FA-18 replacement

[Dr Mordrid]

Link....

Boeing displays concepts for F/A-18E/F replacement

Boeing has started publicly marketing two concepts for a stealthy, tailless, supercruising strike fighter to replace its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet after 2025.

Both twin-engine concepts, which feature optionally-piloted cockpits, resemble a modern-day replacement for the ill-fated A-12 Avenger. The carrier-based stealth bomber project was cancelled in 1991 amid cost overruns and technical problems.

But the provisionally 9g-rated airframes also reflect the air-to-air performance once provided by the Grumman F-14, which the Super Hornet finally replaced in 2006, says Dave Thieman, a programme development official in Boeing's advanced global strike systems division.

Talk of replacing the F/A-18E/F, which entered service from 1999, may seem premature, but the earliest stages of the navy's acquisition process have already started, Thieman says.

"They're going to need [replacement] vehicles beyond 2025," he says.
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[dZeus]

doesn't seem to be a UAV. I'd think that by now they've got enough cpu horsepower and experience writing flying algorithms to replace humans by programme routines.

[degrub]

no vertical control surface ? going to be mighty tricky to control on single engine. i presume they are planning on thrust vectoring ?

[Dr Mordrid]

Probably like the F-35 Lightning II - option exists for it to be UAV or manned if DOD opts for it.

With fly-by-wire and vectoring no stabilizers enhances stealth and maneuverability -in fact, it's better to have an inherently unstable design in order to enhance maneuverability.

[degrub]

true - i remember fondly the inverted pendulum control law we had to build and test in the lab. Goal was to keep the pendulum as straight as possible without going off the table