All about Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Strike fighter jet

The Super Hornet is the successor of the ‘Classic’ Hornet.

The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine carrier-capable multirole fighter aircraft.

The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more advanced derivatives of the F/A-18C and D Hornet.

It has an internal 20 mm M61 rotary cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles and air-to-surface weapon

A Boeing Super Hornet’s first flight

The Super Hornet is largely a new aircraft at about 20% larger

It  carries 33% more internal fuel

With three drop tanks of 480 USG, full internal fuel, combat fuel and reserve reserves, 8 AMRAAM AIM-120 and Sidewinder AIM-9 of 2

The General Electric F414 engine, developed from the Hornet’s F404, give  35% additional thrust

The aircraft has a point intersection radius that exceeds 650 NMI

The extended wings have three anchor points each, normally loaded with a pair of 480 internal USG tanks and weapons in the pair of external stations. Sidewinder rail with wing tip is retained.

Until recently, the Super Hornets were delivered with the Raytheon APG-73 radar, similar to the F / A-18A / B HUG radar.

The most recent deliveries include the new APG-79 Active Electronically Steered Array radar (AESA).

APG-79 has a slightly better performance range than the AESA APG-81 AESA joint combat, but lower than the larger APG-77 of the F-22A.
The Super Hornet is equipped with a new defensive countermeasure system EWSP system AN / ALQ-124 (IDECM), which includes the towed lure ALE-50, more capable than the inherited package in the ‘Classic’ hornets of the USA. UU Or RAAF.

Therefore, there is little similarity between the Super Hornet and Hornet ‘Classic’ variants. To finish this article we must know who has the F / A-18E / F Super Hornet in their ranks and these are the United States and Australia. The United States has over 20 squadrons and Australia with a squad of F / A-18F and another of EA-18G.

Variants

• F/A-18E Super Hornet: single seat variant.
• F/A-18F Super Hornet: two-seat variant.
• NEA-18G: Two F/A-18Fs modified as prototypes of the EA-18G Growler.[182]
• EA-18G Growler: Electronic warfare variant of the F/A-18F to replace the U.S. Navy’s Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler.
• Advanced Super Hornet: Variant of the F/A-18F Super Hornet with Conformal Fuel Tanks (CFT) and has a further reduced radar cross section (RCS), with the option of a stealthy enclosed weapons pod and built-in IRST21 sensor system.

Read more: Boeing F18 Super Hornet vs Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker E