Quote:
Originally Posted by wabpilot
Again, you are mixing missions. The navy has two distinct offensive mission sets, light attack and medium attack. (There was once heavy attack, but that has been take over by the SSBN force.) Define which mission you are writing about. Then we can reply. But to criticise the F-18A, C or D for not being able to carry out the medium attack mission is a straw man argument. It can be offered for no reason other than to spark a fight.
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Sorry, I am not trying to spark a fight, nor am I trying to put down the Hornet (love the aircraft). And yes, I will agree it was clearly designed as an A-7 replacement for the light attack role. However, it just seems to me that tactical sized aircraft have less range now than some of them previously did. I guess that comes down to mission requirements changing -> design parameters changing -> not needing the same range.
As far as picking on the F-18A/B/C/D, the fact thats its roots are planted the the USAF light-weight-fighter program gave it a serious handicap in the range statistics. Just a fact, if it was designed from the ground up as the Navy's light strike platform (not here's the F-17A, see what you can do) things might have been different.