TYPE REVIEW | SUPER HORNET AND GROWLER

PERHAPS NO BUDGETS were as disappointing for Boeing as those of FY 2015 and FY 2016, which contained no requests for additional Super

Hornets or Growlers. Both came at a time when the company was facing the potential closure of its production line. Yet in each year, despite the initial budget submitted by the Department of Defense, the US Navy put forward an unfunded list of priorities requesting additional aircraft: 22 Growlers in FY 2015 and 12 Super Hornets in FY 2016. Through diligent e� orts by Boeing and a

Congressional realization of naval aviation strike � ghter and electronic attack needs, at least a portion of these requests were ultimately funded by Congress and passed into law. Fifteen Growlers were funded in FY 2015, while 12 aircraft — seven Growlers and � ve Super Hornets — followed in FY 2016.

The FY 2017 budget, released on February 9, 2016, formally requested two Super Hornets, using overseas contingency operations (OCO) funds. The Navy also indicated in its budget that it will buy 14 Super Hornets in FY 2018. Not only do these announcements (in addition to last year’s contract for � ve

Super Hornets) bode well for addressing the Navy’s current Super Hornet shortfall, estimated last year by chief of naval operations ADM Jonathan Greenert to range between 24 and 36 strike � ghters, but they will sustain Boeing’s production line until mid- to late 2018, and potentially beyond, thereby positioning the manufacturer well for additional domestic strike � ghter, Growler, and international Super Hornet sales as force requirements are reassessed in the early 2020s.

Today, Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet forms at least half of the carrier air wing’s tactical strike � ghter force and the EA-18G

As has been the case for the past few years, the beginning of 2016 found Boeing anxiously awaiting release of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget and wondering whether additional F/A-18E/F Super Hornets or EA-18G Growlers would be included — and, if so, how many?

report: Brad Elward

VX-31 ‘Dust Devils’ at NAWS China Lake remains heavily engaged in development work for the EA-18G Growler. Jamie Hunter

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Growler tackles the electronic attack mission for the Navy and joint forces. The Navy expects the Super Hornet to continue serving into the 2030s and perhaps even the early 2040s, while the Growler could be � ying into the 2050s. Combat Aircraft recently spoke with Boeing F/A-18 vice-president Dan Gillian about the current state of the Super Hornet and Growler programs, and how the company views the near-term and long-term prospects for additional aircraft and capability insertions.

Programs of recordThe o� cial Navy program of record, including the 12 aircraft recently authorized in the FY 2016 budget, stands at 568 Super Hornets and 160 Growlers. According to Boeing, the company is ‘in the process of slowing production down from three aircraft a month to two a month’. Coupled with the FY 2015 purchase, this rate will ‘take production out through the end of 2017 at a rate of two per month’. Gillian said Boeing will deliver its � rst new jet at the reduced rate in April of this year.

He added, ‘[The] additional airplanes contained in the FY 2016 budget — � ve Super Hornets and seven Growlers — will extend, at the rate of two per month, production out into the middle of 2018’. In early 2015, reports from both Congressional armed services committees hinted that the additional aircraft under consideration might be two-seat F/A-18F variants pre-wired for possible future conversion to Growlers, as were 12 of the

F/A-18Fs built for Australia. However, Gillian said there is ‘an ongoing discussion’ about whether the Super Hornet purchase will be the single-seat E or two-seat F versions. ‘Previous discussions on FY 2016 were focused on Es’, he says, but a � nal decision is expected during the � rst quarter of 2016.

Boeing is building Lot 38 aircraft, which includes the balance of the 12 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Growlers, as well as the 24 Growlers and 11 Super Hornets contracted in July 2014. Lot 39, scheduled to begin production in 2017, will take in the 15 FY 2015 Growlers, while Lot 40 includes the recently-announced FY 2016 purchase.

