“Multi-role, Combat Tested and Built for the Future”
One look at the decks of our Navy’s aircraft carriers and the Royal Australian Air Force’s fleet and you’ll see advanced, combat-proven strike capability. The Super Hornet is the multirole solution for the Navy and international air force customers. The Royal Australian Air Force operates 24 Super Hornets and 12 Growlers. Seven air forces around the world use the Hornets.
With combat proven multi-role capabilities, advanced survivability, with room to grow and having the lowest sustainment costs among US tactical combat fighters, the Super Hornet would be a good option for India to evaluate for its Navy and Air Force’s fighter requirements.
The Super Hornet brings the latest generation of technologies to the warfighter. With designed-in stealth and a robust capability growth plan, the Super Hornet offers a path to India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme generating scale to close the business case of common components such as the common core engine.
Boeing is also committed to expanding its partnership by producing Super Hornets in India, further developing the country’s aerospace ecosystem. Boeing will work closely with Indian industry to ensure they have the very latest technologies, applying lessons learned from the current Super Hornet production line.
Having a procurement roadmap that achieves the dual goal of capabilities for the warfighters and industrial capability to build India’s aerospace industry will be good for India. India should also look at the strong interplay between the commonality of parts such as radars and engines and have the scale to build in India. We want to follow the MoD’s lead on their process and will be responsive to their needs if we are asked to provide any information.
F/A-18 Super Hornet A Combat Proven Fighter
Boeing’s Super Hornet is combat proven and defined to stay aligned with the US Navy’s flight plan so that it continues to evolve to outpace future threats. The Super Hornet will be the work horse on the Navy’s carrier decks for decades to come – being three-fourths of the Navy’s strike fighter capacity into the 2030’s and no less than half the carriers striking force into the 2040’s.
The President of the United States in his fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget included a requirement for 110 Super Hornets over the next five years to address its strike fighter shortfall. The FY18 budget included a requirement for 24 Super Hornets, and funding for Block III capabilities, which ensure the US Navy has the capabilities needed to outpace the future threat environment.
The next-generation Block III Super Hornet comes into the US Navy and potentially international customers to fulfill its role in a complementary way to work alongside the EA-18G Growler, E-2D Hawkeye and F-35. The Super Hornet and F-35 are going to work together on the carrier decks for the US Navy, well into the 2040s.
That gives us a great opportunity to continue the programme which is evolutionary capability development from a risk perspective of low risk change that delivers revolutionary performance. We are excited to be building airplanes at a current production rate based on the US Navy demand and some other international. The President’s budget requests will have the Super Hornet production line delivering aircraft into the mid 2020s.Our current production rate is two per month. We have built and can build up to four airplanes per month so we have sufficient capacity.
Introduced in 2007, the F/A-18 Super Hornet Block II is the world’s preeminent carrier capable aircraft and best suited for India’s naval fighter requirements; the F/A-18 Super Hornet was designed from day one for carrier operations. It is a combat proven, supersonic, all weather multirole fighter jet with a defined US Navy flight plan to outpace threats for decades to come.
The Super Hornet’s benefits of being a twin-engine aircraft help provide the warfighter a margin of safety that does not exist in a single-engine platform. A single-engine aircraft is likely lost due to engine malfunctions or loss of thrust while a twin-engine platform can lose an engine and still safely return to base or carrier. Every Super Hornet has a buddy refueling capability that can extend time on station, range and endurance. Additionally, the Super Hornet can provide close and deep air support through the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar targeting data and reliable data links.
The Super Hornets are fully compatible with the Indian Navy’s aircraft carriers. Extensive simulation has shown that the Super Hornet is capable of conducting STOBAR operations with a meaningful weapons and fuel load.
Ease of maintenance
The F/A-18 Super Hornet not only has a low acquisition cost, but it costs less per flight hour to operate than any other tactical aircraft in US forces inventory. Part of its affordability is because the Super Hornet is designed to need far less maintenance; this translates into high mission availability. Ease of maintenance (supportability) results in lower maintenance man-hours per flight hour. Plus, the Super Hornet does not require any scheduled depot-level maintenance and the engine does not require any scheduled maintenance between overhauls.
Further, Boeing’s active production line and robust supply chain allow the company to offer the most affordable platform. This low cost of operation, low maintenance requirements and twin-engine based survivability allow the Super Hornet to fly to and back from harsh environments.
Prepared for future threats: F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet Capabilities
The Super Hornet is a platform that is continuously evolving to outpace future threats. Every two years Boeing and its industry partners along with the US Navy work on delivering new capabilities to the fighter. Critical mission systems such as the radar, mission computers and sensors continue to evolve to match up to the mission profiles of the future.
To address the capabilities the air wing needs to stay ahead of current and future threats, Boeing will deliver the first Block III Super Hornet to the US Navy by the end of 2020. Block III is the same aircraft as Advanced Super Hornet. The Advanced F/A-18E/F Super Hornet’s multi-mission capabilities include battle-space situational awareness, counter stealth targeting, greater range and increased acceleration, improved survivability and reduced signature and room for growth.
In the 2020s, three Super Hornet squadrons and one F-35 squadron may form the airwing of carrier fleets. Currently, in the US Navy three out of four, and in most cases all four squadrons based off aircraft carriers, are Super Hornet squadrons.
These advanced capabilities can be both built into new aircraft and incorporated into existing aircraft, allowing maximum ability to field these capabilities quickly and affordably. Block III Super Hornet is built from the same airframe as Block II, providing low risk development and maintaining the lowest operating costs of any US tactical fighter. While Boeing demonstrated advanced Super Hornet capabilities in flight in 2013, the package of upgrades has evolved to stay aligned with US Navy needs that best complement F-35, EA-18G and E-2D as they will be operating together in the air wing well into the 2040s.
Key features of the Block III Super Hornet include enhanced network capability, longer range and low-drag with conformal fuel tanks, long-range detection with Infrared Search & Track, enhanced situational awareness with a new Advanced Cockpit System, improved signature reduction and a 9,000+ hour life.
A significant design evolution is the addition of conformal fuel tanks. Mounted on the shoulder of the Block III, conformal fuel tanks significantly extend the range of the Block III. Conformal fuel tanks also free up the space occupied by a centerline droptank. This means that the Air Force and the Navy have an additional hard-point to carry more air-to-air or air-to-ground weapons.
The Advanced Cockpit System is a next generation use interface, which simplifies the interpretation and projection of a large quantity of information for the aircrew – both in the front and rear cockpit – making it easy to interface and manage an information network.
Making in India
We believe India has demonstrated its potential in aerospace platform development and manufacturing and has a base to build upon. Boeing has been working with suppliers in India for over two decades in manufacturing, IT and engineering services and Indian companies are integrated in our global supply chain. Today, there are more than 160 suppliers providing parts and assemblies covering commodities such as aerostructures, wire harness, composites, forgings, avionics mission systems and ground support equipment. Since 2008, Boeing’s engagement with suppliers has increased substantially for commercial and defence aircraft such as the 777, 787, P-8, F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-15, Apache and CH-47 Chinook. Some of the work our Indian partners are delivering for Boeing is indicative of the complex manufacturing capabilities that Indian companies are capable of developing for the global market.
Thom Breckenridge, Vice President, Global Sales, India, Global Sales & Marketing, Boeing Defence, Space & Security