A-18 From 1983 to 2006, the F/A-18 flew side by side British Eurofighter, a
aviator who earned fame in 2018 by landing a with the more famous Grumman F-14 Tomcat. French Rafale, and a
crippled Southwest Airlines Boeing 737, recalls When the Navy began looking for new multi-role U.S. F-15E. All but
the F-35 are fourth
from her naval career: “Just walking up to pre- fighters to replace the heavy swing-wing, two-crew generation and
flight an F/A-18 was like getting ready to saddle Tomcat, the F/A-18 was front and center—but undergoing
a thoroughbred—one that could easily kick you in not the Hornet as Navy pilots knew it. Boeing upgrades.
the backside if you didn’t keep ahead of it. The jet
was stunning just to look at.”
She continues: “When you strapped on the
Hornet, it handled like the A-4 [Skyhawk], not
as sleek, maybe, but with four times the punch.
Whatever you dreamed up, you could do.”
Now retired, Brenda Scheufele was one of the
first women to fly in combat with the Navy, and
worked as a test pilot on various weapons systems
as well as flight-control developments to improve
the handling of the legacy Hornet. On the subject of
the multi-role strategy, she says: “One of the down-
sides to replacing four to five different aircraft with
one—and there are many cost savings to reducing
the number of aircraft models—is that, if something
is discovered that is a critical flaw (which happened
once on my watch), the whole fleet is grounded.
It’s a known risk.” The critical flaw discovered was
excessive wear on a part.
But it appears her team ultimately did an excep-
48 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com
effectively redesigned the airplane. Compared pilot scored the first U.S. air-to-air kill since 1999.
with the legacy Hornet models, the F/A-18E/F Mike Tremel (call sign “Mob”), serving aboard the
Super Hornet came in 20 percent larger, with 25 aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, shot down a
percent more wing area, upgraded F414 engines, Syrian Sukhoi Su-22 Fitter after it bombed U.S.-
and a 41-percent increase in mission range. The supported Syrian Democratic forces. The Syrian
new Super Hornet carried enough fuel—with government pilot ignored radio threats and over-
large-capacity “buddy tanks” slung underneath the head passes before Tremel fired an AIM-120 air-
wings—to become an air-to-air tanker. The first to-air missile that exploded on contact with the
Super Hornets entered service in 1999. (Boeing Sukhoi’s tailpipe. The Syrian pilot ejected safely.
At the 2017 symposium held by the Tailhook
Association, a private group dedicated to sup-
THOUGH TODAY’S COMBAT MISSIONS porting U.S. Navy carrier aviation, Tremel and
LEAN TOWARD ATTACK, IN THE his wingman Jeff “JoJo” Krueger described the
SUPER HORNET’S SPLIT F/A action. They were joined on the Tailhook panel by
DESIGNATION, THE “F’ COMES FIRST two F/A-18C pilots who had been in their “stack”
that day. All four pilots were prepared for a strike;
IN THE HEARTS OF ITS DESIGNERS all the action in the area prior to their arrival had
—AND ITS PILOTS. been on the ground. One of the F/A-18C pilots
checked in with the Joint Terminal Air Controller,
an airman on the ground who directs air attacks,
and as they waited for his call, the Fitter showed
up. Krueger offered his perspective on suddenly
being in an air-to-air situation in the middle of a
ground-support mission: “We hear it all the time.
and Northrop Grumman also developed an elec- I remember being at Top Gun, and you hear the
US NAVY/MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST CODY HENDRIX
tronic-warfare version, the EA-18G Growler, MiG killers, the guys from Vietnam, talk about
which entered operation 10 years later.) the importance of [basic air combat maneuver-
The Navy’s mandate in combining several ing]. We may train that everything’s going to be
Last July at combat roles in a single aircraft has been not to 100 miles away. But out there—real time—it’s 100
Naval Air Station compromise the raison d’ être of a fighter—air com- percent fundamentals. Those can never fade away,
Pensacola, the Blue
Angels took delivery
bat maneuverability. Design improvements could no matter what the technology is.”
of the first of 11 not—and still cannot—come at the expense of the Another way to look at it is that stealth will
Super Hornets. After Super Hornet’s lethality in a dogfight. Though get you only so far. Air-to-air encounters during
34 years of flying today’s combat missions lean toward attack, in the attack missions may be unlikely, but as Mike
legacy Hornets, the Super Hornet’s split F/A designation, the “F” comes Tremel and the three pilots with him in the air
team will take to the
airshow circuit in
first in the hearts of its designers—and its pilots. learned, you’d better be prepared for them. If you
2021 in their new During a close-air-support mission near the can win them, it doesn’t matter what generation
models. town of Ja’Din, Syria, on June 18, 2017, an F/A-18E your airplane is in.
December 2020/January 2021 AIR & SPACE 49You can also read
