F/A-18 - Hornet for the carrier

hello viateur sky here and today we continue our slow paced marathon about the speedy fighter jets the hero in question needs no introduction it might not be the coolest all the most popular but it definitely both some charisma meet the mature teenager the f-18 Hornet is the fourth generation multi-purpose all-weather combat aircraft developed by Northup and McDonnell Douglas in the 1970s the unusual description is complicated by an unusual name it is mostly a carrier-based aircraft but also a land-based aircraft it is mostly a fighter jet but also an attack aircraft yes it can be said that it is pretty much an f-18 but also an a18 aircraft how is that possible we'll dive into that right now first and foremost we'll examine the history of this aircraft how and for what reason were these planes built I've already discussed in detail the formation as well as all the ups and downs of the 4th generation aircraft in the video about the first try at of its representatives so we'll just skip over this quickly in the 1960s the Pentagon initiated a program to create the tf-x a single multi-role aircraft to be used by most of the military the brainchild of this program became the f-111 a solid machine but it was too complex and expensive and by attempting to create an aircraft for everyone the f-111 program did not completely satisfy anyone at all in the end it all concluded with the US Air Force adopting the Jets and the Navy rejecting it leading to the creation of the f-14 we'll get back to this later in the meantime a new concept was developed based on the experiences from aerial battles in Korea and Vietnam a group of aviators and engineers worked on the theory of high energy maneuverability fighting this theory completely diverse from the old notions of air-to-air combat a light nimble fighter jet for dogfights versus the traditional heavy aircraft with powerful missiles for long range interception these ideas were supposed to materialize in the 4th generation fighter jet made the US Air Force nonetheless by the end of the 1960's with lobbies for nimble and light aircraft overlooked the US Air Force decided to work on a heavier machine it wasn't supposed to be as crazy as the f-14 and f-111 but it was still considered complex the f-15 Eagle was the result the lobby's for lighter jets and some military personnel were enraged as they believed that the f-15 with all its merits was not good enough to fulfill the needs on the mass scale and so the battle for the 4th generation fighter jet continued leading to the creation of a lighter aircraft under the guidelines of the lightweight fighter program or lwf in the early 1970s the military personnel announced their requirements the fighter jet needed to weigh around nine point one tant's be maneuverable and be able to function at speeds ranging from Mach 0.6 to Mach 1.6 at an altitude of 9 to 12 kilometers these requirements seemed pretty simple from the technical point of view but the tests became more complicated when it came to the operational and economic requirements the plane had to be simple cheap and reliable now we can focus on one of the main contenders of this program in the 1960s the primary creation of the north of company was the f5 this plane was almost the embodiment of the lightweight fighter jet concept simple light maneuverable and inexpensive it became quite popular many different versions of military aircraft were based on the f5 it's low cost became the key to the success in the global market thousands of fighters spread across the globe however at home it did not most similar popularity for its generation it was too simple as the industry raced to build the most advanced fighters possible by the time the new generation formed the f5 became too old nevertheless it had potential and was never released wrapped while a portion of the North of Engineers worked in an upgraded version of the f-5e tiger ii for export others thought about the possibility of making a more powerful fighter based on it a fighter which could fit the US Air Force requirements for the lwf program of course it was understood that a small tweak was not enough so Northup decided to use the f5 design and fitted with the latest tech craft in a plain wood needed quality the concept was to keep the plane's design but make it slightly bulkier adding a couple of powerful engines as well as a few improvements to the airframe design adding a leading edge root extension to the front of the fuselage increasing the lift and improving the handling of the aircraft also two vertical stabilizers instead of one were added to the tail of the plane unusual for the time vertical stabilizers improved maneuverability as they were tilted to the sides after realizing that the initial tilt was excessive the engineers Rhian guild the tilt vertically the project labeled the p5 30 seemed promising the name was bolstered by the addition of Cobra due to the design of leading-edge route extension this design added an overall attraction to using the snake names for planes during that generation for example the f-16 was nicknamed the Viper eventually p5 30 barely kept any resemblance to the f5 jet similarities could only be seen in some elements of the wings and the nose the aircraft became larger got the new landing gear and most of the fuselage was remodeled due to the more efficient turbofan engines which were chosen over the turbo jets even though they were larger thanks to the integrated design and the leading edge extension the wing area more than doubled in 1971 Northup entered the lwf