Good video. Interesting metrics.
A few points about barrel replacements and the Hornet family.
The origin of the F-18 (like the F-16) was to be flown for x amount of hours and then thrown into the trash. Unlike an F-15 which was built as a depot jet (about every 7 or so years goes into the depot for a rebuild).
Not bad for the Hornet family at the time as again its origin: to be an inexpensive aircraft to put out in numbers to face the then Soviet threat.
Fast forward into the post Cold War where we have not been building enough aircraft to replace the old ones.
Origins of the barrel replacement process are fun. Many years ago a near, brand-new C-model was wrecked. The fix was to replace the center barrel with a new one. It was never done before and was considered a one-off process.
Today, we have years of refurbishing an aircraft that was never supposed to be fixed up at a depot in this detail.
I suspect the workforce in the video does other refurb work to for each visit? Because other parts of the aircraft, like wings and other appliances need corrosion refurbishment too.
Each disassemble of a Hornet for this kind of work is a surprise. You just never know what kind of issues--above and beyond the expected--one gets when the jet is disassembled.
Due to the process, each airframe can only have one barrel refurbishment. And that is it. You can't do more years from now on the same airframe. Unless, somehow, someone comes up with a work-around.
With the failure of the F-35 to get to the fleet in time, it is a race to keep enough aircraft out there. Unless, they want to increase the buys of Super Hornets and reduce the tac-air in a carrier air wing from 4 squadrons to 3.
Australia and Canada have been part of a small number of barrel replacement efforts on their classic Hornets.
In any event: no classic Hornet, no Super Hornet, no F-35, will be able to take on emerging threats.
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