Super Hornet Block III differs from the earlier proposed Advanced Super Hornet in that Boeing is no longer focused on improving the fighter’s stealth capability relative to the F-35's... Rather, it proposes to integrate networking components that along with other improvements would make the Super Hornet an equal partner with the F-35 in future strike formations...
Boeing would enable the Block III fighter by installing a
Distributed Targeting Processor-Networked (DTP-N) computer and
tactical targeting network technology (TTNT) Internet-protocol-based, high-speed datalink, both program-of-record upgrades for the Super Hornet’s EA-18G Growler electronic warfare variant...
It would have an
advanced cockpit with a 10-by-19 inch Elbit Systems large area display as the pilot interface, similar to what Boeing has installed in the F-15 and the clean-sheet jet it developed for the U.S. Air Force’s T-X advanced jet trainer requirement.
In terms of cost, “the delta [el incremento] between a Block 2 and a Block 3 is a couple million dollars,”
Not included in the offering is the F414-GE-400 engine upgrade GE Aviation and the Navy have been developing...
The networking system upgrade, matched with the already approved
AN/ASG-34 long-range infrared search and track (IRST) sensor pod [el IRST21 instalado en depósito ventral, no citan integración en el morro como en el "Advanced"] and
evolutions of the Raytheon APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and
evolutions of the Harris AN/ALQ-214 integrated defensive electronic countermeasures (IDECM) self-protection system, prepare the Super Hornet for the future threat environment...
As with the Advanced Super Hornet, the Block III Super Hornet would come with shoulder-mounted
conformal fuel tanks [CFT] containing 3,500 gallons of fuel, increasing the fighter’s range by about 120 nm and/or time on station by about 20 to 30 minutes depending on its mission payload
The IRST pod is especially a differentiator... The F-35’s integrated electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) infrared search and track sensor represents “medium range air-to-ground versus long range air-to-air” capability, Boeing asserted.
[In a separate briefing at the Navy League conference, Lockheed Martin vice president of F-35..., said the Lightning II will incorporate IRST capability in a Block 4 configuration. Lockheed Martin is also advertising a weapons-laden “beast mode” F-35 capable of carrying 13,000 additional pounds of weapons externally. However, he did not have numbers available to compare its range with a Super Hornet's.]
Boeing expects to secure a first contract from the Navy early next year [2018] to begin a service life modernization program that will extend the service life of Block II fighters from 6,000 to 9,000 hours. New build
Block III Super Hornets would already be 9,000-hour fighters, which Boeing could start delivering in the early 2020s; Block II fighters could be retrofitted through the service life modification “a little later than that”
Editado:
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news ... ague-eventhttp://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... rnet-20026http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/s ... 8-upgradesY el interés "histórico": en 2013 anunciando el previo Advanced SuperHornet, con medidas de reducción de RCS como IRST interno y pod de armas ventral EWP, y con los motores mejorados:
https://news.usni.org/2013/08/28/boeing ... per-hornethttps://news.usni.org/2013/08/27/docume ... per-hornethttp://boeing.mediaroom.com/Advanced-Su ... provements