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New
Delhi, 25 August 2005
The Pentagon’s Defence
Cooperation Security Agency (DSCA) chief Lt General
Jeffrey B. Kohler is expected to visit India during
the first half of September 2005 (between September
5 and 9), to make a classified technical
presentation on the Patriot Advanced Capability-3
Surface-to-Air Missile/Anti-Tactical Ballistic
Missile (SAM/ATBM) system, as also F-16 and
F/A-18E/F family of multi-role strike fighters.
Accompanying Gen Kohler will be representatives from
United States Aerospace Giants. In this context a
great deal of additional information has recently
flowed in about the F/A-18E/F ‘Super Hornet’
multi-role strike fighters, and we provide an
update.
Super Hornets Stings
Special mention may be made of the
Boeing developed F/A-18E/F Block 2 ‘Super
Hornet’ multi-role strike fighter as United States
have offered for the first time a predominantly
strike oriented platform of potentially tremendous
punch to India. Such platforms are usually offered
with full weapons and sensors suite to staunchest
allies alike Great Britain and Israel. Far from
being a “knee jerk” move the United States
administration may have presented the Super Hornet
offer after a lot of calculations, if U.S. media
snippets are taken into account.
The fighter will enter service in
numbers around 2010–12 and serve as the sentinel
up to at least 2030–35, it is thus important to
choose a machine that has just entered service or is
in middle of its development cycle to ensure
significant further enhancements.
The growth potential of the F-18E/F
Super Hornets will allow flexible employment and
enhancement strategies in future years to enable it
to remain a formidable weapons platform for a
further two decades. United States administration
also realises the fact that although the Indian Air
Force (IAF) fighter acquisition program is being
advertised as a replacement for ageing IAF fleet of
MiG-21s, it is an open secret that a significant
proportion of the acquisition will be tasked with
the role of airborne nuclear deterrence under SFC
(Strategic Forces Command). Thus, the Super Hornets
can “naturally run” for such a critical IAF
requirement, these medium-weight multi-role strike
fighters are capable of operating on a significant
portion of Asian topography from bases in and around
India. Of all the fighters in contention the Super
Hornets are blessed with maximum reach with internal
fuel alone that can be further enhanced with
in-flight refueling procedures and
“combat-rated” drop tanks.
The “strike oriented”
multi-mission F/A-18E/F ‘Super Hornet’ strike
fighter (F/A-18F variant is a two-seater) is an
upgrade of the combat-proven night strike F/A-18C/D
which provided the United States Navy (USN) with a
platform that has range, endurance, and ordnance
carriage capabilities comparable to the A-6 Intruder
“heavy duty” strike platform and incorporates
lower Radar Cross Section (RCS) technology and other
survivability enhancements from outset. The
F/A-18E/F aircraft are longer than earlier Hornets,
have larger wing area, and carry more internal fuel
which will effectively increase mission range by
41-percent and endurance by 50-percent. The aircraft
can also carry the complete complement of
"smart" air-to-ground weapons, including
the newest joint weapons such as Joint Direct Attack
Munitions (JDAM) and Joint Stand Off Weapon (JSOW).
Two General Electric F414-GE-400 turbo-fan engines
provide combined thrust of 44,000-pounds with
afterburner. Its nine-to-one thrust-to-weight ratio
is one of the highest of any modern fighter engine
necessary to retain its air combat potential even
with significant strike ordnances.
The United States Navy inducted the
first operational F/A-18E/F Super Hornet squadron
(VFA-115) in September 2001, with Super Hornets
deployed on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
in July 2002. “Baptism under fire” was quick as
shortly thereafter, in November 2002, the aircraft
made its combat entry, striking air defence
installations in Southern Iraq with Global
Positioning System (GPS) guided Joint Direct Attack
Munitions (JDAM). Subsequently the aircraft was also
deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (Gulf
War II) in March 2003.
For enhancements of strike
potential, “Block 2” upgrade demand redesigned
forward fuselage which has fewer parts and changes
to the aircraft's nose to accommodate the Raytheon
AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA)
radar. Incidentally Raytheon developed AN/APG-79
Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fire
control radar of the Super Hornet have been cleared
for export sales to India while still undergoing
development and offer pristine technology. AN/APG-79
AESA radar is projected to increase the F/A-18E/F's
air-to-air target detection and tracking range and
provide higher resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
air-to-ground mapping at longer ranges. The radar
will inherently be capable of interleaving
air-to-air, air-to-ground and terrain following
modes. The AN/APG-79 AESA entered low-rate initial
production in September 2003 and is planned to
replace the existing AN/APG-73 sets of USN from
2006.
