F-18 stealth varient that never was

So clearly they made a model, and tested the radar cross section. Also wind tunnel tests I'm sure. Zaph made a thread about trump wanting to rehash the f-18 and dump the numbers of the f-35. Well it was tried, but clearly wasn't sufficient. So it was scrapped.

Here are some pictures of the stealth try.

a reply to: Crumbles

It would be cool to take that and turn it into a speed boat

Looks like where he is standing would catch radar.

Cool looking though.

a reply to: Mandroid7

It wouldn't be true stealth, but would have a significantly reduced RCS.

I wonder what landing something like that on a carrier might be like.

a reply to: Crumbles

It wouldn't be true stealth because the jet is just too rough-hewn...

a reply to: Zaphod58

Interesting.

I think the coolest thing about the design is it's nearly wingless.
You wouldn't need much hangar space, thats for sure.

I would be interested to know the stall speed of it. I'm guessimg it's pretty high.

a reply to: Mandroid7

It's missing a few parts and pieces there. I bet you could go to a diamondtype wing, like the F-22 and F-35 use and improve aerodynamics.

It has a few interesting changes, such as a built in IRST sensor.

a reply to: Crumbles

I'm wondering whats in all those boxes alongside? Stealthy ordnance designs? Or extra material 'blanks'?

a reply to: intrptr

You can see that under "F-18" is a palette. They are working on it. I wonder where the pic was taken but it looks similar to Davis-Monthan.

Boxes may be some extra equipment mounted for RCS check out

a reply to: SpeedFanatic

It's stored at Davis-Monthan. They stored it sitting on stands and pallets, so they could wrap it all the way around.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Its sitting there at least from 2015. Some kind of rival for F-35?


(Graphic taken from FoxtrotAlpha website)

a reply to: SpeedFanatic

No, it's the Hornet version of the Silent Eagle. Stealth on the cheap for nations that operate Hornets. There wasn't enough interest.

I go with the older foxtrotalpha story that it might have been a f-18 derived ucav concept.

Maybe Trump got wind of it and said "Hey guys lets try this again"...

a reply to: SpeedFanatic

Boxes may be some extra equipment mounted for RCS check out

Long one could be an external fuel tank or missile, others could be gear, external pods, stores.

Any stealthy missile concepts on the internet?

a reply to: Crumbles

I think people are reading too much into this. It looks more like a partial F-18 model that was never intended to represent a complete airframe. The front end of this model was simply shaped in such a way as to reduce interference during RCS or antenna testing. I have seen partial-airframe test articles on RCS ranges in California, and there are photos of partial models from Groom Lake and other sites.

a reply to: Crumbles

Stealth-ish Growler if I'm not mistaken. Would allow it to operate slightly closer in and do it's thing. Still a pretty good idea IMO, especially with the C model taking it's damn time.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

Yeh as much as I would love this to be a working prototype I learn more towards an early RCS mockup. Does anyone any more info on how far along this bird really went?

a reply to: Bfirez

You're basically looking at it, FWIH. Had the Silent Eagle worked, I'm sure this would have at least flown but with that program snuffed there wasn't a reason to keep the Silent Hornet alive. Had it, we wouldn't be looking at any model whatsoever, understandably.

Reiterating, that a quite Growler is still a great idea and something that could be packaged into an unnamed unmanned platform in the near future.