The Navy's new F/A-18E rolled out on 18 September in St. Louis. McDonnell Douglas test pilot Fred Madenwald, who will head the flight test team, is scheduled to take the "Super Hornet" on its first flight next month. The rollout aircraft carried wingtip-mounted AIM-9 Sidewinders; fuselage sponson-mounted AIM-120 AMRAAM and AAS-46 Targeting FLIR; plus (left to right on wing stations): AGM-88 HARM; AGM-84D Harpoon; AGM-84H SLAM; JDAM with BLU-109; AGM-154 JSOW; AGM-65E Maverick.
The Hornet Multi-Mission Strike Fighter | ||
| F/A-1 8E/F | F/A-1 8C/D |
Type | Single-seat (E) and two-seat (F) twin-turbofan tactical aircraft | Single seat (C) and two-seat (D) twin-turbofan tactical aircraft |
First Flight | December 1995 | November 1978 (F/A-18A/B) |
Propulsion | Two GE F414 turbofan engines, producing 44,000 pounds of combined thrust (22,000 pounds each) | Enhanced Performance Engine (EPE):Two GE F404-GE-402 engines, producing 35,400 pounds of combined thrust (17,7000- pounds each) |
Radar | Hughes APG-73 multimode radar | Hughes APG-73 multimode radar |
Length | 60.3 feet | 56 feet |
Height | 16 feet | 15.3 feet |
Wingspan | 44.9 feet (with wing-tip missiles) | 40.4 feet (with wing-tip missiles |
Wing Area | 500 square feet | 400 square feet |
Speed | Mach 1.8 plus | Mach 1.8 plus |
Combat Ceiling | 50,000 feet | 50,000 feet |
Combat Radius | 660-plus nm (1,188-plus km) | 470-plus nm (846-plus km) |
Empty Weight | 30,500 pounds (approx.) | 23,800 pounds (approx.) |
Max. Take-off Gr. Wt. | 66,000 pounds (approx.) | 51,900 pounds (approx.) |
Fuel | 14,500 pounds Internal: 9,800 pounds in three 480-gallon external tanks or 6,700 pounds in three 330-gallon external tanks | 10,381 pounds Internal: 6,700 pounds in three 330-gallon external tanks |
Internal Armament | Lightweight M61A1 20-mm cannon with 400 rounds of ammunition | Lightweight M61A1 20-mm cannon with 578 |
Weapons Stations | 11 wing and fuselage stations | 9 wing and fuselage stations |
External Payload | Up to 17,750 pounds maximum | Up to 14,900 pounds maximum |
Both payloads include weapons, sensors, and fuel tanks. Weapons include AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-120 AMRAAM, Harpoon, HARM, Shrike, SLAM, SLAM-ER, Walleye and Maverick TV-, laser-, and infrared-guided missiles; Joint Stand Off Weapon (JSOW); Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM); various current and planned general-purpose bombs, mines, and rockets. |