Capacity and capabilityBoeing’s perspective on the near-term issues facing the Super Hornet and Growler programs is two-fold: capacity and capability. ‘Broadly, and for both programs, there is a discussion of capacity’, Gillian said. For the Super Hornet, that means ‘the right number of new aircraft versus service-life extension programs’. For Growlers, the question is, ‘what is the right force structure mix? How many per carrier air wing do you end up with, what does the expeditionary force look like, and what is the right number for the � ght of the future?

‘And there is the capability story’, Gillian added. ‘If you are going to have Super Hornet and Growler as the main part of your carrier air wing through 2040, you are going to have to bring more capability to both platforms over time. And I think that

is the hallmark of the Super Hornet and Growler program — its evolutionary capability that’s delivered on-time, on-cost, that works the � rst time. So we are certainly engaged across a broad number of fronts.’

The right mixThe question of how many Super Hornets are needed is related to three principal factors, namely delays in the F-35C Lightning II program, reduced aviation budgets, and the high number of � ight hours on the Super Hornet and ‘legacy’ Hornet � eet caused by a heavy overseas operational tempo.

Although the Navy’s F-35C is currently scheduled to achieve initial operational capability (IOC) in August 2018, the January 2016 annual report from the o� ce of the director, operational test and evaluation, suggests that this date may move further to the right due to continuing problems in developmental testing. Moreover, the Navy has known for several years that continuous overseas operations over the past decade have placed increased wear on its strike � ghter force. As of January 2016, the Super Hornet � eet had � own roughly 44 per cent of the total � ight hours available within the aircraft’s 6,000-hour design life.

The ‘legacy’ Hornet � eet is even more stressed, over 91 per cent having over 6,000 � ight hours and a number of airframes undergoing a comprehensive service life extension program (SLEP) to reach 8,000 hours, with a few even targeting 10,000 hours. The end result

A VAQ-141 ‘Shadowhawks’ EA-18G takes o� from the USS George Washington (CVN 73). At the time, the George Washington and its embarked air wing, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, was en route to conduct a hull swap with the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) after serving seven years as the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier in Japan. US Navy/MCS Bryan Mai



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means that Super Hornets have been needed to fill the gap left while these aircraft made their way through depot for sustainment and modernization.

According to a recent statement before the House Armed Services Committee by Lt Gen Jon M. Davis, the US Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation, the Navy’s predicted strike fighter inventory need is 1,240 aircraft, of which 820 are split between some 40 carrier-based strike fighter squadrons and two reserve squadrons. Davis said: ‘This fleet flight-hour capacity will not be adequate to meet operational commitments out to the 2040s’. Hence the 24-36 aircraft shortfall ADM Greenert referenced last year.

Even as this issue goes to press, said Gillian, ‘There are ongoing discussions with the US Navy about the continued need for additional Super Hornets. The five Super Hornets [added in FY 2016] certainly start to work against that 24-36 number, but there are a lot of new airplanes out there in addition to the five that are required to get to that 36.

‘But it is really part of the bigger discussion about the strike fighter shortfall. F/A-18 Super Hornets and F-35Cs will be complementary capabilities on the aircraft carriers throughout the 2030s and to 2040. In the 2030s, you reach two

Above: A VX-9 ‘Vampires’ F/A-18E tears low and fast across the Mojave desert scrub near Death Valley. Peter Steehouwer

Right: A VAQ-209 EA-18G launches an AIM-120 AMRAAM on September 1, 2015. José M. Ramos

An F/A-18E Super Hornet from VFA-143 ‘Pukin’ Dogs’ prepares to launch from the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) for an Operation ‘Inherent Resolve’ mission. US Navy/MCS Seaman Lindsay A. Preston


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Above: The cockpit of the Super Hornet and Growler features a touch-screen up-front controller. Jamie Hunter

Right page, clockwise from top: The VAQ-130 ‘Zappers’ CAG-bird (BuNo 168268/AC-500) during work-ups at NAS Fallon. Tom Gibbons

Naval aviators praise the Super Hornet and Growler as a real pilot’s aircraft. Jamie Hunter

The US Navy and Boeing have demonstrated use of a Windows-based tablet integrated with the mission system in the EA-18G. Boeing

squadrons of Super Hornets and two squadrons of F-35s in the carrier air wing, so you have 25 more years of Super Hornet on the carrier decks. The 24-36 aircraft will help make sure you have the right number of Super Hornets there, but our ongoing efforts to do a service life extension program for the E/F will help. And we think there is a potential need for additional aircraft beyond the 24-36 as well.’

