Acquiring a ship-borne fighter capable of long range will be critical for India’s naval power projection in the Indian Ocean region
By Vikas Gupta
Defence News of India, 18 Jul 22
In a significant demonstration of its ability to operate from Indian aircraft carriers, a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet swooped down the runway at the Indian Navy’s Shore Test Facility (SBTF) at Goa and took off at the end, jumping from the “ski-jump” which equips the decks of Indian aircraft carriers.
“Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet has successfully completed Operational Demonstration Testing at India’s Hansa Naval Station in Goa, India, demonstrating its ability to operate safely and efficiently from aircraft carriers in the Indian Navy,” The Boeing Company announced on Friday.
The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, which operates as the main fighter on the US Navy’s 11 aircraft carriers, is one of the main contenders in the Indian Navy’s tender for 57 multi – embedded roles (MRCBF). A serious competitor is the naval version of the French Rafale fighter – called Rafale Marine.
With obvious shortcomings in the Russian MiG-29Ks that India bought to operate from the INS Vikramaditya and INS vikrantand a lack of power in the naval version of the Tejas fighter, the acquisition of a capable, long-range MRCBF will be critical for India’s naval power projection in the Indian Ocean region.
In establishing the Super Hornet benchmarks last week, Boeing and the US Navy successfully demonstrated the ability of the latest Super Hornet variant – the Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet – to control three unmanned aerial vehicles ( UAV) from a manned fighter.
The combination of fighters and UAVs was tested in flight while carrying out a “teaming with unmanned crew (MUM-T)”. In this mode, a Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet acts as a mothership that remotely commands and controls three drones.
“Software development, fighter connectivity and flight testing were completed in less than six months. Crewed and uncrewed pairing is a key capability for the U.S. Navy,” Boeing said in a press release Friday.
During test flights, F/A-18 pilots entered commands into a tablet, which were processed and transmitted to UAVs via Block III fighter hardware. “The drones executed all commands given by F/A-18 pilots during testing over a two-week period,” Boeing said.
“This successful MUM-T demonstration represents an important step towards the Navy’s vision for distributed maritime operations. This highlights the potential of unmanned concepts to extend and expand the reach of the Navy,” said Scott Dickson, Boeing director for multi-domain integration.
“As part of a joint command and control network, UAV teams conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, led by the latest Super Hornets, equipped with networked data fusion and capabilities advances, would provide fighters across the Joint Force with a significant information advantage,” Boeing said.
Boeing system engineers connected Block III’s auxiliary processor, known as the Distributed Targeting Processor – Networked (DTP-N), with a third-party tablet to team up with the drones. The development of the software, the connection of the tablet to the fighter and all the flight tests were completed in less than six months.
“Block III Super Hornet is performing on its warranty of hardware – installed today – that is ready to receive the software of the future,” said Ben LeGrand, director of Mission Systems at Boeing. “Block III Super Hornet will integrate third-party systems and software with minimal modifications.”
With the largest digital touchscreen in any fighter cockpit, the Super Hornet claims to be an industry leader in developing and installing the hardware and processing power needed for digital capabilities and growth. future.
Using an American football analogy, Boeing says, “Future fighter pilots will be the quarterback of the skies, orchestrating commands and controlling drones from the integrated Block III touchscreen cockpit… The Block III Super Hornet is the bridge to the future and is a risk reducer for the Navy that now offers teamwork, networking and interoperability.
