Posted on 08/28/2013 7:41:41 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Advanced Super Hornet Demonstrates Significant Stealth, Range Improvements
- Tests prove aircraft will outpace future threats
ST. LOUIS, Aug. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- During three weeks of flight testing the Advanced Super Hornet, Boeing [NYSE: BA] and partner Northrop Grumman demonstrated that the fighter can outperform threats for decades to come with improvements that make the jet much harder for radar to detect and give it significantly more combat range.
Through 21 flights in St. Louis and Patuxent River, Md., that began Aug. 5, the team tested conformal fuel tanks (CFT), an enclosed weapons pod (EWP), and signature enhancements, each of which can be affordably retrofitted on an existing Block II Super Hornet aircraft or included on a new jet.
"We continually insert new capabilities into today's highly capable, already stealthy Super Hornet, and the Advanced Super Hornet is the next phase of this technology evolution," said Debbie Rub, Boeing Global Strike vice president and general manager. "Boeing and our industry partners are investing in next-generation capabilities so warfighters have what they need when they need it, and so the customer can acquire it in a cost-effective manner."
Improvements to the aircraft's radar signature, including the enclosed pod, resulted in a 50 percent reduction compared with the U.S. Navy's stealth requirement for the current Super Hornet variant. The tests also showed that the CFTs increase the jet's combat radius by up to 130 nautical miles, for a total combat radius of more than 700 nautical miles.
"Even though we added components to the aircraft, their stealthy, low-drag design will enhance the combat capability and survivability of the Super Hornet on an aircraft that has a combat-proven history launching and recovering from aircraft carriers," said Mike Wallace, the Boeing F/A-18 test pilot who flew the Advanced Super Hornet configur
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Good old McDonnell Douglas. They knew how to design warplanes.
Well okay then. Time to defund it...
My nipples are hard.
We should have built the F-15SE Silent Eagle, too.
...that they got from Northrup.
“Northrop” not Northrup. I wish I could spell or use spell check.
It was a Northrup design. .started as a private project the P530 cobra. .that went on to be the F17 that competed against the F16 for the USAF LWF contract and lost....then it was revamped for the Navy (they liked the two engines) McDonald Douglas came on as a teaming partner at that point because they had the in with the Navy..
Thanks for posting. Interesting.
Not quite. Northrop was the primary on the YF-17 and McDonnell Douglas was the sub. The YF-17 had to be extensively modified to be acceptable for use as a Naval fighter. The two then became 50/50 partners on the F-18, Northrop focused on developing a lightweight model, the F-18L, for potential export sales while McDonnell Douglas focused on the F-18 for NAVAIR. The export market never materialized due to McDonnell Douglas actively seeking those sales which torpedoed their “partner”. Eventually Northrop sued McDonnell Douglas with the latter paying Northrop $50 million to settle the suit. Northrop abandoned the F-18L and McDonnell Douglas cleaned up on both the domestic and export markets.
Really a beautiful plane especially with the conformal fuel tanks. Makes it slick and clean looking.
Now if they could only put bigger engines in it.
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