Without exception, all modifications of the F-16A / C multipurpose tactical fighter have become the most widespread, easy-to-maintain and effective in combat vehicles of the “4” and “4 + / ++” generations. "Falcons", intended both for action in the role of a light interceptor in the air defense system, and for carrying out shock operations to suppress enemy air defense and destroy ground targets, have managed to prove themselves worthy in the course of numerous military exercises and conflicts in the Middle East and European theaters of operations. The most advanced modifications of this fighter are F-16E / A Block 60 (US Air Force and UAE), F-16I "Sufa" (Israeli Air Force or "Hel Haavir") and F-16D Block 70/72 (offered by the Indian Air Force as a replacement obsolete tactical aircraft fleet) have long belonged to the machines of the transitional generation and are equipped with radars with AFAR AN / APG-80/83 SABR, the latest container optical-electronic sighting systems such as "Advanced Targeting Pod" (ATP).
In addition, within the framework of the Indian contract, there is such a vital option in close air combat as a modern highly informative helmet-mounted target designation system of the "Helmet Mounted Display System" (HMDS) type, which Lockheed Martin is trying to attract those who are accustomed to our Sura / Sura-M »Hindus. But the flight crew of the Indian Air Force, tempted by such technically advanced super-maneuverable machines as the Su-30MKI and the upcoming FGFA series production, are unlikely to pay attention to the F-16IN even after installing network-centric equipment from the F-35A on it. The Taiwan Air Force is another matter. Here, under pain of the success of the People's Republic of China in the design of operational-tactical ballistic and cruise missiles, they are actively modernizing an outdated fleet of 145 multi-role F-16A / B Block 20 fighters by installing AN / APG-83 SABR radar, with a high target tracking capacity. capture and synthetic aperture mode. This contract will bring nearly $ 4 billion more to Lockheed Martin. And tens, and perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars, the corporation will receive through contracts for the modernization and replenishment of the aircraft fleet in service with the air forces of such Asian and European states as Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc.
The next best-selling car today is the F-35A, which will fill the air forces of a huge number of US friend countries in just 5 years. Just what are the British, Turkish and Australian contracts. A small radar signature, equipping with two powerful optical-electronic sighting systems such as AN / AAQ-37 DAS and AAQ-40, as well as an airborne AFAR-radar station, are of great interest to money customers. So, huge bets on the F-35I machine are made in the Israeli Air Force, which are trying with all their might to maintain parity with the significantly increased air defense of countries such as Iran. But the flight performance of this fighter does not quite correspond to its exorbitant cost (under $ 90 million). Knowing that in close combat the Lightnings are outperformed by almost all fighters of the 4+ generation (including the F-15E, F-16C, Typhoon, MiG-29SMT and Su-30S), the defense departments of not every state will consider F -35A as the priority choice.
An objective assessment of the "Falcons" and "Lightnings" gives all reasons to class them as the so-called "aircraft of the first day of the war", which can overcome or destroy more or less powerful enemy air defense for an air operation on its territory. But there is another, more sophisticated and multifunctional version of the transitional generation fighter, capable of operating in an equally difficult air environment, which originates from the most popular family of carrier-based multi-role fighters F / A-18C "Hornet" and F / A-18E / F " Super Hornet ". We will return to its review at the end of the article, and now we will consider the main modifications.
"SHERSHNI" FIRST RECEIVED THE ADVANCED ELEMENTAL BASE AND THE NETCENTRIC CONCEPT HAS BEEN MASTERED
To replace the aging carrier-based multipurpose attack aircraft A-7A / B "Corsair-II" and fighters F-4S "Phantom-II" in 1975, a program of development of a promising carrier-based multi-role fighter-attack aircraft began, capable of adequately complementing the carrier-based fighter-interceptor F-14A " Tomcat ". At that time, neither the Ministry of Defense nor the US Navy had any doubts that the new machine should be, firstly, supersonic, and secondly, it should have maneuverability at the level of the best American and foreign counterparts, because "Tomcat" in no case was it intended for close air combat, and easily lost even to the MiG-23MLD fighter-bomber, not to mention the projected MiG-29A and Su-27. The eminent company McDonnell Douglas became the general contractor for the development and construction of the first prototype of the Hornet, which completed 2/3 of the work on the new project, the remaining third was completed by Northrop.
