美 Boeing 社의 International Super Hornet 소식...

 

항공군사전문 주간지 AW&ST 최신호에 소개된 美 Boeing 社의 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet 개량형 Silent Hornet

(SH, 혹은 Internationl Super Hornet) 관련 소식을 소개 합니다.

 

작년 8월 영국에서 개최된 Farnborough Air Show 기간 중, Boeing 社의 발표자료를 통해 이미 공개된 바 있는

International Super Hornet 에 대해서 좀더 구체적으로 보도한 후속 기사로 판단되는 내용 입니다.

 

다음달 인도에서 개최되는 Aero India Air Show 에서 Mock-up 이 공개될 예정이며, 현재 개발 일정이 계속해서

연기되고 있는 F-35 JSF 대체 기종으로 그 가능성을 엿보고 있다는 내용 입니다.

 

또한 이미 공개된 바와 같이, F414 EPE 엔진과 CFT 채용을 통한 출력 증강 및 늘어난 작전 반경, 그리고 IRST

및 내부무장창 적용을 통한 RCS 감소 등을 통해 제공 제압 능력은 물론 대지상 공격력 향상을 극대화 시켰다는

설명 입니다.

 

Boeing 社는 올해 중으로 CFT 적용을 포함한 변경된 기체 외형에 대한 wind-tunnel 시험을 시작으로 자체 개발

일정을 진행함과 동시에 일본을 포함한 해외 수출 가능 국가들을 상대로 판매 노력을 펼칠 것이라 합니다.

 

아래 소개하는 사진들은 호주 공군이 도입중인 F/A-18F Super Hornet 기 3차분 4대가 Queensland 州 Ipswich

인근 Amberley 공군기지에 도착하는 모습들이며 아래 태그에서 RAAF 로 들어가면 F/A-18F IOC 부여 소식과

함께 상세한 내용을 파악하실 수 있습니다. 또한 아래 태그에서 Silent Hornet 으로 들어가면 지난 8월 Boeing 社

가 발표한 관련 자료 역시 내려받을 수 있습니다.

 

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Sharper Sting

Boeing steps up challenge to F-35 with growth road map for international Super Hornet

Aviation Week & Space Technology, 01/17/2011

Author : Graham Warwick

 

Boeing’s strategy to offer international customers a growth path for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter is taking concrete form with completion of a full-scale mock-up of a more capable and survivable variant to compete with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

 

Conformal fuel tanks, stealthy weapons pod, an infrared search-and-track sensor, and missile and laser warning system are among the upgrade options on offer. Uprated engines and large-area cockpit displays are also part of the growth road map, but not on the mock-up.

 

Unveiling of the mock-up comes as further delays to F-35 development require procurement of more F/A-18E/Fs for the U.S. Navy. This will extend Super Hornet production into 2015, and Boeing believes international orders could keep the line open beyond 2020.

 

Boeing says it is not targeting JSF partner nations, to avoid antagonizing its U.S. Air Force and Navy customers, but the F-35 is clearly in its sights. Among the JSF partners, the Super Hornet is operated by Australia and being evaluated by Denmark, while Canada’s selection of the F-35 without competition sparked a political furor. Boeing will offer the growth F/A-18E/F against the F-35 in Japan.

 

The mock-up will be displayed at the Aero India show in Bengaluru Feb. 9-13, although the growth plan is not tied directly to Boeing’s F/A-18E/F offer for India’s 126-aircraft Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) requirement.

 

Boeing is also careful to separate its international growth road map from the Navy’s upgrade path for the F/A-18E/F, which it calls the Flight Plan. Upgrades on offer to international customers are not in the Navy’s budget but are “synergistic” with the Flight Plan, says Kory Mathews, F/A-18 program vice president.

 

The international growth road map is a menu of options available individually or in combination to increase the capability and survivability of the Super Hornet. General Electric’s increased-thrust F414 Enhanced Performance Engine (EPE), in combination with the low-drag conformal fuel tanks (CFT), increases acceleration and endurance in the air-to-air role. In the air-to-ground role, the CFTs, weapons pod and internal infrared search-and-track (IRST) sensor reduce radar signature and extend combat radius.

