US Navy 6th Gen Fighter - F/A-XX

Scott Kenny said:
Yet they had no issue with 800nmi range subsonic strike aircraft through the entire Cold War, in the A-6. (That's 4x 2000lb warload, IIRC with a single fuel tank on centerline)
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That's not what the F/A-18 E is nor the F/A-XX is going to be. So your example is a pretty bad one unless their was perfect overlap between the A-6 and what the F/A-18E / F/A-XX are expected to perform in terms of missions.
 
bring_it_on said:
That's not what the F/A-18 E is nor the F/A-XX is going to be. So your example is a pretty bad one unless their was perfect overlap between the A-6 and what the F/A-18E / F/A-XX are expected to perform in terms of missions.
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ATA and A/F-X were also supposed to be 800nmi range aircraft.

Super Bugs were a very "we're not going to get the capabilities we need, and the A-6s are out of life" answer.
 
Scott Kenny said:
ATA and A/F-X were also supposed to be 800nmi range aircraft.

Super Bugs were a very "we're not going to get the capabilities we need, and the A-6s are out of life" answer.
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My point was simply that we may still not have issues with 800 nmi subsonic strike aircraft. Even today. But that the F/A-XX, like the F/A-18E it replaces, is not a subsonic strike aircraft. At this point, we kind of know what the Navy is looking for and it is not that far off.
 
bring_it_on said:
My point was simply that we may still not have issues with 800 nmi subsonic strike aircraft. Even today. But that the F/A-XX, like the F/A-18E it replaces, is not a subsonic strike aircraft. At this point, we kind of know what the Navy is looking for and it is not that far off.
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Yet I can spec out an aircraft that has a ~760nmi range that carries what the USN seems to want for the mission. And that's assuming no fuel consumption improvements over F119 or F110.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Yet I can spec out an aircraft that has a ~760nmi range that carries what the USN seems to want for the mission.
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But the F/A-XX is not a subsonic strike aircraft as I previously mentioned. You seem to be stuck with that as a benchmark and want the F/A-XX to be one. It is not. It is a supersonic F/a-18E replacement. Navy has been clear in terms of what it wants it to do with the platform. I am not sure what 'I can't spec out an aircraft' means exactly but that may be something to system requirements and KPI's not being publicly shared.
 
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