For Super Hornet Lovers

[wardog]

Here is a little teaser for all the Super Hornet lovers out there. I received this sticker as a gift from my co-worker who worked on the actual jet that will make the news real soon....maybe even today.

Edited August 5, 2013 by wardog

[Darren Roberts]

So what you're saying is that this will be the Super Super Hornet, or would it be the Super Duper Hornet? :D/> I wonder if this is the airframe that they had a mock up of a couple of years ago with the CFT's and stealthy pod under the belly?

Edited August 5, 2013 by Darren Roberts

[wardog]

So what your saying is this will be the Super Super Hornet, or would it be the Super Duper Hornet? :D/> I wonder if this is the airframe that they had a mock up of a couple of years ago with the CFT's and stealthy pod under the belly?

Good call!

[SpitfireGuy]

It would be interesting to see what the performance difference would be. If I recall the pod was intended to be a weapons pod so it would strike me that the CFT's are only picking up in place of the fuel lost by not carrying the centerline fuel tank.

Will this upgrade improve range and weapons carriage at all?

Zach

Edited August 5, 2013 by SpitfireGuy

[galileo1]

So I guess it will look like the one on this page? If so, that's super cool!

http://www.flying-wings.com/2011/aero-india-2011.html?start=1

Rob

[wardog]

It would be interesting to see what the performance difference would be. If I recall the pod was intended to be a weapons pod so it would strike me that the CFT's are only picking up in place of the fuel lost by not carrying the centerline fuel tank.

Will this upgrade improve range and weapons carriage at all?

Zach

Zach,

I believe your assumption about the pod is correct although it's ultimately meant to be used on the E/F versions. The CFT's have a specific usage in mind but since I'm not sure what's on the internet already regarding this subject I'd hate to violate proprietary information by sharing too much. I'm sure in the next few days Boeing will put something out including the unique vertical tail art.

[zerosystem]

So what you're saying is that this will be the Super Super Hornet, or would it be the Super Duper Hornet? :D/>/> I wonder if this is the airframe that they had a mock up of a couple of years ago with the CFT's and stealthy pod under the belly?

super(er) hornet

[phantom]

CF-35 or CF-18Fs????? I guess which ever gives better commercial offsets to Canada might be flying here someday.

[Emvar]

CF-35 or CF-18Fs????? I guess which ever gives better commercial offsets to Canada might be flying here someday.

CF-188E/Fs would look cool, but my head says CF-35A all the way. CF-35 makes sense through economic reasoning.....But I like the lines of that Bug.

Emil

[parche]

Looks like a Super Hornet on steroids...in a Barry Bonds kinda way. I'm interested to hear more however and see further evolution.

Cheers,

Dave

[Dmanton300]

Mega Hornet. Now with straight pylons?

[AnthonyWan]

It needs an avoinics spine...like a Sufa. :D

[Koen L]

And for the Super Hornet haters. ^_^/>

V.P.

Nice blast from the past to see the signature I made many years ago on here again. Sadly I had to remove it due to complaints from offended forummembers. ;)

Koen

[dedalus]

Mega Hornet. Now with straight pylons?

That's exactly what I was hoping.

Mike Todd

[Check Six]

Here is a little teaser for all the Super Hornet lovers out there. I received this sticker as a gift from my co-worker who worked on the actual jet that will make the news real soon....maybe even today.

Nice!

I'm building a 1/48th scale Revell F-18E right now and plan on building the A/E-18G Growler in the future.

[loki]

There is a piece on you tube where the pilot talks all about it.

It has been known about for ages.

Won't be long before Hasegawa bring our the new version.

Edited August 6, 2013 by loki

[Joe Hegedus]

That's exactly what I was hoping.

Mike Todd

Ain't gonna happen. Besides any necessary design and production line tooling changes, the entire flight test program would need to be redone, to the tune of several tens of millions of $.

[dedalus]

There is a piece on you tube where the pilot talks all about it.

It has been known about for ages.

Won't be long before Hasegawa bring our the new version.

Correction: It won't be long before Hasegawa adds another sprue which addresses many of the differences but ignores areas where they would actually have to mold a new, for example, fuselage piece. You know, the way they do it all the time. (Yeah, I realize in this case, that may not be necessary, not knowing enough about it and it not being in production just yet.

