Within the framework of the prevailing stereotype, the Hornet was recognized as a successful bomber, but a very mediocre fighter. The same applies to the upgraded F / A-18E, which received the "super" prefix.
In short, an aircraft with mediocre flight characteristics, which was never positioned as a fighter for air superiority.
In the depths of military-technical resources, there is a different opinion of designers and specialists in the field of fluid and gas mechanics. They argue that the Hornet's design contains elements atypical for aircraft of that era.
Developed vortex generators in the wing root, V-shaped vertical tail, straight wing - for efficient maneuvering at low speeds. The new "Super Hornet" has its own additional features. In support of their conclusions, specialists publish visualizations of vortex flows, recall the prehistory of the appearance of this machine and compare various indicators: engine, avionics, weapons.
As a result, everyone agrees that the Hornet is a worthy opponent for any modern fighter.
Flight of the Bumblebee
General Electric F414 is the best foreign aircraft engine for 4th generation fighters. Afterburner thrust (9900 kgf) with a dead weight of just over 1 ton. A quarter of a century ago, no one had such indicators. And in terms of specific thrust (the ratio of engine thrust to air consumption), it still remains the absolute world record holder (afterburner consumption 77 kg / s). What does this mean? Just one of the indicators of the design perfection of the turbojet engine.
The GE F414 is the heart of the Super Hornet fighter.
As the ideological successor to the GE F404 (the engine of the old Hornet), it has enough differences to be considered a completely new product. The F414 is 100 kg larger and heavier than its predecessor. Its compressor ramps up from 25 to 30, while the new engine delivers 30% more thrust. It is not hard to imagine how this expands the capabilities of the fighter.
The design of the F414 uses the technologies of the 5th generation engines of the General Electric YF120, created for the promising YF-23 fighter (a competitor to the winner of the YF-22 Raptor competition).
10 tons of raging fire. Against this background, the engines of European combat aircraft - the French Raphael (M-88 engine), the Swedish Gripen (RM12, licensed version of the GE F404) and Eurofighter (Eurojet 2000) seem to be physically retarded relatives. The superiority of the F414 over the European models of the period of the 90s is too obvious.
All this is a weighty argument pointing to unexpectedly high performance characteristics of the updated "Hornet". With a normal takeoff weight within 20 tons, the F / A-18E will have a quarter more tractionthan any "Rafale", with all the ensuing consequences.
Only domestic designers succeeded in surpassing the F414 in terms of design perfection. Modern samples, for example, AL-41F1S, a “transitional” engine for fighters of generation 4+ (just like the F414, which uses elements of engines of the 5th generation in its design) demonstrate absolutely fantastic parameters of thrust, up to 14.5 tons at afterburner … At the same time, in spite of 1.5 times the thrust, the engine for the Su-35 is only a quarter heavier than the similarly intended “American”.
Since the presentation (1993), General Electric has delivered over 1000 F414 engines to customers, which to date have accumulated more than 1 million hours of flight time.
In general, F414, despite its performance, is already “yesterday”. The mighty F135 (F-35 engine), capable of developing 18.5 tons of thrust alone, has been recognized as a new benchmark and trendsetter.
However, the Super Hornet fighter did not become weaker from this. In the future, he will lose the battle to new designs, but in the next couple of decades, the F / A-18E intends to operate in the same ranks with the F-35.
It's pointless to catch a wasp by the tail
The Hornets family was born from the Northrop YF-17 prototype. As a result of the competition, he “blew” another participant - YF-16 from General Dynamics. There were two objective reasons for this:
a) the "sixteenth" flew on the same engines as the F-15 ("Pratt & Wheatley" F100);
b) lower cost of a single-engine fighter. The military did not need a superhero, they just needed a light, versatile aircraft to work in tandem with the heavy F-15 interceptor.
YF-17 was eliminated from the Air Force competition, but fate turned out to be favorable. In the late 70s. The Navy was looking for a replacement for several models of carrier-based aircraft at once: the outdated multipurpose Phantom, the Corsair attack aircraft, and, as a reasonable addition to the large and expensive interceptor, the F-14 Tomcat.
The Northrop prototype was able to impress due to the presence of two engines and a straight wing, providing takeoff and landing at low speeds and high angles of attack. The characteristics of the YF-17 were most consistent with the ship-based conditions. Where thrust-to-weight ratio and special requirements for safety, reliability and the ability to fly at speeds close to the stall speed acquired special value.
Taking into account the fact that the YF-17 had already participated in competitions, was completely ready and twice surpassed the Phantom in maneuverability, the last doubts were dispelled.
