|
Super Bait
Super Hornets sets its sights on India
By Ajit K. Dubey
|
Lemoore Naval Base, US: The Lemoore naval base is one of the largest air bases of the US Navy, and going by their fleet of aircraft — the world’s fourth largest air force. Lemoore, located in the sprawling flatlands of central California is home to the majestic Super Hornets of the US Pacific Fleet. A visit to the base is the perfect opportunity to see the hi-tech Super Hornet in action from very close quarters.
It is rather easy to figure that the US Navy loves its latest Boeing IDS aircraft. Expounding on its virtues, the base Commander explained to the visiting journalists “The Super Hornet is a very capable aircraft. It has delivered on all that it promised to do for us and we are sure that it will do the same for you, if the IAF decides to go for it in the 126 Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA) contract,” said Captain Hal Murdoch, Commander of the Strike Fighter Wing of the US Pacific fleet based at the Lemoore base.
Outlining the capabilities of the aircraft that help it to carry out multiple roles and missions, Murdoch said that it could perform missions like Anti-air warfare, Close air-support, Suppression of enemy air defense, Maritime strike, Reconnaissance and buddy refueling capabilities, and this versatility would make it the weapon of choice for the IAF. Armed with advanced sensors like the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), Advanced Targeting forward looking infrared radar (AT-FLIR), ALE 50 towed decoy and other advanced sensors, it offers a great capability to tackle any kind of threat.
But brushing aside any comparisons with the Indian Sukhoi-30MKI, the main stay of the IAF at present, Murdoch said that the US Navy considered the Russian-built aircraft to be a capable and formidable aircraft, yet, “with the AESA, we think that we have an edge over the Su-30s.” He said that the Super Hornet had a vast experience of flying over active battle zones and was proving its competence, time and again.
Most of the US Navy pilots were of similar opinion. When questioned about the most important feature of the aircraft, the unanimous opinion was that it was the APG-79 (AESA), which made their aircraft the best in the business of combat aviation. “The AESA gives us an edge over the adversary. We can see them from long distances and even before they see us, we can lock them on, fire and return towards our bases,” said Lt Cdr Brian Douglas, who has flown the AESA-equipped Super Hornets. He added, “The APG-79 optimises situational awareness and provides superior air-to-air and air-to-ground capability. The beam enables the radar’s air-to-air and air-to-ground modes to interleave in real time, so that the pilot and crew can use both modes simultaneously, which add immensely to the aircraft’s capabilities.”
On further discussions on the capability of the AESA radar in operations, Lieutenant Commander Chris Evans observed, “with the presence of an AESA-equipped fleet, the capabilities of IAF’s non-AESA fleet would also be increased as the US Navy used the AESA-fitted aircraft to share battle zone information with the non-AESA aircraft and guided them to destroy targets during the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Highlighting yet another dimension of this unique radar, Greg Harris Commanding Officer of the ‘Striking Eagles,’ explained that “The AESA radar lends an edge to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet by increasing its air-to-air detection and tracking range, apart from enhancing its air-to-ground targeting capabilities”
|
|
| |
|
© Copyright Arrowhead Media Pvt. Ltd.
All rights reserved. |