program with a serious offer the p5 30 with a whole series of modifications became the P 600 and in the finals of the aviation tender it met the main challenger the General Dynamics model 401 the first was called the YF 17 and the second YF 16 within the aviation tender guidelines - YF 17 prototypes were built for the flight tests the rollout ceremony was held in April 1974 but even then there seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm from the potential clients presented in the end of 1973 the Y f-16 caused the stir of excitement however it was too early to call anything yet the prototype made its first test flight in June 1974 it spent 61 minutes in the air and did everything as planned with improvisation unlike its counterparts the second prototype kicked off its flight tests in August of the same year this pair spent 345 hours in the air while flight testing and competing with the Y f-16 the aircraft hit speeds of Mach 1.95 reached a g-force of nine point four and fluid altitudes of fifteen kilometers of fifty thousand feet the results were good but Northup was being left in the dust by General Dynamics the reason behind that was not that the Y of 17 was somehow bad but the fact that the Y of 16 was simpler easier to handle and having a single-engine Man's that it needed less maintenance another big advantage of the Y of 16 was that it had more advanced onboard electronics the plane received a fully working fly-by-wire system Northup didn't trust the fly-by-wire enough so they put the ECAs in the YF 17 a hybrid system with some things controlled by a computer and others directly by the pilot such conservatism was initially justified but the potential clients were not pleased Northup could have modernized their aircraft but General Dynamics already had it all rubbing more salton in the wound the YF 17 flight tests revealed a few teething problems which were not critical but they threatened to delay the adoption of the planes the race was over in January 1975 when the US Air Force officially declared Y f-16 the winner that seemed like an obvious conclusion for the story of the Cobra fighter but it was only just the beginning now the ripples of the sea and the smooth surface of the decks awaits us in the early 1970s as the Air Force worked through thick and thin of the fourth generation fighters the Navy was enjoying the latest f-14 jets that were being adopted the first few planes weren't perfect but there was no argument Tomcat was unbelievably cool it boasted great tech maneuverability and solid weaponry comparing it to other available fighters it stood out by a mile and that was the main issue the f-14 was built as a fighter whose mission was to defend the carrier battle groups from uninvited flying guests those kinds of tests were not a problem but any other form of combat was not possible on that machine at first it seemed like it should not have been an issue since the f4 phantom ii fighter and the a7 Corsair - as well as the a4 Skyhawk were available to be utilized as bombers and attack aircraft however these fighters were part of the previous generation they were getting outdated it was suggested to make a fighter which could also be used in air to ground battles in 1973 Grumman proposed a simplified version of the f-14 while McDonnell Douglas looked at modifying the f-15 to be carrier capable however the Congress was against this ideas the budget for the creation of fourth-generation fighters was already stretched beyond the limits and the Navy had already adopted the f-14 which was highlighted as the most expensive aircraft in history while the so-called simplified models of the plane were not all that simple which incurred to the corresponding costs the officials made it clear Northup and General Dynamics are already making simpler fighters so choose one of those that wasn't a bad idea if the Air Force in the Navy chose one aircraft then it would be possible to cut costs on unification even though this idea seemed good it never came to light it's just so that the military preferences at sea are slightly different to those on land shocking news I know hence both the Air Force and the Navy had different preferences which led them to choose why f-16 and why of 17 respectively the future f-16 fighter was a superb machine however the Y of 17 promised to be a better fit for the Navy certain design elements to engines and the sturdy landing gear all played a part as Northup started to lose all hope they received the Navy air combat fighter or na CF contract in May 1975 there was a lot of work to be done since tyf 17 was initially not built for the aircraft carrier it had to be modified to fit the US Navy requirements the fighter underwent many changes the airframe and the landing gear were both Princeton's while also widening the track in between the wheels of the main support additionally installing the equipment needed to work with an aircraft catapult as well as arresting gear the wings were changed to folding wings while also getting larger with and flaps optimized and the fuel tank capacity increased there were a couple of issues with the fueling system the thing is that the US Air Force and the US Navy used different methods of air refueling the y f17 had to feel with the help of a flying boom well in the case of the future f-18 fighter jet its received a system for the probe-and-drogue refuelling method the air dynamic brake was also reworked it was fitted right in between the vertical stabilizers on the plane and it is integrated in such a way that it is barely visible since the sea can deliver