The latter played a key role in the development of the deck-based Hornet, using the design of the prototype of the YF-17 Cobra light twin-engine multi-role fighter, which was originally created not for the Navy, but for the US Air Force to replace the heavy F-15A. The replacement of the latter, for obvious reasons, their high performance characteristics, did not happen. But on November 18, 1978, the first flight prototype of the future F / A-18A "Hornet" took off, which gave rise to a whole family of deck-mounted aircraft that delight the flight crew of American AUGs with the simplicity of piloting, and the attendants with unpretentiousness in repair and preparation for flight. Even the first Hornets were simpler and less expensive machines than the F-14A: their maintenance took about 3.5 times less time than all the preparatory procedures for the heavy and large Tomcat. Of course, the decommissioning of the F-14D "Super Tomcat" in 2006 is a more than thoughtless decision, given its speed performance, modernization potential and greater combat survivability of the power plant, but it just so happened that the command of the Navy spoke in favor of ready-made, more technological and easy-to-use Super Hornets with fresher hardware and more fuel efficient engines. We will tell you about the promising link of American "palubniks" - F / A-18E / F a little later, but now let's see what the standard F / A-18A / B / C / D gave to the US Navy and the Marine Corps.
The F / A-18A Hornet began entering service with the US Navy in May 1980, marking the transition of the deck component of American tactical aviation to a completely new level of avionics. However, to some extent, this also applied to all American tactical aviation. Hornet received one of the most advanced on-board computers of those times - AN / AYK-14 (V), built on a modular basis around a 16-bit AMD 2900 series central processor with the ability to support 32-bit data transfer buses. This CPU is capable of operating at a practical ceiling of 23-23.5 at temperatures from -54 to +71 ° C. Depending on the type of operations performed, its frequency could vary from 0.3 to 2.3 million instructions per second (MIPS). The processor of such a model was already installed on the deeply improved modifications of the Tomkat - F-14D, as well as on the carrier-based early warning and control aircraft E-2C “Hawkeye”, which speaks of a worthy technological advancement even of such machines as the F-14A F- 15A / C. The processor was developed in 1976 by the Control Data Aerospace Division.
The vehicle received an AN / APG-65 airborne radar from Raytheon with a slotted antenna array (SHAR), capable of tracking 10 air targets and capturing 2. The radar coverage area is 120 degrees in azimuth and about 150 degrees in elevation. A target with EPR of the order of 2 m2 is detected at a distance of 60 km and is "locked" for precise auto-tracking (in the absence of electronic warfare) at 50 km. AN / APG-65 also has an "air-to-surface" and "air-to-sea" mode, thanks to which it became possible to detect surface ships at a distance of up to 150 km, as well as ground targets at a distance of up to 50-70 km. The versatility of the AN / APG-65 in conjunction with the on-board computer gives all the grounds for reckoning the Hornet as a 4+ generation. Also, a similar conclusion can be made after reviewing the F / A-18A's armament nomenclature, which, as for the early and mid-80s, is simply excellent. It included: heavy tactical anti-ship missiles AGM-65F "Maverick", anti-ship missiles "Harpoon", anti-radar missiles AGM-88 HARM and UAB with a semi-active laser seeker GBU-10. The latest versions of the Sparrow air-to-air missiles - AIM-7M (with a range of up to 100 km in PPS) and AIM-9M Sidewinder (up to 18 km) - could be used as weapons for gaining air superiority.
The digitization of avionics generated good demand for the F / A-18A: major contracts were signed with McDonnell Douglas from Australia, Canada and Spain, for which a total of 285 aircraft were purchased for the Air Force. The customers were very interested in the AN / ARN-118 TACAN inertial navigation system (INS), the AN / ALR-50 advanced radiation warning system (RWS), equipped with a storage device with loaded types of irradiating radars, and an electronic warfare station. It is worth noting that at that time our tactical aviation was seriously inferior to the American in terms of avionics. So, for example, if the radar of the MiG-31 interceptor fighter - "Zaslon" with PFAR was technologically more advanced than the AN / AWG-9, then the radiation warning station at the front-line aviation SPO-15LM "Beryoza" with a not so highly informative indicator block at times inferior to such state-owned PDFs as TEWS (F-15C) and AN / ALR-50. The onboard radars N019 (MiG-29A) and N001 (Su-27) did not have an air-to-ground mode. The channel for working with sea and ground targets appeared only on the latest modifications of the N001VE radar in the late 90s, and these radars were initially focused on the Vietnamese and Chinese arms markets for completing the Su-30MKV / MKK / MK2.