The fighter-bomber McDonnell-Douglas F / A-18 Hornet has become the hallmark of the US Navy.
Actually, what is the essence of this story? The Hornet should be more maneuverable than the F-16.
Its design largely used all the aerodynamics of the 4th generation fighters, and the Hornet itself was devoid of the main shortcomings of its famous competitor.
According to reports, the single-keel F-16 of the first modifications lost track stability and the ability to control at angles of attack of more than 10 °. The tail unit fell into the aerodynamic "shadow", the exit from which was no longer visible. The fighter “hovered” in this position and could only be withdrawn from it by using emergency means (braking parachute).
The Hornet had no such problems, it could be controlled at angles of attack up to 40 °. In simple terms, he could fly belly forward, while making maneuvers and, at the request of the pilot, freely exit this state. With a two-fin tail, the deviation of the rudders in different directions made it possible to create a diving moment - the fighter lowered its nose and reached sub-critical angles of attack.
Hornet has powerful four-vortex dynamics, the advantages of which are enhanced by the interaction of primary vortices with the V-shaped tail of the aircraft. The air currents reached such force that they could damage the keels. To avoid this problem, it was necessary to install a pair of additional ridges in the wing root, which weaken the vortex and take part of the load onto itself.
The “sixteenth” has nothing of the kind. Although even in such a situation, he retains combat effectiveness and has already won a lot of victories in aerial battles - what can we say about the more advanced F / A-18!
The serious shortcoming of the single-keel F-16 was known all over the world. The most radical modernization option was proposed by the British Hawker Siddeley. Their concept P.1202 was a single-engine fighter, like two drops of water similar to the F-16, the main difference of which was … a two-keel V-shaped tail.
The V-shaped keel solution was widely accepted as the correct solution. This arrangement of the keels subsequently received all modern aircraft - PAK FA, F-22, even the single-engine F-35. As for the European Raphales and Typhoons, they use a tailless design with a front horizontal tail, where “shading” of the control planes is impossible.
The collapse of the keels on the Raptors and PAK FA was made not only for the sake of reducing visibility - after all, for stealth, a complete rejection of vertical tail is preferable. Such an aircraft will be able to perform combat missions (YB-49, B-2), but it will have to forget about maneuvering at supercritical angles of attack.
The point is four-vortex aerodynamics, the idea of which is exploited by all the best modern fighters. The first of which was the Hornet.
To this you can also add Zadornov's “WELL TUPY-YE”. However, if we are doing a technical review, then sarcasm will have to be left aside.
Like a dagger, the wasp wields a sting
Similar designation, different aircraft. An example is the domestic missile carriers Tu-22 and Tu-22M.
The situation is similar with the F / A-18C and the new F / A-18E. The illustration below demonstrates these differences.
They can only be confused from afar. Only similar outlines and aerodynamic design remind of belonging to the same family. Otherwise, these are completely different fighters.
The F / A-18E is much larger and more massive than its predecessor. The Super Hornet's weight has increased by 3 tons, the maximum take-off weight - by 7 tons. The internal fuel supply increased from 5 to 6, 7 tons.
The wing area has grown by 8 sq. meters, engine thrust - by almost 30%. The area of slugs-vortex generators and tail unit has sharply increased. Thanks to these techniques, the flight characteristics of the heavily heavier Super Hornet remained at the level of the original F / A-18C. Changes in avionics and the introduction of elements of visibility reduction will be discussed a little later.
Model aircraft designers can easily distinguish the Super Hornet by the shape of the air intakes: they have a rectangular cross-section.
Aerodynamic experts will remind you of eliminating the slots in the overflow wing to allow excess air to flow from the bottom to the top of the wing. During the operation of the original "Hornets", no noticeable advantages from these slots were revealed.
The aerodynamics of the 4th generation fighters at first excluded the presence of methods of reducing the signature. Nevertheless, stealth technology became one of the main directions in the evolution of the F / A-18.
Despite severe restrictions that did not allow the use of the key idea of modern "stealth" (parallel edges and edges), the Super Hornet design implements the most ambitious measures to reduce the signature among all 4+ generation fighters.
The main efforts are aimed at reducing the RCS when irradiating the F / A-18E from the frontal direction. The air intake channels are bent to reflect radiation from the walls away from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. Radial impeller blockers are additionally installed in front of the compressor blades.
The edges of the doors of the technological openings and the doors of the chassis niches have a sawtooth shape. Separate structural elements (air intake ducts) are lined with radio-absorbing materials. Much attention has been paid to the elimination of gaps between the cladding panels.
Like all measures of stealth technology, they are aimed at hindering early detection and disrupting the capture of homing missile heads.
