The latest semi-stealthy "Super Hornet"
The F/A-18, formerly known as the YF-17, was defeated in the U.S. Air Force's "Light Fighter" tender, but won the bid for the Naval Air Combat Fighter (NACF) and developed into the F/A-18, codenamed "Hornet".
The YF-17 eventually developed into the F/A-18
The A, B, C, and D types of the F / A-18 are called "Hornets", why are they called "Super Hornets" from Type E and F, and what are the differences and connections between them? This article explains it in detail
The birth was super embarrassing
At the beginning of the birth of the F/A-18 "Hornet", air supremacy was not as good as that of the F-14, ground attack and electronic warfare had the A-6, and there was an A-12 stealth attack aircraft under development in the future, with a short range, and some people thought that the emergence of the F/A-18 "Hornet" could be regarded as a step backwards.
The A-12 attack eventually dismounted
But with the discontinuation of the A-12 program, the retirement of the A-6 attack aircraft (the EA-6 continues to enter service), the life of the F-14 Tomcat is running out, and the JSF program is delayed, the U.S. Navy urgently needs a fighter to fill the gap in the middle.
The F-14 with the "Immortal Bird" was a cross-era existence at that time
In order to fill this time gap, the US Navy proposed to develop an improved multi-role combat aircraft of the F/A-18C/D aircraft based on the "Wasp 2000" program launched by the Department of Defense. The program increases the space of the aircraft and adds more defensive electronic countermeasures systems and corresponding auxiliary power and cooling equipment. The scheme is known as the Super Hornet fighter/attack aircraft program.
F/A-18F，双座
Just over five years before and after the development of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Boeing officially delivered the first production F/A-18E/F——— E6 to the U.S. Navy on December 18, 1998, and the Naval Air Warfare Center began evaluating it in March 1999.
Note: The F/A-18A/C/E is a single-seat model and the F/A-18B/D/F is a two-seat model.
The F/A-18E/F is based on the F/A-18C/D, through a compromise between performance and price, starting from the aspects of flight performance, combat capability, survivability and cost of use, and using the latest technology and measures to design, greatly improve the comprehensive combat efficiency, and has the potential for further development. There are five main changes in it:
One of the changes in structural and aerodynamic properties
The F/A-18E/F follows the aerodynamic layout of the C/D type, but enlarges the dimensions. Its forward fuselage was 1.24 m longer, its wingspan was 2.19 m wider, its wing area increased by 9.29 m², and the horizontal tail area was increased accordingly, resulting in improved aerodynamic characteristics and a 18 km/h landing speed when the aircraft returned home.
F/A-18E/F structure diagram
Compared to the C/D model, the overall aircraft has increased in size by approximately 25 per cent, the maximum take-off weight has been increased by 27 per cent to 30,000 kilograms, and its larger airframe space allows for increased fuel capacity, additional electronic equipment and additional weapons. For example, the internal fuel increased by 33% to 6560 kg.
In addition, when it carries three and five drop tanks, its total fuel capacity can reach 11,000 kg and 14,000 kg. This not only increases its range and endurance without refueling, but also increases the combat attack range, and even it can be used as a partner tanker.
Due to the increased fuel carryover, the combat radius of the F / A-18E / F has been significantly increased. Compared with the single-seat C type, the combat radius of the single-seat E type is increased by 26 per cent to 780 km when carrying three drop tanks and four 450 kg bombs for interdiction missions, to 940 km, after receiving aerial refueling, it can exceed 1,700 km, and if it carries long-range precision-guided weapons, its strike range can reach 1,900 km.
| Model | F/A-18E/F | F/A-18E/F |
| captain | 17.07m | 18.31m |
| height | 4.66m | 4.88m |
| wingspan | 11.43m | 13.62m |
| Wing area | 37.16 | 46.45 |
| Empty weight | 10.5 tons | 13.9 tons |
| Maximum take-off weight | 22.3 tons | 29.9 tons |
| motor | F404×2 | F414×2 |
| Internal oil load | 4.9 tons | 6.5 tons |
| External oil carrying capacity | 3 tons | 7.4 tons |
Unlike the C/D type, the leading edge of the Super Hornet wing is designed with serrations, resulting in vortex currents that improve airflow on the outer wing surface, improve aileron efficiency, and improve the aircraft's roll maneuvering.
