Aircraft/Navy

Sea Power, Jan 2002

F/A-18E/F SUPER HORNET

BRIEFING: The multimission F/A-1 BE/F Super Hornet strike fighter is an evolutionary upgrade of the combat-proven night-strike F/A-18C/D Hornet. The Super Hornet provides the carrier battle group with a strike fighter that has significant growth potential, more than adequate carrier-based landing weight, and range, endurance, and ordnance-carrying capabilities comparable to those of the F-14 that the Super Hornet is replacing. The F/A-18E/F, considerably more survivable than the F/A-18C/Ds currently in service, will be able to conduct unescorted strikes against highly defended targets early in a conflict. The E/F industry team and the Navy have taken advantage of more than four million flight hours' experience with Hornets to correct known deficiencies and add many new capabilities.

The single-seat FIA-18E and the two-seat F/A-18F are 4.2 feet longer than earlier Hornets, have a 25 percent larger wing area and a wing span 4.7 feet longer, and carry 33 percent more internal fuel, which effectively increases mission range by 41 percent and endurance by 50 percent. The Super Hornet incorporates two additional wing stations, which allow for increased payload flexibility in the mix of air-to-air and air-to-ground ordnance, and five "wet" stations that give the Super Hornet an in-flight tanker capability. The Super Hornet is able to carry the full array of "smart' weapons, including the newest joint weapons such as JDAM and JSOW. Its carrier-recovery payload is more than 9,000 pounds. The Super Hornet's two General Electric F414 turbofan engines give the aircraft 41,454 pounds of thrust, 9,422 pounds more than that available to the F/A-18C/D.

Although a 41 percent interdiction-mission range increase may be the most dramatic improvement in the Super Hornet, the ability to recover aboard a carrier with optimum reserve fuel and a load of precision-strike weapons is of equal importance. The Super Hornet also has the space, power, and cooling capability needed to accommodate valuable but installation-sensitive avionics-such as an active electronically scanned-array (AESA) radar-as they become available. While the F/A-18C/D has incorporated a modicum of low-- observables technology, the Super Hornet was designed from the outset to optimize stealth and other survivability enhancements. The F/A-18E/F will serve as the Navy's primary strike aircraft until aircraft produced under the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program reach the fleet beginning in 2010.

The first Super Hornet rolled out in September 1995 and flew for the first time in November 1995, ahead of schedule and 1,000 pounds under specified weight. The Super Hornet successfully conducted its initial carrier trials in January 1997 aboard the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). By April 1999, the five F/A-iBEs and two F/A-18Fs participating in a well-defined flight test program had flown more than 3,100 flights and 4,600 hours. The engineering-- and-manufacturing development phase concluded after further sea trials aboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) in mid-1999 and was followed by an operational evaluation, the flying portion of which concluded in November 1999.

Low-rate initial production (LRIP) of the Super Hornet commenced in September 1997, and the first production-standard F/A-18E was delivered to the Navy in December 1998. The first Super Hornet fleet readiness squadron-VFA-122, activated at NAS Lemoore, Calif., in October 1998received its first seven Super Hornets in November 1999 and began training pilots in June 2000. VFA-115 is the first operational Super Hornet squadron and is scheduled to deploy aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in mid-2002. The 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review reduced the projected Navy Super Hornet purchase from 1,000 to a minimum of 548 Super Hornets. These numbers could vary depending on the progress, or lack thereof, in the JSF program. A multiyear contract was awarded to the Boeing Company in June 2000 worth $8.9 billion for 222 Super Hornets over 5 years. By signing a multiyear procurement, this contract will save the Navy over $700 million and deliver a quantum leap in tactical ability to the U.S. Naval Fleet. As of December 2001 38 F/A-18Es and 37 F/A-18Fs had been delivered to the Navy. VFA-14 and VFA-41 have begun transition to the FIA-18E and F/A-18F, respectively, and will be followed by VFA-102's transition to the F/A-18F during the summer of 2002. The F/A-18E will supplement and eventually replace the FIA-18C, while the F/A-18F version will replace the F-14 in fleet service. An EA-18G "Growler" version has been proposed as a replacement for the EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft.

The Navy believes that the Super Homet-developed and produced on schedule, on cost, and under specified weights-is "the right airplane at the right time."

WING SPAN: ..............44.9 feet

LENGTH: ..................60.2 feet

HEIGHT: ....................16 feet

WEIGHT: ..................66,000 pounds maximum takeoff

SPEED: ....................950+ knots