Posted on 01/05/2016 9:47:28 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Faced with delays in the adoption of the F-35, the U.S. Navy is trying to keep F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighters flying until replacements arrive. According to Military Times, the service is stretching the lifespan of existing planes, keeping them in the air far longer than originally planned.
The U.S. Navy's F/A-18C Hornets comprise half of the fighter force on a typical Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. These older Hornets, known as "legacy Hornets" to differentiate them from the Super Hornet, were only meant to fly an average 6,000 hours.
Generally speaking, this works out to about 20 years of peacetime flying. The problem? Most of the "legacy Hornets" were bought in the 1980s, making them roughly 30 years old. The period from 1991 to 2015 also have seen a higher operating tempo than expected, with an nearly continuous stream of wars, peacekeeping missions, no-fly zones, and punitive actions requiring air power.
The Navy plans to replace legacy Hornets with the carrier version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter—a process that should have started three years ago. The Navy was originally supposed to declare the F-35C ready for combat in 2012.
Unfortunately, the F-35 is running the better part of a decade behind schedule, and Initial Operating Capability, as the combat ready status is known, has been pushed that back to 2018 or even 2019.
Now, the last of the legacy Hornets is expected to be retired in 2022, and even that date could be pushed back by delays in the F-35 program (and government funding) staying on track.
As a result, the Navy is planning on extending the service lives of legacy Hornets to 10,000 hours. Although build for 6,000 hours, the airframes have been tested out to 10,000. Beyond that, safety becomes a real issue.
The other half of a carrier's fighter force are the newer F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. Super Hornets were also originally rated for 6,000 flying hours and will also be increased to 10,000 hours. The Super Hornet will not be replaced by the F-35 but rather so-called "sixth generation" fighter, the F/A-XX future fighter, to differentiate it from the 5th generation F-35. That won't happen until the 2040s, but the Super Hornets are already being flown longer and harder as older Hornets spend more time in repair depots.
In short, the Navy is counting on the Hornet to hold out longer than it was originally expected to, thanks mainly to the F-35's very, very slow development.
I suggest a new updated version of the F-16N Fighting Falcon, With the updated Viper package with the conformal fuel tanks (Same as the Israelis). The US Navy was the only operator of the special N-series of the F-16. They were specifically designed for the Navy to be used as aggressor aircraft in a dissimilar combat environment. The airframes featured a strengthened structure and although derivatives of the C/D-models they had the older APG-66 radar installed. The aircraft is still in production.
It wasn’t so much being a generation behind as having made different design tradeoffs.
The Zero is alleged to have been based on the stolen designs for the Hughes Racer. Whether that’s true or not is debatable, but what isn’t is that the Zero was very much a racing design that traded weight, stability and survivability for raw performance. It wasn’t nearly as rugged as the F4F, lacked self sealing fuel tanks and was unstable in a dive.
So long as the Wildcat didn’t get into a climbing, turning fight with a Zero, it was the better plane in a dogfight. Once the Wildcat pilots figured out that Zeros died pretty easily if you dived into them, or ganged up on them (Thatch Weave) the F4F racked up a net positive kill ratio.
The undercarriage is not strong enough. It would take a whole redesign. A carrier landing is very violent and tough on airframes.
See them all the time at NAS Fallon.
Thanks. R S.
That makes sense. Good information.
Ha!
The “N” series F-16 wasn’t carrier capable. It was a stripped down cheaper version designed to be used, as you said, as an adversary.
As it was the aircraft had to be retired after a few years due to fuselage cracking from excessive g-loading on the airframe.
The Navy did, briefly, look conceptually at a carrier-based F-16 in the 1970s, choosing instead to go for a completely new aircraft based very loosely on the plane (YF-17) that lost to the F-16 in the Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter competition.
And, to add, the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G are still in production. The Navy is making additional purchases to allow the older and trapped out Legacy Hornets to be retired, and I think there are now two all-Superbug airwings (CVW-5 in Japan flying from the Reagan is one). And the newer F models are (thanks to the Aussie buy) wired from the start for later conversion to EAs.
With all that, I’m not too worried about NavAir and I think this article is pretty alarmist. Shortfalls in the Legacy Bug force can be continued to be offset by new SuperBug purchases. Which will have the added benefit of resulting in a surplus of Superbugs down the road that can be converted to more EA-18Gs or bringing back a dedicated aerial refueling capability thst was lost when the KA-6s left service. There’s just no need for a replacement based on the F-16.
Uh, yes. I worked for a now-defunct LockMart contractor. The Air Force and LockMart saved *some* of the tooling back in 2010-2011, but by 2015 most of the tooling, especially the stuff at subcontractors, was gone, gone, gone.
No tactical stealth, huge IR signature, no high off-bore capability, and no, the gear needed for it sadly won’t fit - not without redesigning the airframe. The F-16 also still has the problem of strong radio signals interfering with the flight controls and the hideously dangerous APU in the tail.
Didn’t recall he was in an F4F. Sounded like one incredible pilot. I also didn’t know he survived; so glad to hear that he evaded them and got some help.
Thanks
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