Ain't gonna happen. Besides any necessary design and production line tooling changes, the entire flight test program would need to be redone, to the tune of several tens of millions of $.

Come on, now, I was being facetious, as I figured the other guy was, too. (I've yet to add pylons to any of my builds, though, because I'm not a fan. I was one of those on a forum asking about this once, thinking it was a mistake by Hasegawa.)

[Andrew Maverick Taylor]

I can't wait to see this bird take flight. I would love to hear the thoughts of Northrop Grumman's CEO given that the Tomcat 21 project was in the pipeline when the Super Hornet was announced and then it was cancelled in favour of the hornet.

Could you imagine the Tomcat being fitted with CFTs, Stealth Weapons pod and internally fitted Laser designator and IR sensors? A lot of the new Super Hornet options now listed on Boeing's website could easily have been retrofitted into the design of a new Tomcat and with it being re-engineered with lighter composite materials and increased power engiens, it would have been a no brainer.

The Growler would look even cooler with CFTs fitted.

[GreyGhost]

>>> CFT First Flight <<<

-Gregg

[wardog]

I can't wait to see this bird take flight. I would love to hear the thoughts of Northrop Grumman's CEO given that the Tomcat 21 project was in the pipeline when the Super Hornet was announced and then it was cancelled in favour of the hornet.

Could you imagine the Tomcat being fitted with CFTs, Stealth Weapons pod and internally fitted Laser designator and IR sensors? A lot of the new Super Hornet options now listed on Boeing's website could easily have been retrofitted into the design of a new Tomcat and with it being re-engineered with lighter composite materials and increased power engiens, it would have been a no brainer.

The Growler would look even cooler with CFTs fitted.

From talking to my co-worker I believe media week is next week so if that's true maybe some of your questions will be answered.

As far as the Tomcat is concerned....yes, we all know that the Tomcat was a superior Fleet Air Defense aircraft but by the same token.....its maintenance man hours per flight hour were ridiculously high and the airframes were old. Personally I think the Navy made the right choice with the Super Hornet as it is a more versatile platform.....Fighter/Attack/ECM. Not only that, it's one less aircraft "type" the Navy has to support and with the current military budget cuts "sequestration" it only goes to support their choice.

But yes....a Tomcat with all those upgrades would have been awesome!

[SpitfireGuy]

I suppose I am missing the point but it seems odd to include a "stealth" weapons pod on a conventionally unstealthly airframe like the Super Bug. Even if the goal was to try and transition from external carriage of stores to internal I see a disconnect as the aircraft will carry internal weapons in an external pod.....

I amn not an aerospace engineer but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. :)

Zach

[wardog]

>>> CFT First Flight <<<

-Gregg

Awesome.......I hadn't checked AW but thanks for sharing. In the pic you can clearly see the tail art which depicts the wings of the Hornet "insect" logo on both inboard and outboard side of each vertical. Also got to see a video today of the first flight and the CFT's look really good and personally I think the jet looks better with than without them.

[ALF18]

I suppose I am missing the point but it seems odd to include a "stealth" weapons pod on a conventionally unstealthly airframe like the Super Bug. Even if the goal was to try and transition from external carriage of stores to internal I see a disconnect as the aircraft will carry internal weapons in an external pod.....

I amn not an aerospace engineer but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. :)/>

Zach

The Super Hornet is apparently stealthier than a legacy "baby" Hornet, but obviously less stealthy than an F-35.

Any measures that can be taken to reduce radar signature are good. You don't have to be invisible; you just have to be hard to see in some cases. The more you can reduce your RCS (Radar Cross-Section), the better, but some aircraft are limited by how low they can go in RCS.

It's a bit like the cliché of the large person ordering 2 pizzas for lunch... and a Diet Coke. Some laugh. I differ though - at least that person is reducing some of his/her caloric intake. Every little bit can help in air warfare. That's probably why they made the pod.

ALF

[Bigasshammm]

Realistically though what is the point of this? I can see the poit if the CFTs extending the usage in flight distance combined with external tanks. But the enclosed weapon pod I just don't understand. Do they think they're going to be needing a precision strike fighter that can get in hit one target and get back out? Isn't that the role of the F-35c? Obviously it's weapon storage with the enclosed pod is minimal so it's not going to be able to strike many targets nor apparently defend itself very well. If you hang pylons on the wings then the stealth aspect is neutralized.

Looks cool

But I just don't get it