26 Juli 2017

Malaysia Completes F/A-18D Hornet Upgrade (1)

26 Juli 2017


RMAF F/A-18D (all photos : RMAF No 18 squadron) 

More lethal sting for RMAF's Hornets

“STICK me in this jet, and I’ll take her anywhere,” said a Royal Malaysian Air Force F/A-18D Hornet ‘driver’.”

The pilot’s confidence in the much-vaunted strike fighter’s ability to handle modern threats is due to the fact that the RMAF’s 20-year-old fleet recently underwent a comprehensive upgrade that gives it an even more lethal “sting”. The best just got better.

The programme, carried out in phases, was to enhance the Hornet’s combat effectiveness in its primary tasking in the air-to-air and air-to-ground roles.

This included the integration of four primary elements — Boeing’s Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), the super-agile, thrust-vectoring AIM-9X Sidewinder heat-seeking air-to-air missile, Global Positioning System (GPS) guidance kits for the GBU-31, -32, -38 and -54 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) “smart” bombs, and the Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pods for the strike mission.

Air force chief General Datuk Seri Affendi Buang told the New Straits Times that the upgrades had given RMAF Hornets a “quantum leap in capability”.

“The upgrades will ensure the Hornet’s dominance in the modern battle space against a broad spectrum of airborne and surface threats for years to come,” said Affendi, who added that the upgrades put RMAF’s Hornets on par with Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block 1.



On Nov 28, 2011, Boeing was awarded a firm-fixed price order for “Engineering Change Proposal 618” (ECP 618) kits for all RMAF Hornets under the United States’ Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme. The contract included training for ECP 618 and ECP 624, and the installation of other systems that made up the Malaysian upgrade.

Initial work was done at the Boeing plant in St Louis, Missouri, while subsequent airframes were modded at 18 Squadron’s home base — the “Hornet’s Nest” — in RMAF Butterworth. Work on the last airframe was completed in April 2015.

At the heart of the upgrade to the “25X standard” was the introduction of the JHMCS. 18 Squadron, The Mighty Hornets, received the helmets in batches, beginning 2014.

JHMCS is a modern helmet that projects all the flight and targeting information the pilot needs onto his visor. The pilot then aims and locks the aircraft’s sensors and weapons just by looking at the target.

Coupled with the AIM-9X Sidewinder, jhmcs gives Hornet jocks a true, high off-boresight, or “snap-shooting” capability in a dogfight.

The Mighty Hornets commanding officer, Colonel Koey Tang Chai, said the JHMCS gives his pilots a huge advantage in the acquisition and prosecution of targets, both air-to-air and air-to-surface.



Koey, whose callsign is “Mickey”, said in a “slashing” or turning fight, all his pilots have to do is look at the target, lock the weapon system and fire the missile.

“The ‘all-aspect’, thrust-vectoring AIM-9X means that I don’t even have to manoeuvre my jet to get behind an enemy aircraft to lock onto his heat signature.

“In a turning fight, all I have to do is look at the target, get a lock on him, wait for the ‘shoot’ cue, squeeze the trigger and he’s toast,” said Mickey.

To attack a ground target, pilots can acquire the target with a sensor and note its location on the helmet display. Alternatively, pilots can use the helmet display to cue sensors and weapons to a ground target.

In the strike role, the Hornet’s traditional weapon of choice used to be the optically- or laser-guided Paveway series of bombs. While accurate, the delivery is often hampered by cloud or smoke cover over the target.

To solve this problem, the RMAF opted for the integration of the JDAM into the Hornet’s bag of tricks. The air force now has, in its inventory, the whole series of JDAMs — the GBU-31, -32, -38 and the GBU-54 — which is optimised for moving targets.



JDAM is a guidance kit that converts unguided “dumb” bombs into all-weather “smart” munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a GPS receiver.

JDAM is a “bolt-on” guidance package that converts unguided gravity bombs into precision-guided munitions (PGM).

The key components of the system consist of a tail section with aerodynamic control surfaces, a (body) strake kit, and a combined inertial guidance system and a GPS guidance control unit.

