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

[Broghil]

Even if it can't shoot down aircrafts at long range it can serve its purpose by putting them in defensive mode and at the same time taking out AWACS and tankers like big AC easily.

 

[huanghong]

It is hard to understand why such a heavy missile as SM-6 is used for this mission.
In contrast, China's specially designed PL-17 air-to-air missile has a range of 500km and is much lighter, and has been in service with the Air Force for some time.
Note that there are 8 hardpoints on the J-16 with the same mounting capacity as the hardpoints for mounting PL-17.
Considering the length, the number of PL-17s that can be mounted at the same time reaches 7.

 

[LeGenD]

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

It was Block 50 variant. It was lost due to operational mistake. Ukraine Air Force needs more training and time to figure out how to use these aircraft effectively and prevent incidents in the process.

Russia blames US over F-16 crash

Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said the U.S. had failed to adequately train pilots of the American-made aircraft.

www.newsweek.com

 

[SolarWarden]

It is hard to understand why such a heavy missile as SM-6 is used for this mission.
In contrast, China's specially designed PL-17 air-to-air missile has a range of 500km and is much lighter, and has been in service with the Air Force for some time.
Note that there are 8 hardpoints on the J-16 with the same mounting capacity as the hardpoints for mounting PL-17.
Considering the length, the number of PL-17s that can be mounted at the same time reaches 7.
View attachment 64463View attachment 64464

The range of the SM-6/Aim-174B outranges PL-17 and R-37M significantly also the PL-17 and R-37M are meant to shoot down heavy aircraft like AWACS and tankers the Aim-174B can easily shoot down high maneuverable fighters. It could also shoot down supersonic cruise and antiship missiles and likely ballistic missiles just like the SM-6.

 

[UKBengali]

The range of the SM-6/Aim-174B outranges PL-17 and R-37M significantly also the PL-17 and R-37M are meant to shoot down heavy aircraft like AWACS and tankers the Aim-174B can easily shoot down high maneuverable fighters. It could also shoot down supersonic cruise and antiship missiles and likely ballistic missiles just like the SM-6.

It makes little sense to have a fighter lumbered with such a heavy missile as it needs to stay quite close to its "sensor" systems like AWACs and destroyers.

Maybe there may be an "edge" case where it may be useful but this seems more like US doing it for the sake of it than actual practical use.

I can guarantee that the Chinese are NOT going to copy this.

 

[SolarWarden]

It makes little sense to have a fighter lumbered with such a heavy missile as it needs to stay quite close to its "sensor" systems like AWACs and destroyers.

Maybe there may be an "edge" case where it may be useful but this seems more like US doing it for the sake of it than actual practical use.

I can guarantee that the Chinese are NOT going to copy this.

The F-18 is never going to carry 4 Aim-174B's in combat this was just a demonstration of what it's capable of just like the F-14 demonstrated it could carry 6 phoenix missiles but in real combat patrols it only carried two.

J-16 with PL-17 and other pylons and missiles hanging from it is going to light up like a christmas tree on superior US sensors. F-18E can reach mach 1.6 with two aim9, two aim120 and a center tank the F-18E carrying two aim-174B and center tank will be able to easily reach mach 1+ to launch aim-174b.

 

[huanghong]

The range of the SM-6/Aim-174B outranges PL-17 and R-37M significantly also the PL-17 and R-37M are meant to shoot down heavy aircraft like AWACS and tankers the Aim-174B can easily shoot down high maneuverable fighters. It could also shoot down supersonic cruise and antiship missiles and likely ballistic missiles just like the SM-6.

Please don't dream, the range of SM-6 with booster is less than 400km. And as long as you are not blind, you know that the SM-6 carried by F-18 does not have the booster with several hundred kilograms of fuel that the carrier version has. Then you imagine that the range of SM-6 exceeds PL-17 with 500km?
LOL, please don't live in fantasy.

 

[GatlingGun]

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".

It's for network centric warfare. SM6 is too big to be carried in IWB of F35. So F35 will track the target and F18 will fire the biggy missiles.

 

[huanghong]

The F-18 is never going to carry 4 Aim-174B's in combat this was just a demonstration of what it's capable of just like the F-14 demonstrated it could carry 6 phoenix missiles but in real combat patrols it only carried two.

