"Nothing Super" in Boeing’s F-18 lambasted Australian Veteran air commander and Why India should stay away from F/A-18E/F

 A group of Indian Journalist are currently on a fully paid trip to the United States sponsored by Boeing in disguise of Industrial tour to their production facilities . The trip has been arranged so that back home, they can help create hype surrounding Boeing’s offer of F/A-18E/F to India , which is literally going out of fighter plane business soon. By the time you might have read this article few articles on F/A-18E/F might have shown up in Indian mainstream media . 

Sponsored articles might be passed on has an expert opinion on how F/A-18E/F are perfect combat jet ready to be made in India. But views expressed by Peter Criss, who is a retired RAAF air vice-marshal, former air commander of Australia and one of Australia’s most experienced fighter/strike pilots might give a neutral performance review of F/A-18E/F . Peter Criss in his article dated back to 2007 had said that Block II Super Hornets procured by Royal Australian Air Force had improved aircraft carrier capabilities when compared to the original Hornet but that performance improvement for Air Force was not of much use nor high on the list of essential criteria . 

Criss said that F/A-18E/F suffers from poor climb rates, poor sustained turn capability, and a low maximum speed, due to its inherent design has a carrier-capable jet . Disadvantages of low maximum speed are that it precludes the ability to avoid or disengage from aerial combat. 
\Criss had also said that all Hornet variants are acknowledged in the report as being no match for even the older MiG-29s. new Sukhoi Su-30 Flanker family of Russian fighters will always have upper hand in one to one engagement with F/A-18E/F. 

While Boeing has added new Aesa radar and some electronic components but Criss persisted in his view that since fundamental airframe and performance remain unaltered and F/A-18E/F is heavier, slower, larger and uglier (its radar signature did not measure up to expectations) than the normal Hornet. F/A-18E/F when in direct competition with newer combat jets like Eurofighter Typhoon , Sukhoi Su-30,JAS 39 Gripen and F-35A has lost all tenders Boeing has officially responded too. under India’s MMRCA competition Indian Air Force (IAF) extensively evaluated the Super Hornets and conducted field trials in August 2009 but found many performance shortfalls in high altitude operations and in its choice of weaponry . Out of Six aircraft which participated in India’s MMRCA competition, and as per unofficial reports , F/A-18E/F was at bottom 2 after through internal assessment carried out by IAF on all Six jets participating in the tender and Peter Criss in his own assessment had concluded by saying that Super Hornet was actually ” Super Bug ” . While Boeing claims the backing of US government , United States Navy is not interested in procurement of newer F/A-18E/F and is placing orders only for Special Electronic warfare aircraft dubbed EA-18G Growler . Boeing’s Advanced Super Hornet concept too has not found any favours with US Navy even after three years after it was first introduced . 

Forbes report earlier this year had said that ” With Lockheed Martin’s F-35 slated to replace fighter jets across U.S. military branches—including Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets and Air Force’s F-15s, both manufactured by Boeing and no export orders of both production of both jets could cease by the end of the decade, leaving Boeing without a major combat jet program in its portfolio and no major new contracts on the horizon”. But recent loss of Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program to Northrop Grumman might be final nail in the coffin for Boeing which might push Boeing out of fighter aircraft business and India’s needs to deal with Boeing carefully and their linking sale of F/A-18 Super Hornets with India’s 5th generation fighter aircraft is mear rhetorics of the company which is going out of business in fighter aircraft department .