The next car in the Hornet lineup is the F / A-18C Hornet. The percentage of digitized avionics in this machine was almost 100%. In addition, additional structural elements were introduced, which made the "plus" in the 4th generation of the aircraft even more noticeable. In the design of the F / A-18C airframe, radio-absorbing materials were used for the first time in the edges of the air intakes, which made it possible to partially reduce the Hornet's radar signature. And to minimize radiation from the avionics located on the pilot's dashboard, the flashlight undergoes a special procedure of magnetron vacuum deposition of shielding indium-tin oxide. This significantly reduces the likelihood of Hornet's direction finding by passive means of electronic reconnaissance, when the former performs a target designation operation (in radio silence mode).
Now with regards to the improvement of the computerized avionics F / A-18C. First, the updated Hornet received a new AN / AYK-14 XN-8 + on-board computer, the performance of which is significantly higher than that of the original version. Secondly, a specialized MSI (Multi-Sensor Integration) system was introduced, which turns the fighter's control system into an advanced high-precision complex that accurately determines the coordinates of detected targets with its own radar and optoelectronic means, and then issues target designation for missile weapons. The peculiarity of MSI is that it has a data bus that collects information about targets from the AN / APG-73 airborne radar, television and passive radar seeker missiles of the Maverick and HARM families, from the radiation warning system and attached optoelectronic sighting systems AN / AAS-38 "Nitehawk" and ATARS. Information from all sensors and sighting devices using the XN-8 + onboard computer is summarized and analyzed based on the interference situation and the accuracy of locating systems, after which more accurate coordinates are displayed on the multifunctional display of the F / A-18C "Hornet" pilot. Conceptual similarity with MSI has the domestic special computing subsystem SVP-24 "Hephaestus", but its element base is 15 years more modern.
The Hornets have demonstrated the enormous capabilities and flexibility of MSI's air-to-ground and air-to-air applications during several military operations in Iraq and Yugoslavia. For complex and diverse missions, the two-seat modification F / A-18D, which was in service with the US ILC, was often used. The presence of the second pilot-operator of the systems significantly reduced the psychological load on the crew during long air patrols with the simultaneous application of missile and bomb strikes against ground targets. So, during Operation Desert Storm, several naval F / A-18Cs, which flew on a mission to destroy the ground infrastructure of the Iraqi Ground Forces, collided in the air with 2 Chengdu F-7s of the Iraqi Air Force, which were quickly intercepted due to the ease of changing onboard radar operating modes.
Later, starting in 1995, the F / A-18D USMC, deployed at the Italian Aviano airbase, and since 1997 at the Hungarian air base Tatsar, supported the NATO Allied Air Forces in the Yugoslav theater of operations until 1999. For more than 3 years of NATO aggression, the Hornets of the VMFA-332 / -533 squadrons made more than 700 sorties, the main objectives of which were to close the airspace for flights of tactical aviation of the Yugoslav Air Force, as well as to launch missile and bomb strikes on units of the Yugoslav Army and suppress Air defense. Here the double "Hornets" had a huge advantage - the ability to work on ground targets in difficult meteorological conditions at night. For example, during the Deliberate Force air operation, American F / A-18Ds used 454-kilogram GBU-16 guided bombs with a semi-active laser homing head to destroy Serbian strategic military facilities. At the same time, meteorological conditions did not favor the use of a laser designator from medium altitudes, since dense layered rain clouds were established over the Balkan Peninsula, and the Serbian air defense systems "Neva" and "Cub" easily reached NATO aviation at medium altitudes. Therefore, most of the sorties were carried out at night in the mode of following the terrain with a slight rise of up to 500 - 600 m (to the lower edge of the clouds) at the time of the bombing. Flights with terrain bending became possible thanks to the advanced inertial navigation system of versions AN / ASN-130/139, a GPS receiver and a higher-resolution terrain mapping mode, which became possible on the new AN / APG-73 radar.