The Super Hornet service life extension program refers to the Navy-designed Service Life Assessment Program (SLAP), tasked with determining what is necessary to take the F/A-18E/F airframe service life beyond 6,000 flight hours. As Gen Davis told the HASC, the Super Hornet, like the F/A-18A to D, ‘is executing a three-phased SLAP which commenced in 2008 and is expected to last through 2024. The goal is to analyze fleet actual usage versus structural test data to design a program to extend F/A-18E/F service life from 6,000 flight hours [as designed] to 9,000 flight hours via a follow-on service-life extension program’. Davis added: ‘The initial phases of the F/A-18E/F SLEP began in 2014 to

‘In the 2020s the Super Hornet and F-35C can work together in that similar F-15/F-35 mix and it could be very effective. The Super Hornet has a very compelling story for the air-to-air engagement in the 2020s when partnered with the F-35’ DAN GILLIAN

develop and produce engineering change proposal kits to upgrade life-limited locations on the aircraft that are revealed by the SLAP analysis.’

According to Boeing, ‘There are ongoing discussions about inventory management and what Boeing can do — new airplanes, service-life extension program — to help them have the right number of Super Hornets to work with the F-35 on the carrier deck through 2040 and potentially beyond.’

On the Growler side, the desired number is likewise driven by force structure, but in a different sense than the Super Hornet. As with the EA-6B Prowler squadrons, Growlers provide electronic attack and electronic warfare support for both Navy and joint service operations. Currently there are 15 EA-18G Electronic Attack Squadrons (VAQ) — carrier-based and expeditionary — with an additional two scheduled to complete transition in 2016 and 2017. Carrier-based VAQ squadrons typically deploy with five Growlers, although recent studies and fleet exercises have shown that seven to eight aircraft may be needed to maximize



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the type’s e� ectiveness. Fleet exercises in 2013 (‘Trident Warrior 2013’) demonstrated the bene� t of operating two Growlers with an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye platform, and the Fleet Experimentation 2015 (FLEX 15) last summer showed how e� ective using three Growlers can be. As aviation analyst Dave Majumdar reported in National Interest this past December, ‘With three separate points, the Navy expects to be able to narrow down the location of multiple mobile threat-emitters to a narrow enough ‘ellipse’ as to generate a weapons-quality track in real time’. This tactic, Majumdar explained, ‘works best when there are three Growlers working in conjunction with each other — but an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye can substitute for one of the EA-18Gs.’

The Navy has been studying its electronic attack needs for the past two years and is looking to make a follow-on quantity decision in the 2018-19 timeframe.

Remaining viableThe most signi� cant recent development with the Super Hornet has been the Boeing and Lockheed Martin pod-mounted infra-red search and track (IRST) system. The Lockheed Martin IRST21 sensor — a next-generation derivative of

the F-14D Tomcat’s AN/AAS-42 IRST — is placed at the front end of a modi� ed 480-gallon fuel tank and mounted on the aircraft’s centerline fuselage station. The long-range sensor uses IRST technology to detect, track and engage threats with air-to-air weapons. According to Lockheed Martin literature, ‘In addition to detecting airborne threats, IRST signi� cantly enhances multiple-target resolution compared to radar, providing greater discrimination of threat formations at longer ranges’. Data from the IRST sensor can be fused with other on-board F/A-18 sensor data such as radar and electronic emissions ‘to provide maximum situational awareness to the war� ghter.’

