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F-18 Advance Super Hornet - airsoc.com
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The service life extension program will give
the jets thousands more flight hours, but could include other upgrades.
BY JOSEPH TREVITHICK
OCTOBER 19, 2017
Boeing has disclosed that the expected service life extension program for the U.S.
Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets could include stealth features and improved
avionics and mission systems in addition to a more general airframe overhaul.
This more comprehensive update would not only keep the aircraft safely flying
at least until 2040, but could potentially make them a capable, but low-cost
alternative in many scenarios compared to the service’s up-coming F-35C Joint Strike Fighters or any future sixth
generation design.
On Oct. 17, 2017, Mark Sears, director of Boeing’s Super
Hornet service life modification (SLM) division, told Aviation Week that the company hoped to begin
work on the first of the Navy’s aircraft in April 2018. The basic overhaul
would add approximately 3,000 flight hours of service life to the jet’s
existing 6,000 hour life span, in line with stated plans to keep the
planes in service through 2040. In addition, the program may
include additional improvements, including unspecified low observable (LO) or
stealthy enhancements, to bring the service’s existing aircraft closer to the
configuration of the all-new Block III F/A-18E/Fs it is also planning to buy.
“There are various degrees of LO enhancement,” Sears
explained to Aviation Week without giving detailed specifics. “We’ve played
within that spectrum, but there’s certainly an LO piece of Block III.”
In general, Sears said these possible additions could
include adding a low observable material “coating” to the basic airframe or
replacing existing portions of the aircraft with radar absorbent material
components. A fully enclosed weapons pod or similar conformal compartments
might be an easier addition. It would be difficult for the Navy to request
drastic changes to the basic shape of the plane without incurring significant
additional costs……Read rest of article: HERE
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