a fairly rough environment a lot of work went into choosing the specific materials with some vigorously tested and some altogether changed this somewhat painful process led to the plane gaining 4.6 tonnes in weight which led to its max takeoff weights to just over 23 tons of 51,000 pounds that is quite a lot but it was still a lot less than what its older sibling Tomcat could pull and yes-no hybrid controls were used as the fighter was fitted with the full slashed fly-by-wire well it didn't get the f16 sidestick it wasn't upgrade nonetheless and the sailors were pleased with a much better canopy view with other complex binding like in other carrier-based aircraft a simple but nice touch of course Northup couldn't do all this by themselves so they called upon McDonnell Douglas for assistance the collaboration helps both parties while Douglas invested capital into the project and shared his experience in carrier-based aircraft design northa provided the YF 17 as a foundation and managed part of the production of the future jet eventually the scope of modifications as upgrades as well as the influence of McDonnell Douglas led to the numbering of the jet changing from 17 to 18 in 1977 it was announced that the plane will carry the name hornet three planes were plans to be made on the base model the f-18 a fighter jet the a 18 a attack aircraft and two CDT f-18 for combat training however they all ended up to be practically the same with the fighter jet and the attack aircraft differing only in a few onboard systems and the combat training version just receiving the second seat in time they were all basically combined exactly for that reason the plane was labeled to the fa-18 a hornet in the early 1980s and the TF 18 to cedar was renamed fa-18 be sweet and simple the flight test began at the end of 1978 and the jet successfully completed them through quite an erratic schedule though not without complications throughout the tests the plane was slightly modified and altered with the most difficult changes happening to the airframe which was very intricate for the time with the leading edge needing extra attention all in all the fa-18 displayed immense potential right away being able to go through extremely aggressive piloting and somewhat masochistic trials by hitting the limits during takeoff and landing by the summer of 1979 the Hornet concluded its main stage of test flights at land-based airfields and was sent to its new home after preliminary preparation work was completed the plane made his first landing on board of the USS America aircraft carrier it was the third Kittyhawk class super carrier and was considered to be one of the largest in the fleet second only to the USS Nimitz prior to the arrival of the Hornets the carrier came back from a lengthy trip and went through a maintenance checkup and during the Norwalk qualification tests for the fa-18 the carrier came in handy for testing the ability to land and takeoff these tests didn't just help to adapt the plane to the carrier fleet but also helped to adapt the fleet to the new plane the Naval Aviation developed new joint fighter assault aircraft formations series production aircraft started to roll out in spring 1980 and in the next few years hundreds of Hornets were adopted by the US Navy as well as the US Marine Corp and later even by a few foreign air forces by that time though the production alliance between Northup and McDonnell Douglas started to strain as McDonnell Douglas took on most of the development and production side of things Northup created an even larger rift when they decided to get back into the market for light fighter aircraft and compete with the f-16 and designs the lightweight fighter f-18 l without any elements for use on an aircraft carrier all this while McDonnell Douglas promoted the f-18 which led to the two partner butting heads eventually mcdonnell-douglas pretty much bought the rights to be able to sell the fa-18 on the foreign market as Northup completely left the f18 l behind and focused on another lightweight fighter the f-22 shark which didn't do too well but later they made the b-2 spirit so they didn't lose out completely the partnership remained when it came to the FAA T however Northup became a mere subcontractor only delivering some parts of the fighter during the modernization of the aircraft in line with the MA CF program after adding the fly-by-wire system the Aviators looked even further a large part of avionics was upgraded or replaced which led to the f-18 becoming one of the first planes to have a full glass cabin with multifunctional electronic displays and a considerable part of the controls being operated by a computer adding to that the architecture of the new avionics allowed for an easier dictation of the fighter to various combat objectives be the fighter objective or dealing with reconnaissance or even an attack type objectives it is somewhat ironic that finally after four attempts a multi-purpose aircraft could be built the potential was immense and already then experts share the view that in the future this jet could replace the f-14 the f-18 is powered by a pair of general electric f404 turbofan engines it was initially developed for the f-15 but the Eagles got the pratt whitney engines just like those in the f-16 yeah the guy from TWU got lucky later based on the previous developments the YJ 101 turbofan engine was created which was placed on the YF 17 fighter the thrust in those engines was not the most important component but rather the fuel consumption efficiency reliability and their lifespan carried a