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From: dlj@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (david.l.jacobowitz)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Why the F18 for the US Navy ?
Summary: fighter ranges
Message-ID: <13447@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 24 Jan 90 03:34:53 GMT
References: <13345@cbnews.ATT.COM> <13378@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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From: dlj@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (david.l.jacobowitz)

In article <13378@cbnews.ATT.COM>, terryr@ogicse.ogc.edu (Terry Rooker) writes:
> The Tomcat doesn't have
> much more range than the F-18.  As an added advantage, the F-18 also
> was able to serve as a replacement for the F-4 on the older, smaller
> carriers that couldn't handle the F-14.  A final reason was the
> astronomical cost of the F-14, the Navy couldn't afford more than 2
> squadrons per air wing.  You also have to remember that the F-18 was
> replacing A-7s not F-4s or F-14s, so in a pinch the carrier gains 2
> fighter squadrons over what it had previously.

Some good points, now let me risk putting my 2 cents in.
I dug through some books last night and came up with the
following range specifications:

F-14     2000mi/3200km (fighter with external fuel)
F-18      461mi/741km  (fighter mission)
         2300mi/3700km (ferry range, no weapons, full external fuel)

It looks to me like the F-14's effective combat range is much greater
than that of the F-18, while the ferry ranges may be similar (although
I seem to remember that with full external fuel and no weapons
the ferry range of the F-14 is around 4000 miles--I may be wrong
on this figure though).

I remember that when the F-18 was being considered by the
Navy, short range was one of the problems solved by McDonnel Douglas'
redesign of the Northrop YF-17 Cobra.
While the 461mi/741km range looks fairly short (I believe it's shorter
than the F-4's effective combat range), it is in fact greater than
the fighter range of the F-16, which was approximately 340mi/550km
(fighter, full internal fuel, no external fuel).

Second, I thought the F-18 did in fact replace some F-4's.
After the F-14 was brought into service, some F-4's were retained
on the big carriers to perform the mission of bomber escort,
i.e. fighter protection of the A-7s.
The F-14 was thought to be too big and complicated (and expensive)
to be used as a bomber escort.
When the F-18 was brought into service, it replaced these F-4s.
I did not dig deep enough though to find actual squadron deployments
to support this paragraph though.
-- 
Dave J.     (ark2!dlj)                              This space intentionally
usual disclaimer implied                                   left blank.