J-16 with PL-17 and other pylons and missiles hanging from it is going to light up like a christmas tree on superior US sensors. F-18E can reach mach 1.6 with two aim9, two aim120 and a center tank the F-18E carrying two aim-174B and center tank will be able to easily reach mach 1+ to launch aim-174b.

F-18E can reach mach 1.6 with two aim9, two aim120 and a center tank? Really?
This is an official report from the US government's GAO office

 

[LeGenD]

Please don't dream, the range of SM-6 with booster is less than 400km. And as long as you are not blind, you know that the SM-6 carried by F-18 does not have the booster with several hundred kilograms of fuel that the carrier version has. Then you imagine that the range of SM-6 exceeds PL-17 with 500km?
LOL, please don't live in fantasy.

But what is the hit rate of PL-17 at "claimed" range of 500 KM? Any test that shows that it can do that?

AIM-174B is very capable even around 400 KM mark.

 

[huanghong]

But what is the hit rate of PL-17 at "claimed" range of 500 KM? Any test that shows that it can do that?

AIM-174B is very capable even around 400 KM mark.

Do you mean that China installed a missile that could not meet the design indicators? Didn't test it before it was put into service to determine whether the hit rate met the requirements? If you think so, then I don't want to refute it. I have no intention of getting entangled in ideological stamps.
In fact, I doubt whether the AIM-174B really has a range of 400km
The 680kg booster accelerates the SM-6 to about Mach 1.5, while the F-18 has a maximum speed of less than Mach 1 when carrying two AIM-9s, two AIM-120s and a drop tank.
I doubt whether the AIM-174B without a 680kg booster can have a range of 400km.

 

[Pingle]

That's just nasty and unfair.

If India had selected Super Hornet for navy do you think America would have offered us this missile too on Indian Super Hornets?

 

[LeGenD]

Do you mean that China installed a missile that could not meet the design indicators? Didn't test it before it was put into service to determine whether the hit rate met the requirements? If you think so, then I don't want to refute it. I have no intention of getting entangled in ideological stamps.
In fact, I doubt whether the AIM-174B really has a range of 400km
The 680kg booster accelerates the SM-6 to about Mach 1.5, while the F-18 has a maximum speed of less than Mach 1 when carrying two AIM-9s, two AIM-120s and a drop tank.
I doubt whether the AIM-174B without a 680kg booster can have a range of 400km.

Mate, you need to understand that the SM-6 is a very large and heavy missile that was designed to intercept ballistic missiles and other types of missiles. This mission profile is beyond the scope of all air-to-air missiles. The US might be officially understating SM-6 range and performance levels. There are changes in AIM-174B and this SM-6 variant is even heavier than the original SM-6. I mentioned a range that is stated in a reputed source but the Russian guy in the video has calculated the maximum range of AIM-174B to be around 630 KM mark. It is shocking but then the missile is designed to intercept ballistic missiles and other types of missiles so it should be up to the task.

Phoenix successor redux: the USN’s range riposte to China’s PL-17?

The US Navy has entered into service a very long-range air-to-air missile aimed at countering developments in Chinese air power and its capacity to threaten surface combatants in the Indo-Pacific theatre.

www.iiss.org

 

[SolarWarden]

Please don't dream, the range of SM-6 with booster is less than 400km. And as long as you are not blind, you know that the SM-6 carried by F-18 does not have the booster with several hundred kilograms of fuel that the carrier version has. Then you imagine that the range of SM-6 exceeds PL-17 with 500km?
LOL, please don't live in fantasy.

The booster on SM-6 gets it only to 7k feet the Aim-174B is lighter than SM-6 and will have a significant advantaged being fired at 30k+ feet at mach 1+. The guy in video came up with calculation and even said a conservative estimation the aim-174b range is significantly greater than what celestials claim of their PL-17. His estimation was over 620kms. I know it is hard for you to take but you'll just have to cope.

 

[SolarWarden]

If India had selected Super Hornet for navy do you think America would have offered us this missile too on Indian Super Hornets?

No. We don't have enough SM-6's for our ships but if asked Indian Hornets would be armed with aim-260. Aim-260 is about to enter service really soon and its shape is still a secret.