greater value the bypass ratio of this engine wasn't particularly high but it minimized the load on to the structure it wasn't just an interesting concept this idea arose due to many difficulties the larger aircraft faced when they were fitted with high thrust turbofan engines as it ruined the engines reliability the f-14 fighter budist EF 30 engine was a good example of that the thrust of the f404 built on the foundation of the why J 101 reach 79 kilonewtons with afterburner which was not at all impressive the fiery heart of the f16 burned nearly twice as much and it also caused a few issues at the beginning but later the f404 engine proved to be quite worthy and spread across the world beside the fa-18 the engine source implementation within the French Rafael aircraft and the Indian Tejas aircraft the American Nighthawk f-117 and the Korean T 50 s not to be mistaken with the Russia T 50 even the Swedish Griffon got the taste of these engines as Volvo partnered with General Electric and produced a localized version of the engine the RM 12 today the newest versions of the f404 engine are used in the promising training aircraft Boeing TX which should replace the outdated t-38 Talon jet the f404 engine can get the f-18 up to speeds of mach 1.8 and lift the plane to the 15 kilometers or 50,000 feet altitude these characteristics clearly show a step away from the original ideas of super high-speed flights with an exclusive use of missile interception the prior models like the f-14 and the f-15 could reach Mach 2 point 3 to point 5 and even the aircraft of the third generation would be disappointed for example the Phantom 2 could fly at Mach 2 point 2 while the f-18 only goes up to 1.8 around 1,900 km/h seems kind of pointless but that happens due to the change in the requirements even though the fourth-generation lightweight fighter jets were slower they were a step ahead in all other features not only combat related the speed limit was influenced by the fixed air intake without the possibility of changing its configuration and flight also the wing has a low sweep angle which produces great maneuverability and reduces the minimal speed which helps when the aircraft is operated on an aircraft carrier but makes it difficult to get this rig to high speeds most of the other planes could easily beat it in a straight line but would lose in all other aspects even though the f-14 had a wider range of abilities it was to put it mildly more complex and more expansive well here the simplicity was compensated by many positives the lack of overcomplicated mechanics simplified the construction of the jet which lowered its price as well as the maintenance costs over the jets lifetime the fa-18 got around a six thousand our flight lifespan which is a very large number for aircraft carrier based yes they're land-based colleagues mostly have to deal with more mild conditions the engine also carried the trend of simplicity it wasn't just reliable while also having a solid lifespan but most importantly it was easy to maintain thanks to its placement and it's been quite modular a mechanics crew of four to five people can take the engine off and replace it with another in about 40 to 50 minutes a task which is usually quite complicated and requires a lot more time and effort due to all the J's capabilities and its practicality it became not only a military favorite but was also praised by the scientists by the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 90s a flying laboratory based on the Hornets was used by NASA for the HAR V or high alpha research vehicle trials in supermaneuverability the stargazers loved the plane in general and it is still being used in many research projects the first-generation f-18 a and B Jets were fitted with the basic of Yonex and the hughes aan a PG 65 radars these planes were the first ones to fly under the US Navy flag in the late 1970s by 1984 the US Marine corpse also started receiving these Jets by the end of the 1980s the base models were replaced by the C single seater and the D double cedar models the aircraft received an upgrade in onboard electronics and a widened scope of weaponry which added up to the original missiles on nine available head points and the classic m61a1 vulcan gatling cannon speaking of which there is something interesting about the Vulcan the leading-edge extension of the wing is quite thin so nothing could be mounted in it and the front edge lifts slightly - which means that the standard placement of the cannon is being displaced either by the chine or by the big canopy it all led to a quite radical but interesting approach the cannon was placed right in front of the cabin like in the good old and here you thought what are those weird holes in the plane's nose finally the Rockets the C and D models of the plane got some new toys to play with the agm-65 maverick and the agm-84 harpoon the names insinuate a particular focus on surface targets speed on land or water the multi-purpose agenda is growing adding to the surface focused weaponry the Jets did not forget about the sky so it also got fitted with the aim-120 amraam the first time the fa-18 got into a fight was in 1986 with Hornets utilized in the operation Eldorado Canyon against Libya it seems as though the US Naval pilots had a relationship of their own with the Libyans since the f-14 also had its first combat during the 1981 dogfights in the Gulf of Sidra after all that the f-18 was pretty much used everywhere when the fleet went the Persian Gulf the Red Sea the Mediterranean Sea metaphorically speaking the aircraft carrier