‘Right now’, Gillian said, ‘our focus on IRST is executing the podded solution — Block I, Block II — the evolutionary path of the podded IRST. The Block I IRST is making progress; we are in LRIP I, and we are starting on the Block II capability. We are not currently spending resources on an internal IRST. We really see the near-term need — that is, the 2020s — as getting the Block II IRST developed and out to the � eet’. Block I will reach IOC in FY 2018. The Navy intends to procure a total of 170 IRST systems in Block II con� guration.

Two other aspects of the Super Hornet are noteworthy. First, e� orts continue to

� eld the aircraft’s Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system. IDECM is a radio-frequency jammer self-protection suite, being introduced in phased variants. The current Block III variant was � elded in FY 2011 and features the improved AN/ALQ-214 on-board receiver/jammer and a new AN/ALE-55 o� -board � ber-optic towed decoy. Testing continues on the � nal Block IV variant, which replaces the current receiver/jammer with a lightweight, re-packaged on-board jammer.

Further improvements continue with the AN/APG-79 active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar, used by both the Super Hornet and Growler. According to Kim Binegar, senior director, Raytheon F/A-18 radar programs, ‘The APG-79 radar system has continued to evolve and mature with a broad range of performance enhancements’. Binegar said: ‘In 2016, the APG-79 will receive Software Con� guration Set (SCS) H10 with performance and capability improvements. The subsequent SCS releases, H12 and H14 (anticipated in 2017 and 2019), will take advantage of hardware upgrades to o� er additional capability improvements, a newly designed, faster processor and a new waveform generator. Follow-on improvements will continue to maximize


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hardware capability with software upgrades and pave the way for next-generation AESA radar capabilities.’

Boeing’s ‘near-term focus’, says Gillian, ‘is the 2020s and, ‘where do we need to take the platform to be successful in the 2020s?’ Then we have the 2030s and beyond’. He stressed that the Advanced Super Hornet demonstrated in August 2013 was designed to ‘highlight our range of capabilities that could be brought to the platform in a total end-item or separately’. As Combat Aircraft reported in its January 2014 issue, the Advanced Super Hornet featured conformal fuel tanks (CFTs), an enclosed weapons pod, enhanced engines, an internal IRST, and an advanced cockpit system featuring an 11 x 16in touch-sensitive display. Gillian explained: ‘We are not actively out there pushing the Advanced Super Hornet as the ‘end item’, as in, ‘this is the answer, this speci� c

product’’. Rather, it is making the ‘menu’ of items available for incremental insertion.

Boeing’s focus over the next year and beyond is bringing those capabilities to both platforms ‘on-time, on-cost, and with � rst-time quality’, said Gillian. ‘And we are having deep, continued discussions with domestic and international customers about bringing capabilities to the platform, less in an end-item Advanced Super Hornet con� guration, and more in an incremental change approach to get the platform where it needs to go.’

Gillian said that CFTs are probably the closest to program of record status. ‘There is a compelling need on the Growler side and a compelling need on the Super Hornet side, both domestic and international’. He added, ‘The Advanced Cockpit System that was discussed as part of the Advanced Super Hornet is part of

Night operations aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). US Navy/MCS3C J. Alexander Delgado


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our international con� guration baseline, so we see the Super Hornet moving that way and we anticipate international being part of that solution set.’

Boeing continues discussions with the US Navy and General Electric about the enhanced engines and ‘what we can do to bring advanced and enhanced engine technology to the platform, which has a performance and e� ciency gain’, Gillian told Combat Aircraft. ‘There is a compelling story for both Super Hornet and Growler as far as enhanced engines [are concerned]’. For the Super Hornet, ‘it is more about kinematic performance and e� ciency’, while for the Growler, ‘it helps on weight, mission endurance, and performance’. Which aircraft will drive the decision, Gillian said, is the Navy’s call. ‘Everybody understands what a great concept it is and what it can do, but we haven’t seen that transition to a program of record yet.