An innovation of the F / A-18D was the installation of an ATARS optical-electronic reconnaissance complex, which had a module for transmitting tactical information over a radio channel to a ground command post (CP). This is one of the first active network-centric elements in the structure of the air component of the United States Marine Corps, which could provide comprehensive information about an enemy ground object for ground units of the ILC, or special operations forces of the Special Operations Forces. As for the AN / APG-73 airborne radar, it is an upgraded version of the AN / APG-65 with a 1, 2 times increased energy potential and increased signal receiver sensitivity. But due to the integration of AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles with an active radar seeker into the Hornet's armament, the target channel has increased from one to two air targets.
EVEN "HORNET" VERSION "C / D" MAY BOOST HIGH PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS, SOME OF WHICH MAY TAKE A FALCON PILOTS AND EVEN "RAPHALE"
Considering that the aerodynamic design and materials of the airframe for the F / A-18A / B and F / A-18C / D modifications are practically the same, let us dwell on the F / A-18C. This machine has the most powerful turbojet two-circuit engines among the Hornets, which allow full use of all the positive aerodynamic qualities of the airframe, which is represented by 46.6% of aluminum elements, 16.7% - steel, 12.9% - titanium, 9, 9 - composite materials and 10, 9% - other light and durable materials. Thanks to this, the mass of an empty fighter is 10,810 kg (only 350 kg more than the smaller "Rafale" - 10,460 kg). The normal takeoff weight in the "fighter-interceptor" variant is 15740 kg, due to which the wing loading with an area of 37.16 m2 is 424 kg / m2. Despite this, the F / A-18C behaves very well and stably when maneuvering both horizontally and vertically. The angular velocity of the steady turn at the Hornet at speeds of 600 - 900 km / h is lower than that of various modifications of the F-16C, but at low speeds (from 150 to 300 km / h) the situation changes dramatically. The F / A-18C reaches the maximum angle of attack much faster up to 50 - 55 degrees with accelerated deceleration, while the Falcon can only reach 25-27 (set by the control system software) degrees and loses normal controllability. Perhaps this is due to the presence of large aerodynamic slugs at the wing root, the area of which is 5.55 m2. Also, a good thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.037 kgf / kg, achieved by two F404-GE-402 turbojet engines with a total afterburner thrust of 16330 kgf, also contributes to a high angular turning rate.
According to the pilots of the US Air Force, Navy and ILC, in any scenario of close air combat, the winner will be the F / A-18C, which can sometimes perform dizzying maneuvers. More detailed flight characteristics of the vehicle can be viewed from a detailed story by US Navy test pilot John Togas, published in the June 2003 issue of Flight magazine. Here, D. Togas shares with reviewers the experience he gained during the F / A-18C to F-16C retraining program as part of the 310th Fighter Squadron at the Luke Air Force Aviation Base. The F-16N "Viper" combat training fighter with a slightly better thrust-to-weight ratio of 1.1 kgf / kg was used as a retraining machine for the Falcon. Immediately, we note that the F-16C received a very annoying nickname "lawn dart" (lawn plowman) among the flight personnel of the Air Force due to the high accident rate in tactical fighter squadrons.
According to John Togas, at low and ultra-low speeds of 120 - 160 knots, at angles of attack from 25 to 50 degrees, the Hornet feels great and does not lose control up to the limit on lift. In this case, the air flow breaks down extremely rarely, and the loss of stability rarely occurs. A very interesting feature of the "Hornet" is the ability to perform the "Pirouette" maneuver, which occurs at a speed close to stall (180 km / h): at an angle of attack of 35 degrees, the machine begins to roll along the roll, which resembles a "hammer flight" from 1/4 "Barrels". Similar maneuvers are performed by Rafal, Typhoon, our Su-30SM, Su-35S and T-50, but are absolutely difficult to perform for the F-16C or F-15C / E. In "dogfight" (BVB), the presence of such a maneuverable quality can subsequently decide the outcome of the confrontation. So, when using AIM-9X Block II “Sidewinder” air-to-air missiles, the Hornet is able to outplay many enemy fighters.