 

Providing 20% more thrust than the basic F414-400, the EPE is in the MMRCA proposal to meet India’s requirement for transonic acceleration in the air-intercept role. Because the wing is designed for low carrier-landing speed, “the E/F is not a fast aircraft,” admits Rick McCrary, MMRCA capture team lead. “We’re drag-limited, and the new engine allows us to meet all the quantitative requirements,” he says. “EPE cuts combat acceleration time in some places by better than half. It expands the aircraft’s combat capability in the upper right-hand corner of the envelope so it can go against higher, faster threats.”

 

The EPE features a new, two-stage, all-blisk fan with 10% higher airflow and a higher-temperature core. When operated at normal F414 temperatures, the improvements triple hot-section life to 6,000 hr., and international operators could gain some increase in durability and reduction in specific fuel consumption when not using full combat thrust, says Mark Gammon, program manager for the international growth road map.

 

The CFTs together hold 3,000 lb. of fuel, about the same usable capacity as the 480-gal. external tank normally carried under the fuselage — but with zero cruise drag and reduced transonic drag, he says. This frees the centerline station to carry the weapons pod, which houses missiles and bombs normally hung under the wing, reducing signature and drag.

 

Removable and retrofittable, the CFTs attach to existing hoist points on the upper fuselage, and plumb into fuel lines from the wing tanks. Their shape puts most of the volume forward of the wing to improve area ruling and reduce drag.

 

In air-to-air configuration, CFTs extend combat radius by 10% to the “high 700s” (nautical miles), says Gammon. Air-to-ground, with a single centerline tank plus CFTs, radius is “800 nm.-plus,” with greater speed and acceleration compared with carrying three 480-gal. external tanks. With three tanks and the CFTs, stand-off strike radius “begins with a 9,” he says.

 

The weapons pod can house four AIM‑120 Amraam-sized missiles or a mixed air-to-air/air-to-ground load. With two Amraams on the door insides for self-protection, the pod can accommodate one Mk. 84-size 2,000-lb. or Mk. 83-size 1,000-lb. bomb, two Mk. 82-size 500-lb. munitions or four Small Diameter Bombs.

 

While the Navy is to equip its E/Fs with an IRST sensor mounted on the nose of the centerline fuel tank, moving the sensor to a stealthy fairing under the forward fuselage both reduces signature and allows it to be carried without occupying the centerline station. “Where there’s an air-to-air threat, they’ll want it all the time,” he says.

 

To fit the IRST sensor in the nose, the system is split: the optics are housed in a faceted fairing mounted on the gun-bay door and the processing located elsewhere in the forward fuselage. The design allows the gun to be retained, a key requirement and technical challenge, says Gammon. The sensor can be retrofitted by replacing the gun-bay door.

 

With sensors on top of the fuselage covering the upper hemisphere, facing forward under the nose and aft under the tail, the missile/laser warning system offers spherical coverage and a growth path to a distributed aperture system providing 360-deg. situational awareness. An Israeli missile/laser warning system is part of the E/F offer to India.

 

Development of the large-area cockpit display is underway in the flight-simulation laboratory here, aiming for initial availability in 2015. The 19-in.-wide, 11-in.-deep liquid-crystal touchscreen replaces three smaller displays and saves space, weight, power and cooling.

 

Initially existing sensor and tactical displays are replicated, but the large screen area allows five formats to be shown simultaneously rather than just three. The pilot can move the displays around the screen and enlarge the sensor images and moving map to aid target identification and situational awareness.

 

For the next phase, Boeing is developing interactive 3D formats in which a virtual battlespace model generated from an onboard database is augmented in real time with imagery and information from sensors and offboard sources. Using the touchscreen, the pilot can rotate the 3D model from a “God’s eye” plan view to any perspective. The more intuitive display will allow faster decision-making, says Gammon. Advanced formats will enable the pilot to command unmanned aircraft at a touch of the screen.

 

The growth Super Hornet mock-up is more than a marketing tool, says Gammon; it will be used for fit checks, maintainability assessments and installation refinement. Work is “a little bit beyond the preliminary design reviews, but not to a critical design review,” he says. CFT wind-tunnel testing is planned this year, but further development of the growth options awaits customers. “There is a lot of interest,” says Mathews, who holds out the potential for co-developing some elements with international partners.

 

[Editor's note: this article was amended to reflect the year to which Super Hornet production has been extended.]

 

 

 

 

  ⓒ Australian Gov. DoD

 

  ⓒ Australian Gov. DoD

 

  ⓒ Australian Gov. DoD

 

  ⓒ Australian Gov. DoD