F-35C Unable to Get Aboard Ship, really?

[Recovering LSO]

And what was the reasoning there? I have wondered about the re-design to 3 wires

Has to do with launching big wings off cat 2 without fouling the LA. As it stands now with CVN-68 class carriers, everything but legacy Hornets foul the LA when they're on cat 2, its actually the outboard most JBD plate on cat 2 that does it.... There is apparently some design magic in CVN76 et all that prevents this - perhaps an extra angle or so between BRC and FB...?

 

[MIDNJAC]

Has to do with launching big wings off cat 2 without fouling the LA. As it stands now with CVN-68 class carriers, everything but legacy Hornets foul the LA when they're on cat 2, its actually the outboard most JBD plate on cat 2 that does it.... There is apparently some design magic in CVN76 et all that prevents this - perhaps an extra angle or so between BRC and FB...?

Ahhh makes sense. It was nice to bypass the cat 1 conga line and go VFR direct to the cat from the LA.....made for a much quicker qual and less time needlessly sitting in the jet. So does that mean that Reagan/Bush can put Rhinos on cat 2 during recovery ops?

 

[NightVisionPen]

It had to do with the standard number 4 wire allowing the A-12 to have too much roll out. Not sure exactly what, but the roll out distance needed to be reduced and the switch to 3 wires was the fix they went with.

 

[Jim123]

The Navy sold it to congress as just another flavor of Hornet with a good pitch and it is actually one of the better procument stories out there, despite canted pylons.

I have increasingly come to believe this over the past couple years.

Back in the late 1990s when ENS Jim was just starting out and the E/F was close to hitting the fleet, the CNO at the time praised the jet with words to the effect of it being the right aircraft at the right time. ENS Jim also heard the critics saying things about how the E/F finally met the original range/payload specs that the A never met, how calling it an F-18 was such an obvious ruse... and ENS Jim wondered if what people say about officers with stars on their collars being half-politician... be that as it may, looking back I get the the feeling that the old man saw the writing on the wall and he knew exactly what he was doing.

 

[Pugs]

F-18, H-60, CH-53...?

To claim the F/A-18 has much in common with the YF-17, the loser in the LWF competition is absurd.

 

[SteveG75]

Heck, half the A-6E's that the Navy bought were rebuilt A-6A's. Still waiting for the first F/A-18E that is a rebuilt F/A-18A. Calling the new airplane a Hornet was pure politics.

 

[Brett327]

Heck, half the A-6E's that the Navy bought were rebuilt A-6A's. Still waiting for the first F/A-18E that is a rebuilt F/A-18A. Calling the new airplane a Hornet was pure politics.

What would you call a larger, nearly identical aircraft then?

Brett

 

[Jim123]

What would you call a larger, nearly identical aircraft then?

Umm, the "New for 2001 Toyota Camry of strike fighters?"

 

[Brett327]

Umm, the "New for 2001 Toyota Camry of strike fighters?"

You're gonna need a "do not attempt" disclaimer for that.

Brett

 

[Pugs]

What would you call a larger, nearly identical aircraft then?

Brett

I understand the E has about 15% part commonality with the A-C. It was sold as an "upgrade" but that was a budget game and little else.

 

[Brett327]

Maybe so, but it's still essentially a bigger (super) hornet.

 

[Recovering LSO]

To claim the F/A-18 has much in common with the YF-17, the loser in the LWF competition is absurd.

ok, but the post in question:

one aircraft that fits multiple services it doesn't seem to pan out.

the f-18 is one aircraft that has successfully served multiple services...

 

[helolumpy]

To claim the F/A-18 has much in common with the YF-17, the loser in the LWF competition is absurd.

Since the H-60 B, F, and H are total redesigns of the Blachawk helicopter (structurally, the aircraft are completely different), then the Seahawk has as much in common with the Blackhawks as the Hornet has with the YF-17 Cobra

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=2381

 

[707guy]

What I was getting at was that an aircraft designed from the bottom up as a multi-service aircraft doesn't seem to pan out - eg. the F-111.

I'd have to agree with the Super Hornet being "one of the better procurment stories out there." Nice thing is that the more Super Hornets that are purchased the cheaper (relatively) they will be vs. the skyrocketing cost of the F-35. More units produced = cheaper units - one of the main ideas behind the F-35 was that it would be cheaper because of the number of units that were thought be needed to replace the F-16/Harrier world-wide.

 

[BusyBee604]

I had heard the the BUSH was designed with many of the features that the FORD class was going to employ. 3 wires was one of those features.

If memory serves, MIDWAY came out of her 4-year overhaul/conversion in 1970, with only 3 wires. She had received a new "supercarrier" big deck among other major changes including elimination of her class's unique 3rd (waist) catapult.
BzB