US Navy Super Hornet armed with 4 SM-6 anti air missiles

[F-22Raptor]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1833684592554861009

 

[F-22Raptor]

And 2x AIM-9x and 2x AIM-120s?

 

[F-22Raptor]

And 2x AIM-9x and 2x AIM-120s?

Those might be instrumentation pods between the AIM-9s and SM-6, but this load out is crazy

 

[F-22Raptor]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1833844957268062391

 

[F-22Raptor]

And another…3 AIM-120s

 

[SolarWarden]

View attachment 64382



And another…3 AIM-120s

That's just nasty and unfair.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Is it flying over Ukraine? If not then it is just a circus plane
Once we will see the Hornet in Ukraine then perhaps it's capabilities can be better judged

Adding extra missiles is nothing special China/ Russia and many other countries can add extra missiles of the need arises

Circus plane just does tricks and loops in air



This circus plane has never actually gone to war with Russian or Chinese planes

So far it was up against may be 60's planes or may be nation with no airforce


All those extra missiles will just slow down the plane , and also give a gigantic radar signature for ground based units

 

[SolarWarden]

Is it flying over Ukraine? If not then it is just a circus plane
Once we will see the Hornet in Ukraine then perhaps it's capabilities can be better judged

Adding extra missiles is nothing special China/ Russia and many other countries can add extra missiles of the need arises

Circus plane just does tricks and loops in air
View attachment 64403


This circus plane has never actually gone to war with Russian or Chinese planes

So far it was up against may be 60's planes or may be nation with no airforce


All those extra missiles will just slow down the plane , and also give a gigantic radar signature for ground based units

This is one of the dumbest post I've seen in here and I've seen many dumb post in here.

Yu sound like you're coping... I suppose all celestial fighters are circus fighters too since they haven't gone to war with US or Nippon planes. See what I did there? I took your dumb logic and turned it on you without any effort. Next time think before you post or before you click reply read out loud your post to see if it starts to sound dumb.

In combat no fighter carries a full air to air load for obvious reasons this is just a demonstration of what the Hornet is capable of but you took it too seriously because deep down you know these missiles on a Hornet poses a real severe threat to chirese AWACS and other ISR assets in a conflict. Btw the estimation on those SM-6s is over 200+ miles.

 

[nahtanbob]

Is it flying over Ukraine? If not then it is just a circus plane

It is funny those questions never gets asked about Chinese weapons

 

[LeGenD]

Is it flying over Ukraine? If not then it is just a circus plane
Once we will see the Hornet in Ukraine then perhaps it's capabilities can be better judged

Adding extra missiles is nothing special China/ Russia and many other countries can add extra missiles of the need arises

Circus plane just does tricks and loops in air
View attachment 64403


This circus plane has never actually gone to war with Russian or Chinese planes

So far it was up against may be 60's planes or may be nation with no airforce


All those extra missiles will just slow down the plane , and also give a gigantic radar signature for ground based units

Mate, you alright? Why the mighty Russians failed to shoot down a single American jet fighter in Syria when the US attacked Shayrat airbase in 2017, or when the US attacked Syrian state infrastructure in 2018, or when the US attacked Wagner troops in 2018? Houthi also have some air defense systems that have shot down drones and jet fighters but failed to bring down a single F/A-18 in recent clashes with US Navy.

The F/A-18 Block II is equipped with advanced sensor systems and electronic warfare capabilities to detect threats from considerable distances and disrupt kill chains.




The latest F/A-18 Block III is more advanced and capable:




Each F/A-18 variant is also equipped with two F414-GE-400 engines that collectively provide sufficient thrust and power to the jet fighter to carry a heavy payload and retain decent performance levels with it.



The US Navy is not an amateur force either but understand Russian and Chinese military capabilities well enough. The US Navy will dispatch multiple F/A-18 to perform a mission in a high threat environment:



This picture is notional but one may get the gist. The F/A-18 are getting information from each other and also from E2-D Advanced Hawkeye to detect and engage threats. You can expect EA-18G Growler to be involved in the strike package as well.

Let's talk about the SM-6 missile now. This is a multi-mission missile capable of attacking surface as well as airborne threats. The jet fighter can literally shoot down a ballistic missile with it. Those fancy S-400 systems and similar types will be blown up before they can do anything. One can see that this payload is making all nervous, understandable.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Look forward to Hornets in Ukraine

Have seen some acrobatic videos on youtube , they do nice loops and tricks

Recently Russia took out some F16 was that the F16V or Block C/D?
Was that not Tech Loaded variant ?

Heard these were taken out very easily by Russians

One of primary reason why Egypt decided to buy J10C instead of the F16V upgrade

 

[sutton9999]

decent possibility trial has been done over black sea - A50

 

[UKBengali]

I am trying to figure out the actual point of this set-up?

There is no way that this plane would be able to use its own radar to track targets at very long range, and it would have such a large RCS that it itself would be vulnerable to being taken out by stealthy opponents armed even with standard BVR AAMs.

It would just be "advertising" itself and have a target on its back saying "shoot me down".

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

RCS is a big problem , these days lot of people have those shoulder held weaponry

China and Russia they have really advance weapons too

The SAM missiles are like (Mac 10 don't qoute me on this , but it is 2-3 times faster then any plane) , so a big RCS plane has no chance

But may be those extra A2A gives the pilot bit more , good feeling
4 is better then 2 , does carry weight

I watched that Tom Cruise movie , planes doing acrobatic loops looked quite cool

But those scenes about outrunning the SAM were bit over the top
I had a good laugh , but otherwise the movie was great

 

[SolarWarden]

I am trying to figure out the actual point of this set-up?

There is no way that this plane would be able to use its own radar to track targets at very long range, and it would have such a large RCS that it itself would be vulnerable to being taken out by stealthy opponents armed even with standard BVR AAMs.

It would just be "advertising" itself and have a target on its back saying "shoot me down".

You don't see the point of this set up because your bias doesn't wanna see it. Or it could be that you are technically challenged and actually don't have the capacity to understand how this capability works. Your post shows how simple in your thinking you are and can't explore the possibility that it is more than just one plane carrying long range missiles and ONLY using its own radar instead of a whole system... but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and stick with you being biased.