Why is there so little love for the F-18 Super Hornet?

I kinda remember reading that when the F/A-18 was being evaluated it could not pass the range requirement.
The eventually got it to pass.
By reducing the range it had to fly, letting it carry 2 extra tanks, decreasing the loiter/dogfight time and the reserve fuel margin.

As far as i know the current F/A-18E/F still does not meet the original range requirements that the Navy put out when it was looking for a replacement to the A-7 and A-6

The new-build Tomcats (Attack Tomcat 21 etc.) they had on the boards would have been a better aircraft but with today's budgets you wouldn't be getting as many of those as you can get Super Hornets.

I have been selling some aviation videos http://dc8cockpit.catisp.com/index_005.htm

and the DC-8 and F-14 are consistant sellers. The F-18 DVD (granted not SH) has been a bomb. Havent sold a single one. The Hornet doesnt seem popular at all.

I think a lot of people think the Navy would have been better off upgrading the F-14 rather than the Hornet as far as overall capability. The "upgrade" to the SH was a huge redesign.

Is today's Navy better off with the SH than the F-14A/B/D? Yes. Is it as sexy as the Cat? Nope.

I think when it comes to combat effectiveness the SH is very capable, like the F-4 was in it's day, an effective jack of all trades. It may not always sound the best on paper but it is a very effective part of the carrier weapons package.

The thing will turn inside an F-16! I have to admit the SH is pretty impressive at the airshows too.

That being said, they should have built the Tomcat 21 That airframe just has a huge amount of growth potential and toward the end in the A2A role they simply quit upgrading the Tomcat with new systems like AMRAAM which left it a generation behind other fighters. I dont think they cared since it had by default become the replacement for the A-6.


On a side side note, I am building a house for a retired couple and found out the wife worked for Grumman 20+ years, building the computers chips for the F-14 flight control system. She soldered the ships by hand looking through a very powerful scope. She said she and the guy who trained her each built half of the chips for the Cat, lots of other people tried the job but didnt have steady enough hands to do it. She also said the engineers were always improving the design so that kept the job very interesting. Other than that, she doesnt know jack about the F-14

I'm still seeing alot of negative feelings toward the Rhino on these forums... tisk tisk...

Is the SH called the Rhino? How did that happen? That is a nickname Ive always heard for the F-4 Phantom. Other names are Double Ugly, Flying Anvil, Big Iron Sled, Louisville Slugger, and "the world's leading distributor of MiG parts"

Is the SH called the Rhino? How did that happen?

The controllers needed a name to distinguish between the legacy and Super Hornets. The Rhino name stuck for the SH.

Why should future CVW's have both Super Hornets and Lightnings? What if any advantage does the F/A-18E/F have over the F-35C????


FLY NAVY

I would assume it can carry more bombload, and provide buddy tanking.

A Super Hornet being called a RHINO has nada to do with a controller or any other type of ATC funtion. It is called a Rhino to deferentiate it between a baby hornet behind the boat. Its a call for the LSO's and the Air boss. It is very important for the boat to know which aircraft is landing due to the weight defferential.


Oh yeah, GO GATORS!!!

Go Gators? Please... Go Blue! Don't make me crush all you Gator fans in debate over why Michigan is both quantitatively and qualitatively the #2 college football team in America. And yes, I am definitely biased since I'm a Michigan grad. Hehehe....

Thread jack time. From ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=2684345

1. Florida beat nine teams that are projected to play in bowl games. Michigan beat six.



2. Michigan beat five teams that finished the season with losing records. Florida beat two teams with sub-.500 records.



3. Florida's 12 Division I-A opponents had a combined record of 89-57. Michigan's 12 opponents had a combined record of 84-61.



4. Michigan's best win is considered a 27-13 victory over Wisconsin on Sept. 23. The Badgers are 11-1 and have climbed to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 poll, despite having played only one ranked opponent -- the Wolverines -- the entire season.



5. The 12 teams Florida defeated finished the season with 11 combined wins against opponents which were ranked in the AP Top 25 poll at the time the game was played. The opponents Michigan defeated claim just three wins against ranked teams (Notre Dame beat Penn State. Indiana beat Iowa. Vanderbilt beat Georgia. The Nittany Lions, Hawkeyes and Bulldogs, it should be noted, haven't been ranked in seven weeks).



6. The Gators went 3-1 against ranked opponents, beating then-No. 13 Tennessee, No. 9 LSU and No. 8 Arkansas and losing at No. 11 Auburn. The Wolverines went 1-1 against ranked opponents, beating a highly overrated No. 2 Notre Dame team (that lost to Michigan and USC by a combined total of 46 points) and losing at No. 1 Ohio State 42-39 on Nov. 18.



7. The Gators' average margin of victory against Division I-A teams was 13.5 points. They won seven games by 14 points or fewer, six by less than 10. The Wolverines' average margin of victory was 17.3 points. They won six games by 14 points or fewer, two by less than 10.



8. The Gators played Western Carolina, a Division I-AA team, and won by 62 points. The Wolverines played Ball State, which should be a I-AA team, and won by eight.



9. Since the Wolverines last played and lost at Ohio State, the Gators won at Florida State (The Seminoles are 6-6, but rivalry games are tough to win. Just ask USC coach Pete Carroll) and then beat the No. 8 Razorbacks, who defeated then-No. 2 Auburn and No. 13 Tennessee by 17 points each.



10. Michigan didn't win the Big Ten; Florida won the SEC. Winning your conference should be a prerequisite for playing in the national championship.

AP Poll UF 2 Michigan 3
USA Today UF 2 Michigan 3

Michigan got a shot at the number two team and lost. Anyway the link posted above is a good read.


Thread jack over.

INO... try to make your own arguments next time. The ones above are one-sided. Hehe. By the way... if Michigan actually played Florida, they'd route Florida. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Let's see Florida come within 3 points of beating Ohio State. Let's not forget that Michigan played Ohio State at Ohio State. Florida is going to get the snot beat out of them by Ohio State. Michigan actually has a chance as they proved. I'll be laughing when Florida gets trampled and loses by a 20+ point margin. You know that's going to happen.

INO... try to make your own arguments next time. The ones above are one-sided. Hehe. By the way... if Michigan actually played Florida, they'd route Florida. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Let's see Florida come within 3 points of beating Ohio State. Let's not forget that Michigan played Ohio State at Ohio State. Florida is going to get the snot beat out of them by Ohio State. Michigan actually has a chance as they proved. I'll be laughing when Florida gets trampled and loses by a 20+ point margin. You know that's going to happen.

Not a gator and a late topic....but that was one bad prognostication.

Raptor_One,

I forgot about this conversation until Orangeburst brought it back up. What sayth you now about the Gators. The only school in NCAA history to win both football and basketball championships in the same year!

GO GATORS!!

Bump!

Earth to Raptor One come in Raptor One.

Why should future CVW's have both Super Hornets and Lightnings? What if any advantage does the F/A-18E/F have over the F-35C????


FLY NAVY

Corsair1963, I agree completely (about the first half). I'm a big fan of the -35. The -18 is ok, but I think they should just replace the entire inventory. But I'm sure that gets pricey...real quick. As for the second half, you're almost right.

Fly U.S.M.C.


When I was looking at the smilies, I noticed something about this one. Anyone else see it? I know it's just an emoticon, but still.

New Topic. This one was way to long.