‘I think the good news for us’, Gillian noted, ‘is that when you look to the � ght of the 2020s we see a lot of the Advanced Super Hornet capabilities making a di� erence for the Super Hornet and Growler in that environment.’

In terms of weapons, the Super Hornet is currently slated to receive the AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder, AIM-120D Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM), AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM), and the AGM-158C Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), as well as the GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) Increment II. LRASM is the replacement for the Harpoon

and should enter service around 2024. Raytheon’s SDB II is a 250lb (113kg) bomb intended for all-weather stand-o� use against mobile targets. The Navy achieved IOC of AIM-9X Block II in early 2015 with Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5).

Gillian said, ‘[The] Super Hornet is a great platform for lots of weapons and weapons integration — a low-risk evolutionary approach. We start to look forward to future software blocks and universal armament interface — UAI — that makes it easier for us to bring new weapons to the platform.’

‘The Super Hornet today is a pretty capable air-to-air platform with great magazine depth. If you look back at some of the older photos we have, you can put 14 air-to-air missiles on a Super Hornet. Now, you can’t bring that [con� guration] back to the carrier, but in the 2020s [the] Super Hornet and F-35C can work together in that similar F-15/F-35 mix and it could be very e� ective. The Super Hornet has a very compelling story for the air-to-air engagement in the 2020s when partnered with the F-35.’

Turning to the Growler, current production models are upgraded with

the Type 4 Advanced Mission Computer (AMC), which o� ers increased computing power and faster image and mission-processing, as well as the UHF Joint Tactical Terminal — Receiver (JTT-R), which permits access to near-real-time over-the-horizon threat and friendly-force tracking data to improve situational awareness.

There are several major improvements slated for the EA-18G. ‘The Growler evolution is huge’, Gillian said. ‘NGJ, or Next Generation Jammer […] has revolutionary capabilities. But taking that to the side, internal to the aircraft, I’d say tactical targeting network technology (TTNT) and DTPN [distributive target processor networks] — those two do a lot for moving a lot of data on and o� the platform’. At a basic level, ‘DTPN is a big processor that brings a lot of computing capacity to the platform, and TTNT expands the size of the pipe for the data coming on and o� the platform’. Boeing said that these systems ‘really position the Growler as the forward quarterback for the carrier air wing moving data around and being e� ective in the airborne electronic attack space.’

Top left: An EA-18G Growler of VAQ-137 ‘Rooks’ launches from the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during CVW-1’s recent eight-month deployment. Note the � ve lightning bolts on the nose signifying missions and the bolt through the running person, possibly signifying involvement in locating a high-value individual. US Navy/MCS Chad M. Trudeau

Left: F-35C Lightning IIs of VFA-101 and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets of the Naval Aviation War� ghter Development Center (NAWDC) � y together during interoperability testing. US Navy/LCDR Darin Russell

Right: A wonderful low-level shot of the VFA-86 ‘Sidewinders’ CAG-bird BuNo 166950/AC-200. Dan Stijovich


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F/A-18F BuNo 166968 of VX-31 ‘Dust Devils’ carries the new AGM-84N Harpoon Block II+

missile during a free � ight test over the Naval Air Warfare Center’s Sea Test Range in California on

November 18, 2015. The Navy plans to deliver the Block II+ variant to the � eet in 2017. US Navy

Boeing also discussed its experiment with a tablet interface, which it demonstrated during FLEX 15 last summer. There, three Growlers with TTNT and DTPN, with a tablet in one of the Growlers, worked together with the E-2D to demonstrate time difference of arrival (TDOA) geo-location capabilities. The tablet displayed data, which enhanced communications between the platforms.

‘This is not a program of record’, Gillian explained. ‘This was Boeing and our partners demonstrating some of the neat things that you can do with TTNT and DTPN to bring a friendly user-interface into the cockpit and leverage modern technology and capability to display data in a different and easier way to enable communications with crews on different platforms’. Even so, Gillian said the tablet is ‘something we can do as we expand the platform’s ability to bring data on to the platform through TTNT and DTPN.’

