Super Hornet beats overweight F-35C JORD combat radius requirements

With the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter for the U.S. Navy (and 80 for the hapless USMC) being 15 percent over-weight since its 2002 design assumptions, its alleged combat radius claims do not seem credible.

And, since 2006, the F-35 will not have external drop-tanks.

This opens up yet another reason for the U.S. Navy to stick with the Super Hornet Block II and move into a Block II+ and Block III roadmap. This would include the enhanced engines for the aircraft.

As this Boeing Defense graphic shows, combat radius for the Super Hornet has the potential to be versatile.

(click image to make larger)

My number one concern for the Super Hornet? That would be that they need to speed up the feature sets and reliability of the APG-79 radar. The spiral upgrade path to 2017 is way too slow considering when the first APG-79s were fielded.

Taking the billions wasted on the F-35C by dumping the project, will free up money for Super Hornet enhancements.

Finally, a successful clearing of the JASSM-ER low-observable cruise missile on the Super would add significant benefits to the fleet.

H/T-Vianney Riller Jr