Boeing to integrate CFT on U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets

BOEING TO INTEGRATE CFT ON U.S. NAVY F/A-18 SUPER HORNET FIGHTER JETS

By Dario Leone
Feb 17 2018
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The integration of the CFT is one of the several improvements that will feature the Block III Super Hornet which Boeing is currently developing 

The Pentagon announced on Feb. 14, 2018 that Boeing has been awarded $219 million “for the design, development, test and integration of the conformal fuel tank (CFT) in support of the F/A-18.”

Majority of the work is to be carried out at El Segundo, California and St. Louis, Missouri. The job will be completed by 2022.

The integration of the CFT is one of the several improvements that will feature the Block III Super Hornet which Boeing is currently developing.

Along with the CFT in fact the aircraft will have a new engine (that will be the so called General Electric’s enhanced performance engine or EPE, that would increase the F414-GE-400’s power output from 22,000 lbs to 26,400 lbs) and the infrared search and track (IRST) 21 sensor system.

Noteworthy Block III Super Hornet is aimed to keep the aircraft relevant into the 2040s.

However unlike Boeing’s previous Advanced Super Hornet concept that was revealed in 2013, the new Block III aircraft is a more modest proposition that is designed to support the rest of the air wing including the Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighter, Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and the EA-18G Growler under the service Naval Integrated Fire Control Counter Air construct (NIFC-CA).

Nevertheless the Block III takes the existing upgrade path for the Super Hornet—including biennial hardware and software upgrades—and expands upon those. Indeed, some of the existing planned upgrades to the jet’s powerful Raytheon AN/APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, AN/ALQ-214 Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) Block IV suite and the Lockheed Martin AN/ASG-34 Infrared Search and Track pod—the IRST21 sensor—are part of the Block III package.

VFA-103 Low Viz Super Hornet print
This print is available in multiple sizes from AircraftProfilePrints.com – CLICK HERE TO GET YOURS. F/A-18F Super Hornet VFA-103 Jolly Rogers, AG201 / 166621 / 2007

Photo credit: Boeing

Artwork courtesy of AircraftProfilePrints.com


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Dario Leone

Dario Leone

Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

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