DAVID A. FULGHUM, Stealthier Hornet Eyed for Export, Aviation Week & Space Technology, April 24, 2000
[i]Managers of Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet program are eyeing a range of improvements to make the aircraft more competitive in the export market including radar signature reduction, precision strike capability, conformal fuel tanks and a price some $ 17-20 million per aircraft less than the U.S. Navy is paying today.
Asked if export controls would hamper the effort, they said that Lockheed Martin’s sale of the Block 60 F-16 to the United Arab Emirates indicates that there are routes through the restrictions.
Lockheed Martin’s fighter is being designed with a reduced radar signature from the front quarter, an electronically scanned array radar with a 70-80-mi. range against cruise missile-size targets and the first radar counter-countermeasure system designed to foil Russian-made SA-10 and SA-12 anti-aircraft missile systems (AW&ST Mar. 13, p. 24).
”We have export control laws that govern what we can sell and to whom, but I think you can rationalize your way through to certain countries being eligible for that kind of export,” said Pat Finneran, Boeing’s vice president for the F/A-18E/F program. ”Look at the Joint Strike Fighter program.”
BOEING OFFICIALS SAY they intend to reduce the export cost of the F/A-18E (shown in photo) to around $ 42 million each, which should — with the upgrades envisioned — make the aircraft competitive 🙂 with the Typhoon, Gripen and Rafale as well as MiG and Sukhoi variants for new fighter sales by 2005. The plan was validated by four separate internal studies (AW&ST Apr. 3, p. 37).
The company’s analyses ”came out looking like the Lot 27 airplane” built for the U.S., Finneran said. ”I can’t tell you we have a $ 40-million airplane on the books. We don’t. But we’ve got to figure out a way to get there.” Boeing is studying ways of cutting the F/A-18E/F’s price by $ 7 million to $ 10 million (that is in addition to an earlier $ 10-million reduction needed to push the flyaway price tag to $ 51.2 million), a goal it feels is necessary to get serious consideration by foreign buyers,
Finneran said (AW&ST Apr. 10, p. 58). The strike fighter’s forward-quarter, radar signature — already cut by an order of magnitude from the F/A-18C/D — is to be further reduced and combined with improved electronic countermeasures for jamming enemy missiles.
THE ACTIVE ELECTRONICALLY scanned array (AESA) radar, believed to have a classified range of at least 80-90 naut. mi., is slated to be operational by 2006. The more powerful radar would allow the use of an extended range air-to-air missile to destroy enemy aircraft before they knew the F/A-18E/F was even in the area. However, for the present, Finneran says Boeing is not planning to adapt the aircraft to carry a new long-range missile to exploit the radar’s vastly improved range. However, he did not rule out the existence of a secret Navy plan to do so.
In addition to foreign sales and improved versions of the multi-purpose fighter for the U.S. Navy, Boeing is still working on derivatives of the design, first in line being the F/A-18G Growler, a potential replacement for the aging EA-6B Prowler radar and communications jamming aircraft.
The Growler would have all of the capability of the EA-6B plus the AESA radar. ”There is a lot of ECM capability [jamming] that is inherent in an active electronic array so we can supplement and complement the capability,” Finneran said. However, the Growler will have less loiter time than the Prowler, he said.
The Pentagon analysis will likely produce several choices with the Pentagon requesting a demonstration fly-off of the finalists to see who best meets the requirements. ”In the end, I think its going to be a complementary solution” using a combination of large, tactical and unmanned aircraft, he said. ”The logic of that element of warfare says that you need a little bit of everything.”
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February 20, 2002 at 3:46 am