美 Boeing 의 Super Hornet 및 Growler Upgrade 소식...

 

지난 5일까지 美 Maryland 州 National Harbor 에서 개최되었던 [Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2010] 에 전시된 Boeing 社의

F/A-18 Super Hornet mock-up 사진과 관련 기사를 소개합니다. 정확히는 AW&ST Ares Blog 에 Mr. Bill Sweetman 이 소개

한 내용입니다.

 

Sweetman 에 따르자면, Boeing 은 Super Hornet 의 해외수출을 늘리기 위해 즉 해외 고객들의 요구 조건을 충족시킬 목적으로

Cockpit Layout 의 변경, GE F414 엔진의 성능개량, 그리고 유럽 MBDA 社의 Meteor 공대공 미사일도 장착할 수 있도록 하겠다

는 내용입니다. 또한 Growler 의 경우도, ITT 社와 함께 Next Generation Jammer 로의 개량을 추진할 것이라는 내용입니다.

 

AW&ST 의 공식 기사가 아닌 해당 Blog 에 올라온 글이라는 점, 참조하시기 바랍니다.

 

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Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Super-Er Hornets?

Posted by Bill Sweetman at 5/6/2010 6:30 AM CDT

 

Boeing and its teammates are getting bolder in talking about improvements to the Super Hornet and Growler - a development which coincides with debate over the cost and schedule of the Joint Strike Fighter.

 

At this week's Navy League show in Washington DC, Boeing unveiled an early concept mock-up of a big-screen cockpit for the Super Hornet, aimed at export customers. It looks rather like the JSF cockpit, except that Boeing plans to use one-piece screens rather than two fused panels. Also, rather than eliminating the head-up display completely, Boeing would fit the front cockpit with a new, smaller HUD, with an optical system that would not interfere with the big screen.

 

General Electric, announcing the delivery of the 1000th F414 engine for the Super Hornet/Growler program, reaffirmed this week that it's working on two improved versions of the engine: the enhanced durability engine (EDE), with a new core and lower fuel consumption, and the enhanced performance engine (EPE), which adds a new fan for a 20 per cent thrust boost and "is targeted for potential international customers."

 

Boeing is also teamed with ITT Defense on the Navy's Next Generation Jammer program. In an interview at Navy League, representatives of the Boeing/ITT team made it clear that thy are focused on delivering improvements to the Growler - and that approaches which push NGJ towards early integration with the F-35 are, in their view, a much higher risk.

 

Another issue concerns the Hornet's armament. Although Boeing showed a very generic mockup of the future Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Missile (JDRADM) at Navy League, it may not represent the next step beyond the new Raytheon AIM-120D AMRAAM for the fighter. Boeing has made some quiet approaches to MBDA concerning integration of the ramjet-powered Meteor AAM on the F/A-18E/F - again, with international customers in mind.  Meteor is expected to offer better kinematic performance than even the AIM-120D (which is believed to use the same motor as the current C7) and the D is a long way from being exportable.

 

  ⓒ Bill Sweetman