He distinguished between the Advanced Super Hornet and Advanced Growler, explaining that the Advanced Super Hornet ‘was a Boeing industry term for an end-item and what we could put together; Advanced Growler is a Navy term for where they are taking the Growler. It is a unique and significant difference... Think of Advanced Growler like the Block II Super



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Above: The Advanced Super Hornet was debuted in August 2013 and highlighted a menu of options including conformal fuel tanks and an enclosed weapons pod. Boeing

Left top to bottom: The new advanced crew station (ACS) includes provision for a large-area display. Boeing

Raytheon’s Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) will replace the 1970s-vintage ALQ-99 pods and introduce significantly more powerf as well as AESA technology. The NGJ will be fielded in three increments, beginning with the Increment 1 mid-band pod in 2020. Raytheon

Testing the new podded infra-red search and track (IRST). US Navy

Hornet was to the Block I Super Hornet. So TTNT, DTPN, Next Gen Jammer, and CFTs, all fit into the Navy’s Advanced Growler flight plan.’

Gillian said that the ‘Growler is moving there to be effective in the ’20s based on the Navy’s plan, versus the ASH, which was industry-led. The Advanced Super Hornet is migrating back to an evolutionary capability insertion along the flight plan’. He added: ‘I always go back to that as the success story of the Super Hornet and Growler — that evolutionary collaborative flight-plan development and technology insertion.’

He also referenced the Advanced Cockpit System and its potential for the Growler. ‘[In] our international Super Hornet offering, we see ACS as a particularly useful capability for the Growler. Once you get the Advanced Growler with the NGJ, and all of the data that will be available to the aircrew, we think ACS is a great capability [for] the Growler. [We] are looking to get that delivered to an international configuration, but we think there is application in both platforms.’ International frontBoeing remains optimistic about potential foreign military sales and says

that additional international purchases are crucial to the company’s ability to position itself for the numerous fighter competitions and opportunities set to open up in the early 2020s. At present, Denmark is expected to make a decision in spring 2016 and at least two European countries — Finland and Belgium — are poised to begin the selection process for follow-on fighters to replace aging aircraft. In addition, Canada may open a competition and consider the Super Hornet. Press reports further suggest that Malaysia might still be interested in acquiring Super Hornets to replace its fleet of eight F/A-18Ds. Boeing’s CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, commented on a visit to India that it might be interested in F/A-18E/F, sales accompanied by an agreement to build the aircraft in India. However, near-term, the conclusion of the Kuwaiti sale is critical in order to ‘bridge’ to US Navy domestic needs and international opportunities mentioned above.

Gillian summed up the inter-relationship between continued domestic sales and the company’s ability to remain a competitor in foreign competitions, and vice versa, as follows: ‘We have done a ton of work with Congress, the Department of Defense,

and the Navy to meet the Navy’s needs and continue F/A-18 production in FY 2015 and 2016 domestically. Kuwait is key to extending the line through 2019, which is where we find additional US Navy interest to address that inventory management challenge they have and/or the additional Growlers required to get the force structure they want. That international bridge is important for the US Navy. I am confident we will see that come to fruition shortly. But that is an important part of our story — the international connection to domestic. The vast majority of the rest of the international market for the Super Hornet sits mainly in the early ’20s. So that is how we bring ourselves out to the early ’20s for production — US Navy for FY 2015 and 2016; [then] international, [and] additional US Navy has us out to the early 2020s. [That] is where the rest of the market wants to be.’

As the last three years have already proven, 2016 looks to be another cautiously optimistic year for Boeing as the US Navy continues to define its strike fighter and electronic attack needs and as foreign competitions heat up. Regardless, it is clear that the Super Hornet and Growler are well positioned to remain ahead of the threat for years to come.


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