Posted on 05/06/2010 5:34:14 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Super-Er Hornets?
Posted by Bill Sweetman at 5/6/2010 6:30 AM CDT
Boeing and its teammates are getting bolder in talking about improvements to the Super Hornet and Growler - a development which coincides with debate over the cost and schedule of the Joint Strike Fighter.
At this week's Navy League show in Washington DC, Boeing unveiled an early concept mock-up of a big-screen cockpit for the Super Hornet, aimed at export customers. It looks rather like the JSF cockpit, except that Boeing plans to use one-piece screens rather than two fused panels. Also, rather than eliminating the head-up display completely, Boeing would fit the front cockpit with a new, smaller HUD, with an optical system that would not interfere with the big screen.
General Electric, announcing the delivery of the 1000th F414 engine for the Super Hornet/Growler program, reaffirmed this week that it's working on two improved versions of the engine: the enhanced durability engine (EDE), with a new core and lower fuel consumption, and the enhanced performance engine (EPE), which adds a new fan for a 20 per cent thrust boost and "is targeted for potential international customers."
Boeing is also teamed with ITT Defense on the Navy's Next Generation Jammer program. In an interview at Navy League, representatives of the Boeing/ITT team made it clear that thy are focused on delivering improvements to the Growler - and that approaches which push NGJ towards early integration with the F-35 are, in their view, a much higher risk.
Another issue concerns the Hornet's armament. Although Boeing showed a very generic mockup of the future Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM) at Navy League, it may not represent the next step beyond the new Raytheon AIM-120D AMRAAM for the fighter. Boeing has made some quiet approaches to MBDA concerning integration of the ramjet-powered Meteor AAM on the F/A-18E/F - again, with international customers in mind. Meteor is expected to offer better kinematic performance than even the AIM-120D (which is believed to use the same motor as the current C7) and the D is a long way from being exportable.
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We need (super) Hornets like we need more cowbell. Bring back the Tomcat and Super-size it.
Short of that, I wish that the USAF would purchase a wing of Growlers for their own use, subcontracting maintenance to the USN if necessary, if too many different airframes is an issue.
The Navy has repeated it's warning that it is only going to purchase enough Growlers for their own fleet use, and the joint tactical jamming role of the Prowler will go away when that airframe is retired.
Obviously, there will be no "EB-52" standoff jammer, the F-35 is decades away from being able to operate in a true jamming role, and UAVs are not able to effectively escort strike packages.
No can do.
1) The airframes are beat.
2) The tooling was destroyed.
I know. It really p.o.ed me to see that happen. I’m sure we still have the plans for them, but we could re-invent it and make it better!
I agree.
2) The tooling was destroyed.
The one thing I don’t like about Dick Cheney. This was on his watch as SecDef.
bump
This is the path we should have been going all along; evolutionary, not revolutionary.
My parents said it they were so beautiful in flight, my mom said she shed a tear. It is a damn shame that it needed to go away. The Iranians are still trying to buy the parts and every so often over the years they have caught someone trying to buy parts.
Probably served it's last duty by exposing Iranian operatives trying to buy parts to send back to Iran. They will probably catch someone else trying to do it.
What a plane that was. With the Phoenix it was a true air superiority fighter.
My parents said it they were so beautiful in flight, my mom said she shed a tear. It is a damn shame that it needed to go away. The Iranians are still trying to buy the parts and every so often over the years they have caught someone trying to buy parts.
Probably served it's last duty by exposing Iranian operatives trying to buy parts to send back to Iran. They will probably catch someone else trying to do it.
What a plane that was. With the Phoenix it was a true air superiority fighter.
They cut everything up so Iran doesn’t need to try and purchase anything else.
I have heard some rumors that the Tomcat might come back but those are just rumors.
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