Boeing shows F/A18 Replacement thoughts, page 2

I've got a replacement for the F-18. It would fly rings around it. Everyone loves it and it is very good looking.

Originally posted by Luke.S
I've got a replacement for the F-18. It would fly rings around it. Everyone loves it and it is very good looking.

Strange where people get the idea that the F-14 is superior to the F-18.

Originally posted by steppenwolf86

Originally posted by Luke.S
I've got a replacement for the F-18. It would fly rings around it. Everyone loves it and it is very good looking.

Strange where people get the idea that the F-14 is superior to the F-18.

Because in most ways the F-14 was infact superior.

The F-18 was a heavily compromised platform - remember that it originated from the YF-17, the *rejected* aircraft in the USAFs lightweight fighter competition. The USN got the "second best" aircraft there...

The F-14 was faster, had better acceleration, had a better fuel load and could carry a heavier payload further. But it was more complex, and suffered mechanical difficulties as a result.

And the redesign into the F/A-18 Super Hornet didn't wholly resolve the issues faced - the F/A-18 still suffers from aerodynamic deficiencies which means a lot of tweaks have to be applied to clean up the transonic airflow (ever wondered why the F/A-18 weapons pylons are angled outward? It helps to resolve an inherent issue in the airframe design which induces more drag when approaching supersonic speeds).

The F-14 was withdrawn for financial reasons, not because it had been replaced by a superior aircraft.

reply to post by RichardPrice

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The only way the f-14 was superior was in its ability to carry the aim-54, and that superiority was only theoretical. The hornet is more manueverable and has a higher thrust to weight ratio, so there goes your acceleration argument.

Originally posted by steppenwolf86
reply to post by RichardPrice

---

The only way the f-14 was superior was in its ability to carry the aim-54, and that superiority was only theoretical. The hornet is more manueverable and has a higher thrust to weight ratio, so there goes your acceleration argument.

Well, firstly the AIM-54 ability isn't at all "theoretical" - the F-14 certainly could carry it, while no other active aircraft in the USAF or USN could.

Aside from that little issue, the thrust to weight ratio is only one small aspect of overall performance of the airframe - the thrust to weight ratios of the F-14 and F-18E/F are only marginally different, while the F-18 has worse aerodynamics, which will hamper it. Just having a marginally better ratio isn't the be-all end-all of these comparisons.

Its also doubtful that the F-18 is more manoueverable than the F-14 - certainly nothing I have seen supports that.

Its interesting that the F-14 was withdrawn from service because of maintenance costs, and immediately after the aircraft was committed to that withdrawl it was discovered that a lot of the new F-18E/Fs had to be returned to Boeing for major structural replacements after premature cracking was discovered...

There is an update to this story from Flight, see link

www.flightglobal.com...

It mentions that as well as a new fighter, unmanned options are to be looked at (as expected) and it may not even result in an all-new type.

Surely this option, if chosen would be a development of the F-35, rather than yet another version of the Hornet?

The Navy has finally dropped an initial request for information to aircraft builders as of April 16th. While there isn't much more new information besides that, I still figured it would be worth posting in this thread.
F/a -XX news

And here's a bunch of new pictures and a short blurb about Boeing's F/a-XX entry.
pictures of boeing's F/a-XX entry

The Navy has finally dropped an initial request for information to aircraft builders as of April 16th. While there isn't much more new information besides that, I still figured it would be worth posting in this thread.
F/a -XX news

And here's a bunch of new pictures and a short blurb about Boeing's F/a-XX entry.
pictures of boeing's F/a-XX entry

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