John Togas also noted the excellent stability of the control system in critical flight modes: despite the fact that the maneuverability of the machine at low speeds is much higher than that of the F-16C, this does not require the implementation of an overload of 9 units, it is programmatically limited to 7, 5 units, although structurally it can reach up to 10 G. Due to the larger cross-sectional area of the midsection, the F / A-18C has slightly worse accelerating qualities, as well as the rate of climb; its roll speed can be 220 - 230 deg / s, which is also less than 300 deg / s (F-16C), but considering all the advantages of this machine, the above disadvantages look like a drop in the bucket. A separate item is software that prevents the fighter from stalling and entering a tailspin. Better than the Hornet, according to his own experience, Togas considers the Super Hornet.
The Hornet's excellent maneuverability is ensured not only by the airframe and slugs with high bearing properties, but also by the large area of the elevators (all-turning horizontal tail), which are noticeably larger than those installed on many other tactical fighters. And excellent controllability at high angles of attack is possible not only due to the advanced digital control system, but also due to the vertical tail, shifted forward relative to the elevators. This design made it possible to get rid of the rudders falling into the aerodynamic shadow of the wing at high angles of attack. Vertical stabilizers and rudders have a 20-degree outer camber, which further reduces the effective scatter surface (radar signature) of the F / A-18C.
The configuration of the F / A-18C / D's weapons has become noticeably richer: the range includes medium and long-range missiles of the AIM-120C-5/7 type, AIM-132 ASRAAM melee missiles, long-range tactical missiles AGM-84H SLAM-ER, and others. rocket armament, which can be used to conduct an air operation of any complexity. For this, up to 7031 kg of weapons can be placed on 9 external suspension points. Next in the lineup are the F / A-18E / F "Super Hornet" and "Advanced Super Hornet".
Design work on the F / A-18E / F started at the end of 1992 at the request of the US Department of Defense, made in 1987 to radically improve the combat qualities of the Navy's carrier-based aircraft fleet. The initiation of the program was started due to the lack of separation of the F / A-18C "Hornet" from the heavier deck F-4S on the basis of the "load / range" criterion. The best gunsmiths from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as well as specialists from the McDonnell Douglas developer company and the Navy, took up the work. The most significant changes were: an increase in the wing area to 46, 45 m2, an increase in sag at the root of the wing and giving them a more regular shape of rounding (for the F / A-18C, slugs were represented by a wave-like transition), a change from oval air intakes to rectangular ones, which became the same of the main "stealth" -elements of the F / A-18E / F airframe, equipping with a more powerful power plant and advanced avionics. The aerodynamic quality of the improved airframe has increased from 10, 3 to 12, 3 units. and surpassed almost all available American tactical fighters of the 5th generation (F-22A - 12 units, F-35A - 8, 8 units and F-35C - 10, 3 units), stopping at the T-50 PAK- F.
The total thrust of the two new turbojet bypass engines "General Electric F414-GE-400" at afterburner was 18,780 kgf, due to which the afterburner thrust per midship was increased (from 2437 kg / m2 for the F / A-18C to 2889 kg / m2 for the F / A-18E / F), the acceleration performance of the fighter also increased. Wing loading at normal takeoff weight increased by 10% (up to 476 kg / m2) due to the heavier structure, but thanks to more powerful engines, the thrust-to-weight ratio and maneuverability of the Super Hornet not only did not suffer, but also increased.
There is also a 36% increase in the area of the horizontal tail (elevators) of the Super Hornet, a 54% increase in rudders with large deflection angles up to 40 degrees, which was expressed in a jump in the maneuverability of the machine.
This is clearly seen in the video compilation of the F / A-18E / F "Super Hornet" maneuvers with sharp turns in the pitch plane and reaching the maximum angles of attack at speeds of 300 - 350 km / h. Comparing these episodes with the F / A-18C compilation, we can see that any element of difficult piloting on the Super Hornet looks much sharper, plus the car responds faster and better to the movements of the control stick. The Hornet, on the other hand, has more "viscous" maneuvering, and the achievable limiting angles of attack are less significant.
