The decades-old F/A-18 has gone through a large number of upgrades, adjustments, enhancements and service-life extension programs
Could arming the F/A-18 Super Hornet with hypersonic missiles keep the aircraft relevant for the next decade or two as larger numbers of F-35s arrive and the service prepares for stealthy, highly networked, 5th-Gen empowered, longer-range war?
Possibly.
The decades-old F/A-18 has gone through a large number of upgrades, adjustments, enhancements and service-life extension programs to preserve its combat functionality in increasingly high-threat environments. The U.S. Navy has spent years reinforcing the airframes of F/A-18s, upgrading weapons, adding new avionics, sensors and electronics and even integrating carrier-landing enhancing software to the jets called “magic carpet.”
The U.S. Navy has also engineered conformal fuel tanks for the F/A-18 to extend mission dwell time and potentially lower its radar signature. The goal with all of this is to ensure that the 4th-gen fighter remains viable against a new generation of enemy sensors, weapons and air defenses. What would a hypersonic cruise missile do for an F/A-18?
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WNU Editor: It looks like the F/A-18 Super Hornet is going to be flying around for awhile.
from War News Updates https://ift.tt/3njYmZb
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