Posted on 08/09/2013 5:50:17 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet flies with CFTs and weapons pod
Boeing has released this photo of a US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet in the air equipped with conformal fuel tanks and a weapons pod near Saint Louis, Missouri. The hardware is not functional, but is designed to test the aerodynamic qualities of the tanks and pod. Some advanced low-observables treatments are also expected to be tested on the jet which is being leased by the company for the trials.
- See more at: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2013/08/boeing-fa-18f-super-hornet-flies-with-cfts-and-weapons-pod/#sthash.v2GS3o58.dpuf
I noticed on the local news that an F-22 from Tyndall which crashed a few months ago was caused by a frayed wire.
It just seems there is no excuse for something like that.
Is it just me or does it seem like all fighters are more or less the same thing now?
Electronics dominate, so now the airframe can really be anything. You have F4s that are more modern than, say, Pakistani F16s.
As for wiring, it becomes a nightmare of maintnance. A F22 has probably enough to stretch to the moon or sun.
My favorite, most reliable and cost-effective fighter jet ever built.
I read where there was 28,000 american aircraft in world war II, that said a lot about Rosie the riveter and americans in general. Hell, I’ve bucked rivets myself.
I was in the largest Phantom squadron (Marines)in history (avionics). It’s hard for me to accept that 20+ f-22’s the air force has (am I correct on that?)
is a major deterrent to other country’s. I hope they make about 4000 of these super hornets and keep major squadrons of f-14, f-15, f-16 around the country.
While I was deer hunting in my section of the state I watched a f-16 pilot do repeated low level passes over me and flick his wings vertical and look at me. He was screeching this thing near the sound barrier, Falcon was an apt name for this plane.
This was a special treat for me because I had drawn the f-16 engine on the drafting board at half scale many years ago. Just think of all the honest jobs generated from this observation, not some liberal kickback schemes.
God Love the Super Bug.
“Electronics dominate, so now the airframe can really be anything. You have F4s that are more modern than, say, Pakistani F16s.”
You are more right than you probably know. An F-4 would be a fantastically performing fighter-bomber today aerodynamically. The problem is in internal logistics. The F-4 (and later, the F-14) were not designed internally for the volume of electronics and computerization that the we now have. They internal architecture, and thus the allocation of components, is all out of whack today. You had volume in those days but it was deemed and laid out in entirely different ways for different means.
I remember in 92 when the Air Force General was deridng the first planned cut of F22s from about 1000 to 700. He was saying he needed 1200 of these. Now we have less of them planned than the French Air Force has Rafales and even the GOP says it’s too much. Ridiculous. Rumsfeld is also at fault, because right after Afghanistan where it was proven one or 2 B1s could do much more than 2 squadrons of F16s, decided to cut the force by 86 B1s.
These idiots think like executives, gaining points making savings instead of thinking strategy and national defense
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