“The guidance kits for the JDAMs give my boys phenomenal bombing accuracy. JDAM gives us pinpoint weapons delivery capability, day or night, and in any weather. We can’t miss.”

(New Straits Times)

55 komentar:

  1. Rmaf hornet is joke..TNIau superduper tucano only need 5 seconds to outmanuever rmaf hornet..

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. Superduper tucano is stealth fighter gen 6

      Hapus
    2. Tukinos tni type baru yg bisa landing di atap rumah.
      Lawan tanding tukinos bkn f18 tp raptor atau f35 upgrade.

      Hapus
    3. Lmao. Then my spitfire is a 10th gen fighter?? I sure hope u guys r joking.

      Hapus
    4. they are being sarcastic.

      Hapus
    5. Trolls is a better term to refer

      Hapus
    6. supertucano pon tak mampu beli....kesian

      Hapus
    7. Wkwkwk...Cem malon sahaje yg jet pejuangnya sering terhempas Wkwkwk

      Hapus
    8. Supertucano..wkwkwkwkwkw

      Hapus
    9. Indo superman forces 1 men can kill entire batallion. Wkwkwkwkwkwkwk. What cheat code they use? Lol

      Hapus
    10. Cheatcode = suparman kipassusu..try that ben..u'll be suprise..

      Hapus
    11. 1 skuadron kornet malon boleh tewaskan ribuan pokok pisang Wkwkwk

      Hapus
    12. Pokok pisang? Dimana tu? Jakarta?

      Hapus
    13. Indon indon.. otak dah macam pantat.... hornet compare dgn tucana... keh keh keh.. memang otak sapi yindon2 terutama anak peneroka dan suwanggaru.. keh keh keh

      Hapus
    14. laahh kecian om anakerokan,ente kagak dianggep putra daerah ame si om dendeng.naseb naseeb😱

      coba cek dna,ada brasa aliran lingling gak tuch?haha!😆


      Hapus
  2. They sound excited and for a good reason clearly. Seems like they r enlighten

    BalasHapus
  3. kesian malaysie....jom songlap

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. you see..this guy still had double standard comment..if the tittle is about TNI he will give very2 fact comment...What The Fish...

      Hapus
    2. Jejak Perwira..glad that u notice bout this..

      Hapus
    3. Lol dont bother about him. Not brainless but put his brain at his knee instead. Dont bother thats all

      Hapus
    4. Aiya...why you all 'bahlol' enough to reply to Indon who still 'berak dalam sungai'!

      Hapus
    5. Indon tahu buat anak je... buat lapal selam la.. kapal terbang la
      . Jet la.. kapal la... tapi tak kemana pun..keh keh keh

      Hapus
    6. Paul n Dein@ jgn cek katak dibawah tempurung,sering2 baca internet lon..iri hati ye Wkwkwk

      Hapus
  4. Envy eats nothing but its own heart, Bravo TUDM!! Fly higher, Strike further

    BalasHapus
  5. Loncat mas...loncat (gb.no.3), pesawat kebakaran!!!

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. Similinghari212 have a unbelievable imagination...wow...proud of you...

      Hapus
  6. Kalo bandingin kumplitnya pesawat ini sama su-30 kita, kayak smartphone vs hp batangan...errrrrgh

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. kalau nak buat comparison,buat la SU30MK2 (TNI-AU) vs SU30MKM (TUDM). baru betul.

      Hapus
    2. Su30MK2 VS Su30MKM? Of course the pilot skill are important, but on paper, obviously the MKM could beat the Su30MK2..just wonder, Su30MK2 have a weapon or not.

      Hapus
    3. are u serious?? lol.. TNIau su30mk2 can shoot down mkm using land to air missile while still in hangar...like i said before..TNIau just need to send superduper tucano to handle mkm..trust me dude..i know everything...

      Hapus
    4. Damn...MKM means nothing then..the Rmaf should aware about this..i believe that the f35 & Advanced Super Hornet at USA can be shoot down too while the su30mk2 still in hangar...the USA & Russia would be suprised about this case..amazing..unbelievable...singapore should change their fighter n the doctrine..

