I am just going by aerospaceweb.org figures. I don’t know how these figures were calculated.

The fuel figures for the F-15E are.

Fuel Capacity internal: 13,125 lb (5,952 kg)
external: 21,645 lb (9,820 kg)

External fuel eats into the payload of course.

With CFTs, internal fuel is about 10’400 kg and payload about 11’300 kg i.e. more than enough 😉 Max. external fuel in 3 tanks is about 5450 kg.

The fuel stats for the F-18F are:
(F-18F) 13,550 lb (6,145 kg)
external: 9,780 lb (4,435 kg)

Surprisingly it carries more internal fuel then the F-15E. The F-18F would also have more fuel efficient engines and of course it weighs less (Max Takeoff 66,000 lb vs 81,000 lb for the F-15E).

Super Hornet is only slightly lighter than the F-15E. But what cuts the range really is the huge (transonic) drag of the basic Super Hornet airframe, underwing stores drag compared to the Strike Eagles CFT aligned stores and the monster airbrake pylons.

A few RCS features were added … that is one of the reasons for the square intakes. There have also been baffles added over the turbofans to scatter microwave energy, edges and joins have been reduced, plus of course it presents less head on surface area then the F-15E. Even with weapons hanging off it the F-18F has a lower RCS then the F-15E.

RCS is no contest because the F-15 is absolutely lost here. But with stores, I doubt if the SH enjoys a real tactical advantage.
The intake baffles are also responsible for the loss of a few thousand lb of thrust afaik.

If Norway choose JSF to be our future fighter, this would be my pick :

Type: F-35A
Engines: GE F-136
Wing: Larger Navalbased
Landing Gear: Navalbased
GUN: Internal Gun
Refueling System: International Drogue Type
Weapons: IRIS-T, Meteor, Stormshadow, JDAM, Kongsberg NSM,
PavewayII/IV, AGM-65D, AGM Armiger, some new type clusterbombs?, UGB`s,
Litening III pod:)

No need for Litening pod, targeting suite is included.

I take the F-35A as basis model.
Engine: GE or PW, I dont care, whichever motor has more thrust.
Wing: new wing, size beetwen small and big wing without folding tips.
Landing gear: naval.
Gun: internal GIAT 30mm gun.
Refueling system: both. 😎
Weapons: Meteor and probably ASRAAM plus all the standard A/G stuff.

I repeat: A normal line*1 F-22 will not break the records of the P-42*2.

*1: means normal engine, typical OEW
*2: stripped of anything except the engine and the wing

But you dont know how fast the Raptor is when flying an optimised climb profile. And the thrust is still unknown, could be anywhere between 35’000 and 40’000 lb.

Funny Guy! No, seriously the RAAF operate often from foward bases and liked the heavier and stronger landing gear on its current fleet of F/A-18 Hornets. So, they must believe its a worth while investment and want the same feature on there forthcoming F-35 Lightnings………………:rolleyes:

Well not really funny, as you can see. 😉
Plus the F-35B will operate from those forward bases aswell and its going to get the standard gear… afaik.

The F-35 can be equipped with either type of refueling system. So, its really up to Australia……………as a matter of fact I have been told that the F-35A’s (D’s?) in RAAF Service will have the stronger landing gear of the F-35C. Really, F-35 Customers will be able to do alot of mixing and matching to fulfill there respect of requirements……………..another nice aspect of the design and its three versions!:D

Of course, such modifications are not for free and the US wont pay for it.
I also doubt the usefullness of the heavy gear or the larger wing for land based models unless Australia wants to fly from (US?) carriers. sure, you can have almost everything, as long as you pay for it. 😉

A stripped-down Su-27 Flanker – called the P-42 – still holds most of the time-to-climb records for a jet fighter

How much weight did they strip off the P-42? The Basic Flanker weighs more than 16 tons empty yet the P-42 set records in the class up to 16 tons take off weight (i.e. with fuel). Must be quite a lot.
The Streak Eagle for comparison lost 815 kg.

I always wondered why I couldnt find any pics with outboard pylons, except the one with cameras fitted.
If there are really structural issues, this would limit the number of AAMs to 6 plus 3 drop tanks.

Great link, Scooter!

Like the F-22 the F-35 will be able to carry internal one to two weapons more.
How much GBU-39/B’s “SDB” can the F-35 carry internal anyway?

2 x 4 carried on the standard rack. More are probably possible with a special JSF rack much the same as with AAMs.