The leading edge edge at the wing root is increased by 34%, which improves the maximum lift characteristics of the aircraft, increasing the angle of attack of the aircraft to 35°, which is conducive to improving the safety of the landing ship.
There is an adjustable spoiler on each side of the side strip, which has the effect of controlling the vortex of the side strip and reducing the flight resistance, and at the same time modifies the blunt degree of the original side strip, which has a certain shielding effect on the angle of attack of the airflow at the lip of the intake tract, which can improve the influence of the angle of attack and side slip angle on the performance of the intake tract under the maneuvering flight state.
Change 2: Power system
The air intake of the F / A-18E / F is square
The Super Hornet has redesigned the air intake, redesigning the semicircular air intake of the original C/D type into an oblique rectangular air intake, which has the advantages of simple structure, reliable operation and light weight. The change in the intake tract is also an important feature that distinguishes C/D from E/F.
The air intake of the F / A-18C / D is round
On the one hand, this intake channel design can reduce the overflow caused by the change of airflow in the conventional design, increase the flow coefficient during maneuvering flight, and on the other hand, it can also reduce the angle of attack of the local airflow and effectively suppress the airflow separation at the lip.
In addition, the large sweeping surface layer partition and the vortex crusher on the inner wall reduce the degree of air distortion in the intake tract.
The biggest change in the powertrain is the use of the F414-GE-400 engine. The F414 was redesigned based on the F404 and F412 engines, using some of the technology of the YF120 engine that had been tendered for the F-22 fighter.
Its main features are: on the one hand, it adopts a fan and high-pressure compressor with an integral blisk structure, which has a higher boost ratio, increases the air flow to meet the needs of increased engine thrust, and on the other hand, adopts a shorter porous combustion chamber and high-pressure turbine blades with single crystal material, which increases the temperature before the turbine by 150 °C.
Compared to the F404 engine, the afterburner thrust of the F414 engine is increased by 38% to 99 kN, with a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 9.0. It was on this basis that the Super Hornet, despite its increased weight, maintained the same flight performance as the C/D aircraft.
Change three: combat capability
Although 90% of the electronic equipment of the F/A-18E/F is common to the C/D aircraft, in order to improve air combat and attack capabilities, the aircraft is not only equipped with improved fire control radar and airborne electronic equipment, but also can carry more advanced attack weapons.
The aircraft is equipped with an improved AN/APG-73 fire control radar, which improves the ability to detect and identify targets, can provide high-resolution topographic maps when the aircraft performs air-to-surface attack missions, improves the accuracy of weapon indication, and reduces the burden on pilots.
In addition to the addition of a touch control display and a new fuel display in the cockpit, the mission computer is also improved with ultra-high-speed integrated circuits, so that the onboard equipment has advanced sensor fusion capabilities. The central multifunction display in the original cockpit was enlarged to 160 mm and a color LCD display was used.
The F/A-18E/F is also equipped with a low-altitude navigation and infrared targeting system at night, which more than doubles its detection range from the enemy's radar low-altitude blind zone to an altitude of 7,500 meters under day and night conditions, helping to improve the precision attack capability of weapons outside the defense zone.
The F/A-18E/F retained one six-barreled 20 mm cannon and added a weapon pylons under each wing, bringing the total number of weapon hardpoints to 11. The aircraft has a bomb load of more than 8 tons, including AIM-9 "Sidewinder", AIM-7 "Sparrow", AIM-120 air-to-air missiles, AGM-65 "Maverick", AGM-84 "Harpoon" and other air-to-ground and air-to-ship missiles, as well as AGM-45 "Tonguebird", AGM-88 "Hamm" anti-radiation missile, AGM-62 "White Star-Eye" television-guided bomb, conventional bombs and rockets, etc., with more than 24 combinations.
Change 4: Survivability
Another key element of the Super Hornet design is to improve survivability. Its survivability on the battlefield has been greatly improved, mainly from the reduction of radar signatures, the increase of electronic countermeasures systems, the reduction of aircraft vulnerability and the use of long-range weapons.
