confused about the hornet

Email Me When A New Comment Is Made
Show Only Poster Name and Title Newest to Oldest

blacksmith RE:confused about the hornet 12/4/2004 1:14:45 PM

Low acceleration does not necessarilly lead to high energy bleed. What bleeds energy is high g. That's why the Navy has never had a 9-g airplane. The air force and eurocanards all brag about 9-g capability but what this really means is that they can pull an instantaneous 9-g turn and then they are trying to get energy back with huge gobs of fuel, assuming the pilot hasn't GLOCed. (G induced Loss Of Conciousness). The Hornet on the other hand doesn't pull a 9-g turn, doesn't expend all of its energy and can maintain its turn rate. When it gets into position on the other guy, it swings its nose into position to fire. The Hornet's biggest advantage is its agility. It can point its nose like no other aircraft without thrust vectoring. The agility advantage is somewhat dissipated by the advent of high offboresight missiles. But even the high offboresight missiles have gimbol limits. Now, which is better. The G-LOC inducing high g airplane. Or the dizzying agile airplane. And the answer is......neither. What's better is a pilot who flies to his plane's advantage while keeping the other guy from flying to his.

Quote Reply

USN-MID RE:confused about the hornet 12/4/2004 2:03:51 PM

" ...seems like one of Hornet's weaknesses is its relative slowness to accelerate in a dogfight, and inability to sustain high energy state." A common misconception. Hornets accelerate very, very well. The problem they have is with TRANSONIC acceleration. Once they break the sound barrier, or if they stay under 0.9M(typical air to air engagement speeds), it doesn't suffer the massive drag penalty. The Hornet is an exceptional dogfighter b/c of its ability to point its nose as needed. With today's high energy, high G missiles, that's a huge advantage, as you can point and shoot first. Certain Hornet maneuvers do bleed speed, but they're done intentionally. Furthermore, it can recover extremely well from a low energy state until it hits transonic, when it hits "the wall." In addition, it maneuvers in zones where other aircraft would lose all control authority, either from spinning out or due to the FCS limiters. With the Super Hornet, the FCS makes high alpha/low speed fighting a breeze. The SH pirouette is impressive, and is quite literally done on a dime.

Quote Reply