Whereas Gripen has been exported to several countries and Typhoon has been sold to Austria and Saudi Arabia, the Super Hornet has actually only received one order for, 24 a/c to Australia. And that’s just a stop-gap while the Australians await the F-35.
It was kicked out of the Swiss competition, was never allowed to enter the Norwegian “competition”, and is set to lose in Denmark, Canada and Holland as well. Finland, Kuwait and Spain are currently operating Hornets but seem not interested in the SH. Perhaps Malaysia wants some?
Now even the USN wants to reduce orders:
The chief of naval operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, told a Senate panel Tuesday the service was right to reduce its budget request for the F/A-18 Super Hornet in favor of the “extremely important” Joint Strike Fighter
Although it is probably more “mature” than the eurocanards in some respects it does lack a fully operative IRST; once it gets one, it will be mounted in a drop tank!
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/f-18-super-hornets-to-get-irst-03429/
The drawback to this approach is that a centerline tank with IRST needs to stay on the airplane in combat, compromising its aerodynamic performance and radar signature.
So much for the low RCS of the SH… and the aerodynamic performance was already quite unimpressive.
It may have a chance in India and Brazil and perhaps a few other countries, but other than that the future looks bleak for this fine but slightly “out-dated” bird.
I suspect it will not become a big export success; smashed between the Eurocanards from one side and the F-35 from the other… And then there is also the F-15 which seems to be more succesful in the export market than the SH in spite of it’s high age.
L
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June 9, 2009 at 1:21 pm