November 23, 2000 at 7:39 am
The F/A-18A+ is the designation given to upgraded Australian F/A-18A Hornets. Improvements include:
1) APG-73 Radar
2) Intergration of the AIM-120
3) Intergration of the AIM-132 ASRAAM coupled to a HMS system.
4) New RWR and ECM (not sure exactly of the components).
As the aussie hornets will not likely be replaced before 2010, and with Indonesia likely to acquire the Su30 once it’s economy gets back on track (pls, simply an example of a scenario, i’m not talking about the likelihood of a conflict between Aus. and Indo), how would this improved hornet fare against the R-77 and R-73 equipped Su30s. It must be remembered that Indonesian pilots are almost as good as Australian ones, as they used to train together quite often.
MinMiester