For “silent nocturnal approach”
to the targets the Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR
(Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infra-Red) is
deployed, and features both navigation and infrared
targeting systems, in particular the "third
generation" Mid-Wave (3-5 micron) Forward
Looking Infra-Red (MWFLIR) for targeting purposes
and incorporating staring focal plane array
technology. Additional sensors in the “package”
include a high-powered diode-pumped laser spot
tracker, navigation FLIR and CCD TV camera.
Meanwhile the AN/ALQ-124 Integrated Defensive
Countermeasures system (IDECM) provides coordinated
situation awareness and manages the on-board and
off-board deception countermeasures, the expendable
decoys, and signal and frequency control of
emissions.
The Super Hornet has eleven weapon
stations including two additional wing store
stations to support 8,000-kg of external load. As
previously stated aircraft carries the complete
complement of "smart" air-to-ground
weapons, including the newest precision GPS/inertial
guided family of joint weapons such as Joint Direct
Attack Munitions (JDAM) and Joint Stand Off Weapon (JSOW)
and Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM).
For anti-ship strike AGM-84 Harpoon is carried as
also its land attack variants, the Stand-off Land
Attack Missile (SLAM) and its extended range variant
the SLAM-ER.
However it will be interesting to
watch as how United States respond to appropriate
modifications demanded or undertaken by India in
course of proposed license manufacture to enable the
Super Hornet platforms suitable for carriage and
delivery of nuclear ordnances and up to what extent
the U.S. will be cooperative in this regard.
An electronic attack version of the Super
Hornet, the EA-18G ‘Growler‘, modified for
escort and close-in jamming incorporating the
Improved Capability III (ICAP III) suite developed
for the EA-6B ‘Prowler’ is to commence
development and is projected to replace the USN
EA-6B around 2009. EA-18G will be an indispensable
accomplice of F/A-18E/F in strike missions to deal
with enemy air defence network & installations.
If IAF do select the Super Hornet fighters the
Growler platform should "accompany" them.
In terms of air-combat the Super
Hornet remains a respectable adversary even with its
air-to-ground ordnance load with even strike
oriented platforms can carry a small combination of
beyond visual range and close-combat missiles. It is
almost sure to carry extended-ranged variants of
AIM-120 AMRAAM Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air
Missiles (BVRAAM) in future and in any case the MBDA
Meteor BVRAAM can be integrated if necessary to
perform “outer-air battles” akin to F-14
Tomcat/AIM-54 Phoenix combination.
Close-combat potential is all set
to increase significantly with the incorporation of
Boeing developed Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System
(JHMCS) and Raytheon AIM-9X next generation
Sidewinder close-combat missile. The AIM-9X uses an
extremely agile thrust-vector controlled airframe
along with a mature staring focal plane array sensor
to facilitate extremely high off-boresight
acquisition and launch envelopes, greatly enhanced
manoeuvrability and improved target acquisition
ranges to provide a “first shot/first kill”
advantage. In addition, the digital design
architecture provides inherent growth capability.
For “eyeball to eyeball confrontation” the gun
system is General Dynamics M61A2, with a switch able
firing rate of 4,000 or 6,000 shots per minute. The
Super Hornet appears to be well capable of
decimating its challengers those are able to sneak
through the “top cover” provided by dedicated
air superiority fighters. Moreover after
successfully executing their strike formalities and
alerting the enemy as the natural consequence,
during “return trip” the Super Hornets are
capable of becoming a “fighter swarm” in their
own right and coordinating well with the associated
air superiority types.
Boeing, the United States Aerospace
Giant has already secured the multi-billion dollar
Indian civil airliner deal and perhaps in the
position to offer their Super Hornets at favourable
terms. With Indo–US cooperation after “9/11”
at an all time high with all branches of the Armed
Forces of both the nations striving hard to attain
inter-operability and joint-cooperation on a grand
scale, under such a backdrop a common inventory of
Super Hornets may be highly desirable for both the
nations. Moreover it was stated that the IAF had an
immediate requirement for some 126 multi-role
fighters, a vital need that may be best fulfilled by
the American Aerospace production machinery in
aspects that range from timely production through
delivery, technology transfer, to high quality
after-sales service all within a time-schedule. The
Indians on their part should put the greatest stress
on technology sharing and transfer especially in
relation to the sensor package. Ultimately, it is
perhaps the extent of transfer of technology and
assembly lines will determine the choice of IAF
which will naturally press for a “Deep License”.
After all, India doubly needs to feed and sustain
its indigenous aerospace developments.
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