AESA Super Hornet shooting to new records

By Chuck Wagner
PEO for tactical aircraft
Public affairs

As “Slime” tells it, an air-to-air missile in the past has waited impatiently under the aircraft, screaming to the pilot – “Come on, let’s go, shoot, shoot!”

The tables turned recently. This Super Hornet had the enemy locked on target - the pilot’s finger tightened on trigger - but the strike stalled until the aircraft flew within missile range. For the first time ever, the aircraft’s systems were tugging on the missile to hurry.

It was a switch in tactics that gladdened Capt. Aaron “Slime” Bowman. As lead for the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) integrated product team, he understands that finally putting the proverbial horse before the cart means his team has pushed out the distance at which the Navy’s premier fighter-attack aircraft can fire upon an adversary.

“In the past, the weapon’s capability exceeded that of the aircraft. The missile could reach it, but the radar couldn’t see it yet. The plane had to wait for the radar to catch up,” said Bowman, holding out two flattened hands to represent approaching aircraft.

An Oct. 19 test shoot over Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Calif. showed an AESA-equipped radar can greatly improve the aircraft’s targeting range. The precise distance is confidential, but the resulting advantage is not.

“I can see the target now at a range where I can’t shoot the weapon yet,” said Bowman, holding his hands at arm’s length. “This time, the aircraft’s capability exceeded that of the weapon. That was never the case before.”

The test fire was part of AESA developmental testing by Patuxent River Naval Air Station’s F/A-18 and EA-18G program (PMA-265). The AESA team wants to judge if the technology behind this advanced radar system will live up to some very high expectations.

During the test, two F/A-18F Super Hornets took off from China Lake Naval Air Station, Calif. As a C-130 released a target drone over the operational area, the Super Hornets circled in for the attack. They ripped past the drone on the first run. Doubling back, the lead aircraft fired an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) when the target entered the weapon’s strike zone. The drone still would have been off the scope of the aircraft’s previous radar system.

Program team-members saw the missile launch from the Super Hornet and thrust toward the drone as they simultaneously gazed into monitors at locations across the country: China Lake and El Segundo, Calif., Patuxent River, and at Boeing’s factory in St. Louis, Mo. They were viewing the same cockpit displays facing the aviators. They could overhear all radio communications. Everyone was living the moment in real-time, a glimpse at how all Naval aviation warfare could be waged in the future.

The missile passed within lethal range of the drone – a phenomenally precise result at a launch distance never before achieved from a Super Hornet. The program sees it as one step to greater feats.

“We went out there to prove the range was bigger than anything we’ve done before, and we did that. But it is not by any means a maximum-range shot. We did not push the envelope during this test. There is more to come,” said Bowman.

The developmental testing has demanded a tremendous amount of team sweat and commitment, Bowman said, especially integrating the AESA system into the Super Hornet and preparing each test fire.

The program intends future tests to include the Super Hornet firing an AMRAAM while maneuvering, and at greater distances from the target. Each test shot could potentially set a new distance record for air-to-air missile strikes with the Super Hornet.

The program already has dropped a 2,000-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition from an AESA-equipped Super Hornet over one month ago. This week, the team is scheduled to test a Super Hornet drop with two JDAMs, crossing bomb’s below the aircraft to reach targets on opposing sides of the aircraft, yet another first for the aircraft. In January, the Super Hornet will conduct more AMRAAM fires.

Each test integrates all the latest systems that are part of the Super Hornet Block II aircraft: the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing system, the Multifunction Information Distribution System, the Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared pod and both the ALR-67v3 and IDECM electronic warfare systems.

“What we don’t want is to test using only the AESA, then have someone ask the question, ‘is it compatible with this system or with that system?’” said Bowman. “We are integrating all these systems, and will be able to say, ‘yes, we did that’. It is a full-mission capable aircraft, and that is how we want to test it.”

AESA developmental testing began in July 2003 and is preparing the AESA for operational evaluation next spring. With several startling shots on record to this point, expectations surrounding AESA testing “can’t get much better,” said Bowman.

Cutline:
(U.S. Navy photo)
An F/A-18F Super Hornet launches an advanced medium-range air-to-air missile during developmental testing for the advanced electronically scanned array system at Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Calif. Oct. 19.