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Super Hornet success depends on upgrades Following a rigorous six-month test programme, in which the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has been found 'operationally effective and suitable' by the US Navy (USN), the long-term success of the strike fighter in defeating enemies and political opponents alike appears to lie in key upgrades. The USN announced last week that the seven Super Hornets that participated in the test three single-seat F/A-18Es and four two-seat F/A-18Fs received the "best possible grade" in the operational test and evaluation (OPEVAL) completed in November. It recommended the aircraft be introduced to the fleet in 2002, beginning with the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The navy's recommendation will be reviewed by the Department of Defense's (DoD's) independent Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DoT&E), Philip Coyle, followed by a final decision as early as April by Defense Secretary William Cohen on whether to enter full-rate production. Despite the aircraft's success in overcoming several development challenges and clear indications it will provide considerable improvements over the current F/A-18C/D models, service and DoD officials stressed the critical importance of planned upgrades. "We have a roadmap for that," said Rear Adm John Nathman, the USN's director of air warfare, describing the Super Hornet's growth potential in weight, volume, cooling and electronics power as one of its primary selling points. The focus on these improvements signals that service leaders believe they have yet to fully justify the estimated $43 billion in total programme costs to build 548 Super Hornets. Planned improvements include:
Coyle agrees that the upgrades will be critical for Super Hornet performance. As for the ATFLIR, "the existing AN/AAS-38B FLIR pod has known deficiencies in magnification and resolution resulting in insufficient performance for target location and precise [target] selection outside threat envelopes, particularly from higher altitudes", he said in his annual report for Fiscal Year 1999 (FY99), released last week. ATFLIR is scheduled to be ready in time for the Super Hornet's 2002 deployment and Coyle is concerned "development effort time is being compressed". The AESA radar programme, recently awarded to Raytheon, "should provide significant lethality and survivability enhancements", correcting AN/APG-73 radar "hardware and software deficiencies and lack of growth capability", Coyle reported. AESA, described by Super Hornet programme manager Capt James Godwin as offering "near-simultaneous air and ground targeting", is scheduled to enter engineering and manufacturing development in FY01, with full-rate production in FY06 too late for the first fielded Super Hornets. The IDECM suite, set to increase survivability in the face of infra-red and radio-frequency threats, will also not be ready for the first fielded aircraft. Navy officials said the first three Super Hornet deployments will have a mix of current and legacy countermeasures, but beginning with the fourth all F/A-18E/Fs will receive IDECM. According to Coyle: "Going into OPEVAL, the air combat phase was the area of greatest concern." Due to its slow top speed, the F/A-18E/F "can be run down from behind ... Systems such as the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System and the AIM-9X, an improved Sidewinder 'dogfight' missile, should regain our advantage in this area," he said. The cueing system is designed to allow pilots to monitor altitude, airspeed, aircraft heading and target information on a visor attached to their helmet. It was scheduled to enter operational test on the F/A-18 this year, well ahead of the AIM-9X, which has suffered programme delays. Although the OPEVAL data is classified, the navy said in 866 test missions, compared with the F/A-18C/D models, the aircraft demonstrated, among other things:
To be graded operationally effective and suitable the aircraft's performance was compared with 21 specific mission profiles and against 10 different environments in which it could operate.
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Intelligence Review Fighting Ships All the World's Aircraft International Defense Review
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