Originally Posted by
flighthappens
I wouldn’t be so sure.
You are comparing the Super Hornet, clean, of which the single seat version has more fuel, and possibly different assumptions regarding stores expenditure, certainly drag index.
This USN website has a 850+NM range for the EA-18G when combat loaded. If you halve that you end up 425NM. ALQ99 and AGM88 are heavy and draggy, particularly when not aligned with the airflow on outward canted pylons.
https://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_d...0&tid=950&ct=1
Yes, but put the same on a F35B and you’d be lucky to get outside of the Ship’s RADAR horizon!
Also, you then have to think about whether it can VTOL back onto the boat with all that extra stuff on board and also whether it can physically carry 3x ALQ-99 (which is way more capable than the bog standard F35B’s current suite) , 2x HARMs, extra fuel tanks and then some self defence weapons. Also, ALQ-99 is due to be replaced by the ALQ-249 Next Generation Jammer (NGJ - with 2 replacing the legacy 3) within the next couple of years which is more capable and less draggy as I understand it?