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Navy Questions Future Viability of Super Hornets; Recommends Against New Buy
August 3, 2021 5:05 PM
F/A-18F Super Hornets, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, fly over the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) in the Atlantic Ocean, May 9, 2019. US Navy Photo
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. If Congress mandates the Navy keep buying the current F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, the airframes will be in the fleet into the 2050s. But by then, the fourth-generation fighters likely couldn’t stand up to future threats, a service official said Tuesday.
Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, who leads the chief of naval operation’s air warfare directorate (OPNAV N98), today provided the rationale for why the Navy wants to stop buying the Boeing-built aircraft.
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(Photo : Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jarod Hodge/wikipedia)
F/A-18 E Super Hornet is the premier naval fighter of the US Navy, and it will be getting Block III upgrades. The jet is a 4th generation fighter with upgrades improving its performance over the Block II type.
F/A-18 E Super Hornet naval specialist
Block III, dubbed the Advanced Super Hornet, was test flown successfully in August 2013. To allow it to be competitive with newer planes, several equipment changes were devised by engineers are Boeing to bring them up to specifications to lower Block IIs, reported Airforce Technology.
Significant changes in the Block III aircraft will be an enclosed weapons pod, conformal fuel tanks, and signature enhancements. The plane s maximum speed is Mach 1.8 with a total of 44,000 pounds of thrust from its dual turbofan engines, and it has increase fuel for a greater range.
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