JSF Nemesis

As I have mentioned before, the boss of the RAAF AVM Shepherd stated that the Super Hornet can easily match the SU-30 which is appearing in the region. If what he says is accurate, there is no reason for the Australian tax payer to waste almost $16 billion dollars on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Yup I have stated this before and sound like a broken record. But now there is more to help back up this statement.

Aviation Week ( Oct 15, 2007 issue ) has more flowery features on both the new AESA block II F Super Hornet and the G model electronic warfare aircraft. To be frank they always have really glowing articles on these topics so you have to take it with a grain of salt. What is important in this issue toward the back, is an article called "Bombs & Electrons" p.60. It has some words from the commander and "XO" of the U.S. Navy squadron, VFA-213, the "Black Lions". Next year they will be taking the first F/A-18F Block II, two seat Super Hornets on it's first carrier deployment. This aircraft is the same model the RAAF is getting. Their words are impressive in how they mention, what in my opinion is truly stunning avionics ability for this aircraft. They also stress the importance of the two man crew for attack missions. I have seen numerous things over the years about one man vs. two man crew on attack aircraft. This article should be looked at as the final word to anyone that thinks otherwise for most tactical targets. Note I mentioned most. For deep strike of fixed targets that aren't going anywhere, single seat aircraft can still attack many of these with ease using GPS/INS weapons. It just all depends on the situation. Here though when you read what the two VFA-213 guys state, obviously for high workload environments, the two man cockpit is the way to go. The U.S. Navy knows this and will not relent.

Originally back when the Super Hornet was being created, planners thought they could save a bunch of money by having mostly E model single seat aircraft and very few two seat aircraft. However something changed that line of thought. In the early to mid 1990's before the Super Hornet hit the fleet, the F-14 Tomcat was turned into a dual role aircraft with the ability to hit ground targets. They put a LANTIRN pod on it and the rest was history. It became a two seat interdiction aircraft of choice for theater commanders. Upon seeing this, the Navy changed the composition of what would make up their Super Hornet inventory. Today, around half of the total number of Super Hornet aircraft in the Navy are two seat F jets for better coordinated ground attack. The new Block II variant gives the F a significantly more powerful sensor suite. The back seat attack console for the F model Block II is stunning. Then of course even the back seater will have the fancy Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), a helmet with display built in so you can cue not only air targets, but ground ones. The APG-79 radar, ATFLIR, JHMCS, and various other displays and input devices really do live up the the over-hyped concept called "sensor fusion".

The Super Hornet Block II as it is moving along, will have more things added to it. The Navy only has so much money, otherwise some of these things would have been done sooner. One of those things is better networking with all of the fleet aircraft, ships, and other joint forces. Everything I am seeing now is that the Block II Super Hornet is shaping up well. Is the airframe still the same slow self? Yes it is. However everything else, even with some of it's quirky load-out combinations, still gives you a powerful strike aircraft. It will even do some F-22 isms in that when a mixed bag of Supers and older classic Hornets with less able sensors team up, the classis will get the benefit of the Super's sensor knowledge except here, they will have a joint network to help

This takes us back to the F-35 JSF. If one truly believes in where the Super Hornet is going, so much so as to say this is really what Australia needs, here these same people have painted themselves into a corner with their own argument. The F-111 is going away before it's time. The classic Hornet HUG upgrade going to hell in a hand basket. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is running into a development R&D/cost abyss. This means, there is nothing left for the same people that selected Super Hornet on a very thin justification and thereby letting the camel's nose (Boeing) under the tent, to keep from being overwhelmed with Boeing sales pitch logic. The rest of the front line fighter force of the RAAF is at extremely high risk of being populated by Super Hornets in the coming years. Consider the following when comparing the utility of the Super Hornet and Joint Strike Fighter in a Super-Hornet-is-great world:

Joint Strike Fighter
-Not needed as Super Hornet can "easily match" the SU-30
-Airframe cost around double of that of a Super Hornet going with circa 2015+/- dollars, around the time the first F-35s are to start arriving.
-One engine over water means even more money lost when the engine quits; potential loss of crew and loss of aircraft
-Less attack coordination options because of only a one man crew
-No internal jamming except for supposed limited front field of view X band jamming with APG-81. This isn't good in case of a negative stealth event.
-Survivability without jamming support ( Super Hornet G ) questionable vs. some lower band ( under 8GHz ) ground threats. The "Buick of Stealth" effect of F-35 JSF
-Air to Air (still to be demonstrated)
-More range than Hornet family (still to be demonstrated)

Super Hornet
-Here today with a an existing support system
-Air to Air ( again "easily match" )
-Better attack ability and coordination with two crew
-Two engines over water, good one engine performance for recovery.
-Built in defensive jammer and ALE-55, the towed decoy upgrade of the combat proven ALE-50 which works well.
-Single seat Block II E to fill out a large portion of the rest of the RAAF is fairly "inexpensive"
-Jamming Support with G kit for F models. This includes lower band jamming and various com jamming and subversion, all of which will be useful in COIN work too.
-Air to air refueling ability
-Safe and easy to fly. Very departure resistant.

In the end, Defence with it's wonderful hype of how great Super Hornet is, left out some things that may put it at risk; it's slow speed. However because it will become a good strike aircraft, Defence, along with all of it's hype, will have a very hard time justifying a more powerful future aircraft and trying to say the tax payer needs to waste billions based on the information provided them. Because Defence did such a great job hyping the ability of the Super Hornet, they now have no,... no justification for the Joint Strike Fighter. Politicians that don't like spending much on the military have just been given a very big club to beat down Defence with. It will be real easy. Oh the tangled web we weave,...etc... etc...