The measures to reduce the visibility do not conflict with the flight characteristics of the SuperCute. The only parameter negatively affected by the changes is the price of the fighter.
The avionics of the Super Hornet multipurpose fighter, like all modern fighters of the 4+ generation, are made according to a modular scheme. The composition of the sighting and navigation equipment may vary depending on the tasks ahead.
The main role is played by suspended sighting containers to ensure control of precision weapons. The naval aviation uses its own line of PNK, which is different from the standard LANTIRN and LITENING containers for the air force.
During the evolution of the Hornet, its outdated AN / AAS-38 Nitehawk container (for detecting and illuminating ground targets with a beam) was replaced with a modern AN / ASQ-228 ATFLIR complex (abbr. "Modern tactical forward-looking container in the infrared spectrum"), expanding the possibilities for operations at any heights. In a streamlined container with a length of 1.8 meters and a mass of 191 kg, in addition to a thermal (IR) camera, a laser rangefinder, a television camera for a detailed view of the selected area of the terrain, as well as equipment for target illumination are installed.
According to the developer (Ratheon), the equipment of the ATFLIR container is capable of detecting targets and directing weapons at a distance of up to 60 km along an incline.
In total, according to open sources, 410 such containers have been delivered to the US Navy.
Due to the weak attenuation of radio waves in the atmosphere and their low susceptibility to atmospheric phenomena (cloudiness, precipitation), which makes observation in other ranges impossible, radar remains the main detection tool in aviation.
Since 2007, the AN / APG-79 radar with an active phased antenna has been installed on Super Hornet fighters. In theory, its advantages are obvious:
- smaller weight and dimensions: due to the smaller size of the antenna itself, the absence of a high-power lamp and the associated cooling system and high-voltage power supply unit;
- high sensitivity and resolution, the ability to scale and work in the "magnifying glass" mode (ideal for work "on the ground");
- due to the large number of transmitters, the AFAR has a wider range of angles to which the beams can be deflected - many of the limitations of the geometry of the arrays inherent in the phased array are removed.
In practice, the declared increase in combat capabilities was not confirmed.
The results of practical tests did not reveal statistically significant differences in the actions of the F / A-18E / F equipped with AFAR radars compared to fighters with conventional radars.
(From the Director of Test & Evaluation (DOT & E), 2013).
One of the reasons for the multimillion dollar fiasco is considered to be the outdated hardware and software of the radar, which does not allow taking advantage of all the advantages of AFAR. The APG-79 radar is an upgraded version of the APG-73, which differs from its predecessor with a new antenna. Which, in turn, is a modernization of the outdated APG-65, which entered service in 1983 as the main radar of the Hornet fighter-bomber.
The French faced similar difficulties during the creation of an AFAR radar for the Rafale fighter. Thales RBE-2-AA is also an improvisation based on RBE-2 radar with conventional PFAR, with all the ensuing consequences. That is why the avionics of the F-22 and F-35 fighters (APG-81 radar), the only ones who have modern (and not modernized versions of old radars), originally designed for AFAR, are of particular interest.
Perspectives
Like its predecessor, the Super Hornet is serially produced in two main modifications: the single-seat F / A-18E and the two-seat F / A-18F (one third of all fighters produced). There is no trainee with an instructor in the “twin” cockpit, it is not for training purposes. Crew members - pilot and weapons operator. To improve efficiency when attacking ground targets using guided weapons.
The last of the serial modifications of the Super Hornet (2006 - present) was the radar hunter EF-18G Growler.
Since 1997, McDonnell-Douglas has been part of Boeing. The new owner continues to view the Super Hornet as a successful product in the light multi-role fighter niche, capable of squeezing out some orders from its main competitor, the F-35.
So, in 2011, during the air show at the Indian airbase Bangalore, the concept of the updated F / A-18F was presented under the International Roadmap program. In aviation circles, the project received the unofficial name "Silent Hornet" ("Silent Hornet", with a hint of "stealth" technology).
As expected, the proposed modification of the 21st century fighter. received conformal fuel tanks and a "glass cockpit" with a widescreen display to visually facilitate the perception of information displayed by mixing (joint overlay of tactical information from different sensors). The main "highlight" was the suspended stealth container for the placement of weapons.
Contrary to Boeing's efforts, potential customers invariably choose the F-35, seeing in it a more promising platform with a new generation of "stuffing".
The last hope of managers and designers is connected with the arrival of D. Trump. Speaking at the Boeing plant in December 2016, the new US president hinted at the possibility of receiving a major order for the most advanced Super Hornet modification, designated F / A-18XT.