In terms of reducing the characteristics of radar signals, first, the external structure is improved, and the air intake is changed from the original semicircle to an oblique rectangle, which can make the peak signal of radar echo deviate from the direction of the nose. The second is the use of new absorbing materials, mainly coated on the key parts of the front fuselage such as the air intake and the inner cavity of the radar cabin. The third is to increase composite materials, and a large number of composite materials are used in the wing skin, flaps, horizontal and vertical stabilizers, etc., accounting for about 15% of the weight of the aircraft. By taking the above measures, the radar reflection cross-sectional area of the F/A-18E/F was reduced to 1.19㎡, which is only one-tenth of the F/A-18C/D type.
Modified integrated defensive electronic countermeasures system, first, ALE-50 towed decoys are installed in the streamlined pod in the lower part of the fuselage, which can transmit deceptive signals to enemy missiles and direct them to the location of the decoys, which is the most effective means of countering radar-guided missiles; The second is the use of the new ALR-67 (V) radar warning receiver, which expands the coverage and adds two ALE-47 metal chaff strips/infrared projectors to jam enemy tracking and attack and counter the missile threat.
In terms of reducing the fragility of the aircraft, a new fuel protection system and a new fire extinguishing system were installed on board. The new extinguishing system, which includes 14 light sensors and 7 extinguishing heads, actively senses heat and releases inert gases sequentially, which will significantly reduce the vulnerable area of the aircraft. In addition, the fault management system of the aircraft can reasonably use the flight control system according to the degree of damage to the aerodynamic airfoil to ensure the safe return of the aircraft.
The F/A-18E/F can use long-range ground attack weapons that can launch attacks outside the opponent's defense zone, thereby increasing survivability accordingly. According to the US Navy, in the Gulf War-style combat environment, the E/F type will increase the survivability of its predecessor C/D by 3~5 times.
Change 5: Cost of use
When F/A-18E/F is designed, the cost of use is considered, and the moderate life cycle cost has become an important factor in the design of the aircraft.
Due to structural deficiencies in the F/A-18C/D, excess fuel and unfired weapons must be released before landing on the carrier (which is wasteful, especially when carrying high-value precision-guided munitions), otherwise the wings may be broken by violent impacts on landing. To this end, the E/F model has designed a more robust wing structure, which can carry 1,800 kg of fuel and 2,300 kg of weapons back to the carrier, which is three times more than the F/A-18C/D model, and enhances the ability to "bring back" weapons when landing on board. As a result, non-combat losses of fuel and weapons can be reduced, which is particularly important for the future use of the main weapons JDAM and JSOW, resulting in savings in combat costs.
In the photo, the F/A-18F landed with AGM-65 Maverick missiles
Increasing the frequency of single-machine sorties is also a way to save costs. At the time, the U.S. Navy estimated that a single F/A-18E/F could fly 35 hours a month at a cost of $200,000, while a single F-14A could fly only 24 hours a month at a cost of $240,000. In contrast, the F/A-18E/F has improved the cost-effectiveness ratio by 70 per cent, resulting in savings of $30 million per year in logistics costs as the F-14 is gradually retired.
The F/A-18E/F can replace a variety of carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers and streamline the composition of carrier-based aircraft. The F/A-18E/F first replaced the A-7 Corsair and F/A-18A/B Hornet, and then the F-14 Tomcat, which had been in service for 20 years. The EA-18G Growler can also replace the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft. This programme would significantly reduce spending on spare parts and support, so that replacing several single-mission aircraft with such multi-purpose aircraft could save billions of dollars in the long run.
At that time, there were many types of carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers, and logistical support was very troublesome
The F/A-18E/F uses advanced manufacturing processes to reduce the number of aircraft components. The original McDonnell Douglas has significantly reduced the number of F/A-18E/F parts by employing advanced design and manufacturing technology. Although the F/A-18E/F was approximately 25 per cent larger than the F/A-18C/D, the number of parts was reduced by approximately 42 per cent, resulting in a significant reduction in production costs, with an ex-factory unit price of $44 million.
In addition, the Super Hornet is more than three times more reliable than other Navy aircraft, requiring more than half the maintenance man-hours, greatly reducing logistics costs. The U.S. Navy believes that the Super Hornet is the best performing aircraft when it meets affordable demand.