F-18

[DevilDawg]

Back to the original question. All 3 planes are very good at fighting, but in very differnt ways. I've fought them all. My background is F/A-18 A-F. You have to know the goods and others of your jet and the one you are fighting. I know I'm slower, but have the alpha to out maneuver the hight T/W. I'll bait them into my fight, 50ft above the deck and as slow as I can get them, one circle flow. Once they go full burner and climb around towards my control zone I've got them. 9x lock with the helmet... Fights over, I win. 90% of the time a hornet can get the first shoot off, but will sacrifices good follow on BFM.

 

[trip]

You will never get an Eagle driver down there, they loiter @FL500 and shoot everything out the sky before they even get to the fight.

 

[pilotyip]

2 inches of manifold pressure, duhh.

yet that is just a little, when we deck launched, from abeam the island we used 59.5" of MAP.

 

[SIG600]

Back to the original question. All 3 planes are very good at fighting, but in very differnt ways. I've fought them all. My background is F/A-18 A-F. You have to know the goods and others of your jet and the one you are fighting. I know I'm slower, but have the alpha to out maneuver the hight T/W. I'll bait them into my fight, 50ft above the deck and as slow as I can get them, one circle flow. Once they go full burner and climb around towards my control zone I've got them. 9x lock with the helmet... Fights over, I win. 90% of the time a hornet can get the first shoot off, but will sacrifices good follow on BFM.

If you have helmet and 9x, what are you doing on the deck trying to bait anyone? Try that against a Viper guy that knows where your alpha limits are, you'll die every time. He'll bow tie back there all day long and you'll guns D until you're a rocks kill or he runs you out of gas.

One circle flow doesn't occur at the Hornets slowest speed on the deck. You can be in the "race to the wall" fight at 75 knots on the deck (I've done 73 knots and held it there Hornet v Hornet, he was at 72) but if you're outside of 1/2 a turn radius from your opponent you're in a one circle fight in which case you better be in that 120 knot regime. Go back and study your EM diagram, when you get a Hornet below 120 the turn circle begins to grow again and with it your bubble, and his play ground if he's behind you.

Baiting them to get behind you so you can 9x them when they plug the blowers because you're on the deck out of energy.... Ya TOPGUN does not recommend.

BTW, the Viper with a good pilot is just as good if not better than the Hornet in one circle flow. A Hornet pilot in a Viper will demonstrate that. Go fight the NSAWC/N7 dudes at NFL for demo.

 

[DevilDawg]

Sig, if you want to talk the in and outs of BFM I would be glad to talk to you in person. Next time you're in Fallon stop by the fishbowl at N5. Im the only Marine that works there.

 

[SIG600]

Hope they put you through ViperU. I hear things have gotten rough around there recently.

 

[DCAA320]

Pilots being equal F-16 beats F-18, as far as the F-15, they are so old and G limited their tails might fall off.

 

[lowtimedriver]

Pilots being equal F-16 beats F-18, as far as the F-15, they are so old and G limited their tails might fall off.

Good to know that our air superiority fighter is g-limited. What a great thing obama did canceling the 22.

I could be wrong, but the 35 doesn't look like a good replacement for the USAF.

 

[DCAA320]

I could be wrong, but the 35 doesn't look like a good replacement for the USAF.

If they can't solve the engine problem it's not going to be a good replacement for anyone.

 

[Traderd]

If they can't solve the engine problem it's not going to be a good replacement for anyone.

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2014/09/15/bo...4235793&rank=7

"The U.S. Defense Department official in charge of the F-35 fighter jet program said he hopes to have a fix in place for a defective engine part by the end of the year."

"We're hoping before the end of the year, we'll have at least the prototype," he told reporters after a presentation on the acquisition program." If the prototype works, we'll put that in."

"Three weeks before the F-35A conventional Air Force model aircraft caught fire during takeoff June 23 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, it was flown in a manner designed to test the performance of its g-force, roll and yaw within designed limits known as the flight envelope."

"While the maneuver only last two seconds or so, it triggered an unexpectedly high level of rubbing between the titanium blade in the fan section of the F135 engine and the polyamide. The metal reached temperatures of as high as 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit ? compared to the normal level of about 1,000 degrees ? and resulted in micro-cracking."

 

[lowtimedriver]

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2014/09/15/bo...4235793&rank=7

"The U.S. Defense Department official in charge of the F-35 fighter jet program said he hopes to have a fix in place for a defective engine part by the end of the year."

"We're hoping before the end of the year, we'll have at least the prototype," he told reporters after a presentation on the acquisition program." If the prototype works, we'll put that in."

"Three weeks before the F-35A conventional Air Force model aircraft caught fire during takeoff June 23 at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, it was flown in a manner designed to test the performance of its g-force, roll and yaw within designed limits known as the flight envelope."

"While the maneuver only last two seconds or so, it triggered an unexpectedly high level of rubbing between the titanium blade in the fan section of the F135 engine and the polyamide. The metal reached temperatures of as high as 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit ? compared to the normal level of about 1,000 degrees ? and resulted in micro-cracking."

One would think that P&W has learned how to build a MIL engine by now. Apparently not.

 

[Traderd]

One would think that P&W has learned how to build a MIL engine by now. Apparently not.

I know what you mean. I'm not that familiar with the AF procurement history, but it would seem the 35 program has been far less than stellar.

 

[Traderd]

Possible end of production in 2017

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2014/09/19/re...2887570&rank=3

"The world's largest aerospace company may stop building the F/A-18 in 2017 and the F-15 in 2019 amid a slump in demand for the military aircraft in both the U.S. and abroad, according to an article published Thursday by Doug Cameron and Robert Wall of The Wall Street Journal."

They are still pushing the EA-18G Growler.

"Earlier this year at the Navy League's annual conference outside Washington, D.C., Boeing touted the effectiveness of its fourth-generation EA-18G electronic attack plane over Lockheed Martin Corp.'s F-35 stealth fighter. In presentations and advertisements, the company argued the Growler is more equipped than the Joint Strike Fighter for operating in areas with sophisticated enemy air defenses, known in military parlance as anti-access, area-denial, or A2-AD, environments."

?Stealth is perishable; only a Growler provides full spectrum protection," stated a slide in a briefing given by Mike Gibbons, vice president of F/A-18 and EA-18G programs for Boeing, in a not-so-subtle dig at the radar-evading, fifth-generation jet made by Lockheed."

 

[lowtimedriver]

I believe that the general feeling by mil aero experts is that the new generation of Russian fighters can outfly and outfight the F-35. That is a major concern to me. I hope that the cancellation of the F-22 doesn't come back to haunt us.

 

[DCAA320]

They just put the F-22 to work.

http://theaviationist.com/2014/09/23/f-22-isis-compound/