is like Uncle Sam's baseball bat and the Hornets are the nails sticking out of it a large leap in innovation happened when the f-18 E and F fighters were made both being labeled the Super Hornet the Jets were built in the early 1990s under the guidance of the program which focused on replacement of the outdated models such as the Asics intruder and a seven car share to attack planes as well as an addition to the f-14 fighters which were so expensive and complex that the military refused to purchase new units the Super Hornet became the new generation even though its design is similar to its predecessor it got an increase in size which you might not see with the naked eye it gained an extra meter in length the wingspan increased by 22% and its max takeoff weight soared from twenty three and a half tons to thirty tons the f404 engine was swapped to a more powerful f-14 which gives a twenty-five percent thrust boost now reaching 98 kilonewtons due to the new engines the air intake also had to be altered being one of the easiest to see changes of the plane add into the modernization of the plane during the 2010s the f-18 received optional conformal fuel tanks which attached to the top of the fuselage some versions of the f-15 and f-16 have similar solutions the onboard electronics were reworked and improved new computers and radars were added this use a PG 73 was changed to the Raytheon a PG 79 radar with the a ESA antenna in mm in terms of weaponry it could carry basically everything listed under the nature regulations in the end the super hornet not only replaced all the outdated jets but also pushed aside the older brother the f-14 the f-18 became the master of all aircraft carriers as it was a fighter an attack aircraft and a scout all-in-one and with the arrival of the electronic warfare variant the ea-18g growler the ea-6b Prowler also stood aside after holding us parts since the 1970s Hornets only recently got worthy competitors as the aircraft carrier started to fill up with the modified f-35 lightning ii jets the rivalry between the two planes is especially evident within the political and corporate spheres boeing took it upon themselves to produce the super hornet after their merger with McDonnell Douglas and that's where the competition would Lockheed Martin is seen have you ever noticed in many of the articles where the f-35 is criticized for being too expensive unreliable and just completely useless the noble and impartial experts tend to rally behind such statements as why do we even need this jet when there is a perfectly crafted f-18 fighter available from Boeing check the link in the description and don't forget to use the promo code for a discount the Pentagon isn't too happy with this situation either yes the f-35 is pricey and the production is a little slow which means that the Navy and the Marines are still using the older planes and even though the super hornet is a great fighter buying it further creates a risk of building a fleet that will soon become morally dated boring knows that and is attempted to fight by developing upgraded versions of the plane that can actually compete with the fifth-generation jets up to 2030s although the 18s didn't become the epic bestseller like the 16s it found its place in the US Navy and the US Marines as well as other militant structures including foreign armies the first generation of a B C and D Hornet produced around one and a half thousand Jets and the second generation of E and F Super Hornet already has six hundred fighters produced with more coming most of the fleet is of course under the control of the US Navy these fighters are constantly being exported although mostly the land-based models since none of the US allies has such aircraft carriers the Jets can be seen in Air Forces of Malaysia to wait Finland Spain Switzerland well Australia after ordering 75 Jets was even able to start its own production of these planes the largest foreign operator of this jet is Canada other options were also considered but the f-15 was too expensive and just difficult to maintain and the f-16 was the polar opposite too simple for the requirements placed by the Canadians they even considered the North Oaks f-18 l but when the project was cancelled the obvious choice was the fa-18 from 1982 to 1988 the great white north received 138 modified c f-18 fighters which were later modernized and are still in use today it's the Canadian fighters that are beautifully painted red and the Canadian artists didn't stop there they decided to paint a canopy at the bottom of the nose section to confuse the enemy during the dogfight since it is difficult to tell whether the plane is upside down or not at the moment the Canadians just like the rest of the world are considering whether to buy the older and cheaper Super Hornet or to order the new lightning - which is more expensive funny enough the Canadians were swaying towards the f-18 but then Bourne clashed with one body of the CSeries and Canada froze the contract let's end it on a high note well the Air Force has the Thunderbirds using the f16 jets to show off some beautiful air demonstrations the Navy has the Blue Angels in the f-18 fighters enjoy the view and if suddenly you see the Hornet above your head let it be these guys since they prefer aerobatics to combat clear skies fast flights and soft landings to you [Music]

Channel: Skyships Eng

Views: 745,407

Keywords: F/A-18, FA-18, F-18, Hornet, naval fighter, Boeing F/A-18, Boeign fighter, f-18 fighter

Id: GtKcITcavME

Length: 29min 6sec (1746 seconds)

Published: Thu May 28 2020