Legacy Hornet vs Su-30MKM

charlielima223 · by **charlielima223** » 11 Jul 2020, 01:20

Nice insightful video of a former Hornet pilot talking of his experience against the Malaysian Su-30MKM.

mixelflick · by **mixelflick** » 12 Jul 2020, 17:49

I would be curious to know how often the SU-30 pilot lost sight of the F-18, and lost the fight because of it. For all of its merits, the Flanker is a HUGE fighter. That's one advantage F-16 and 18 pilots will always have against it, they're going to be a lot tougher to see.

Also interesting insofar as the SU-30 used its TV during one of these fights, something we're told isn't useful in the real world. Looked plenty useful here. To me, the whole thing is just too close for comfort. The aircraft are so evenly matched, it's fortunate we (usually) have the better pilots.

Hopefully the F-35 restores our historical overwhelming advantage, and we won't lose nearly as many men/machines..

madrat · by **madrat** » 12 Jul 2020, 19:24

Evenly matched in WVR against a plane from 30 years ago...

weasel1962 · by **weasel1962** » 13 Jul 2020, 02:55

Geriatric F-15s: "Age is only skin deep."

Corsair1963 · by **Corsair1963** » 13 Jul 2020, 03:30

Let's not forget that USMC F/A-18C Hornets are getting a version of the APG-79 AESA Radar. So, the old girl still has some kick left in her...

sferrin · by **sferrin** » 13 Jul 2020, 19:16

Corsair1963 wrote:Let's not forget that USMC F/A-18C Hornets are getting a version of the APG-79 AESA Radar. So, the old girl still has some kick left in her...

A shame they can't retrofit the goodies the Swiss and Finns have on their Hornets. (9G airframe IIRC.)

eagle3000 · by **eagle3000** » 13 Jul 2020, 23:06

sferrin wrote:A shame they can't retrofit the goodies the Swiss and Finns have on their Hornets. (9G airframe IIRC.)

They are not 9g rated airframes. 7.5g like all the other Hornets.

The titanium bulkheads allow Swiss (and Finnish, and Kuwaiti too?) Hornets to reach their service life of 6000 hours despite harder flying - air to air only takes a toll.
It wouldn't help in other cases. Air to ground causes different stresses which the Swiss mods might not help to counter.

Corsair1963 · by **Corsair1963** » 14 Jul 2020, 03:36

eagle3000 wrote:
sferrin wrote:A shame they can't retrofit the goodies the Swiss and Finns have on their Hornets. (9G airframe IIRC.)

They are not 9g rated airframes. 7.5g like all the other Hornets.

The titanium bulkheads allow Swiss (and Finnish, and Kuwaiti too?) Hornets to reach their service life of 6000 hours despite harder flying - air to air only takes a toll.
It wouldn't help in other cases. Air to ground causes different stresses which the Swiss mods might not help to counter.

The main factor on the 7.5 G limit on the Hornet (and later Super Hornet) was to extend the aircraft service life. (i.e. naval use) Both airframe are more than capable of handling more....

Hell, fighters exceed their "advertised" limits all of the time....

milosh · by **milosh** » 14 Jul 2020, 19:14

madrat wrote:Evenly matched in WVR against a plane from 30 years ago...

And Su-30 is lot younger?!?

Of course not. It is dual seat Su-27.

What I find impressive is Su-30 with is huge weight and drag could hold its own and in fact from words of F-18 pilot it was second toughest opponent he fly against, behind F-22, F-22 have noticeable better T/W ratio and is less draggy.

weasel1962 · by **weasel1962** » 15 Jul 2020, 03:28

About 10 years. The MKMs were delivered from 2007 (MKI baseline).The F-18Ds were from 1997 and are still equipped with the APG-73, although they added AIM-9X+JHMCS combo.

milosh · by **milosh** » 18 Jul 2020, 20:31

weasel1962 wrote:About 10 years. The MKMs were delivered from 2007 (MKI baseline).The F-18Ds were from 1997 and are still equipped with the APG-73, although they added AIM-9X+JHMCS combo.

Irrelevant for what F-18 pilot is talking, WVR combat to be clear.

Also MKM is more less same thing as MKI and that is 1990s project so not big difference even in that.

sprstdlyscottsmn · by **sprstdlyscottsmn** » 18 Jul 2020, 21:22

milosh wrote:
weasel1962 wrote:About 10 years. The MKMs were delivered from 2007 (MKI baseline).The F-18Ds were from 1997 and are still equipped with the APG-73, although they added AIM-9X+JHMCS combo.

Irrelevant for what F-18 pilot is talking, WVR combat to be clear.

Also MKM is more less same thing as MKI and that is 1990s project so not big difference even in that.

If you want to talk project, the F/A-18D is more or less the same thing as the F/A-18A which was a 1970s project

weasel1962 · by **weasel1962** » 19 Jul 2020, 01:11

jhmcs and 9x combo is 70s tech and irrelevant to wvr? I don't think so.

madrat · by **madrat** » 19 Jul 2020, 05:03

To him Soviet tech is Russian stronk!

milosh · by **milosh** » 19 Jul 2020, 11:09

weasel1962 wrote:jhmcs and 9x combo is 70s tech and irrelevant to wvr? I don't think so.

Pilot was talking about gunfight. Weapon wise and senors wise I expect latest F-18 be noticeable better but as flying machine Flankers are impressive, when F-18 pilot say huge Su-30 can go super slow as F-18 that says a lot about design of Flanker.