      Hapus
    5. Wkwkwk..aq nak gelak tawa baca komen budak2 malon nih,indonesia berjaya bine jet pejuang generasi 5,malon keran otaknya cem toilet tak boleh bina apapun,cuma bisa anak dalam bilik Wkwkwk

      Hapus
    6. Wow..fifth gen fighter..true bro..indon berjaya..amazing..

      Hapus
    7. Malon tak boleh bina apapun..cuma bisa liat indon naik MRT saja..wkwkwkwkq

      Hapus
    8. Technically the su30mkm is better after all it is an improvement of the indians su30mki which in turn was developed from the su30mk2. Mki and mkm are varients dedicated to customers. Still capabilities are more or less the same just enhancements. Note that the mkm is able to carry western munitions with the linkup with the french(some say rumoured) system. RMAF wasnt really open to talk about this. Still i find it silly that a video gave this off. It would have been better if this was kept a secret. The news honestly surprised me and i respect that. Still training is impt dont let rhe capability be a white elephant. American munitions are notoriously expensive but they work better than expected so its justified. Unlike the F35s. They cant deliver the expectations set as originally the JSF programme wanted. Hopefully BlK 3F is the begining of a better f35. News indicated that lockheed will complete the development of the BLK 3F before the year ends. Production of the models to begin 2019. Whether DOD will change from LRIP to FRP is unknown. Other than that the whole F35 fleet has flowm 100,000 hrs.

      Hapus
    9. Iqram@ kau nih cem budak kampung,MRT itu hal biasa pakcik Wkwkwk...otak malon cem toilet cuma boleh bina anak,nak bina uniform askarpun mesti beli dari indonesia Wkwkwk

      Hapus
    10. Lol. I dont see any prototype then you claimed you already built. What a jokes.

      Btw malon is meaningless to us. You are in your own world. Too bad

      Hapus
    11. Malon..malingshit..malingsia..mean nothing...but INDON..yeah..INDON mendunia..wkwkwkw..

      MRT hal biasa? Minta lah jokokok buat...btw, thanks to the Indonesian that use the MRT services with happiness...:)

      Uniform? Hahahahah...silap..wkwkwkwkkw

      Hapus
    12. yeah why target mrt??
      mrt malaysia already lunch last week, rm1 go to anywhere till end of month I think

      Hapus
    13. Legend has it that MRT in indonesia can fly lol

      Hapus
    14. Iqram@ kau nih betul2 budak malon ndeso,MRT tuh di mana2 ada ruk,negara itu maju bila negara eksport komoditi hitech,sini hantar komoditi hitech Cem weapon yg telah di eksport hahaha,jgn bual MRT,malon boleh sahaje yg kau cakap Wkwkwk

      Hapus
    15. Trus..harus ku bilang wow gitu?

      Weapon yg tlah diekaport..wkwkwwkwkwkwkw

      Hapus
  7. All the indo guy's is a joke...
    I'll half indo and you guys act like a clown.

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. You get this kind of response when dealing with envious and idiotic sore losers. They don't represent the majorities of indonesians anyway

      Hapus
    2. So how the indonesian anyway?

      Hapus
  8. This fighter is compare with f16 TNI AU in pekanbaru,memang teknologinya lebih maju dari f16 indo tp f16 jumlahnya 2 kali lipat,8 hornet malon agains 24 f16 ID TNI AU,how will win you can ask your stupit brain

    BalasHapus
  9. This fighter is compare with f16 TNI AU in pekanbaru,memang teknologinya lebih maju dari f16 indo tp f16 jumlahnya 2 kali lipat,8 hornet malon agains 24 f16 ID TNI AU,how will win you can ask your stupit brain

    BalasHapus
  10. This fighter is compare with f16 TNI AU in pekanbaru,memang teknologinya lebih maju dari f16 indo tp f16 jumlahnya 2 kali lipat,8 hornet malon agains 24 f16 ID TNI AU,how will win you can ask your stupit brain

    BalasHapus
  11. This fighter is compare with f16 TNI AU in pekanbaru,memang teknologinya lebih maju dari f16 indo tp f16 jumlahnya 2 kali lipat,8 hornet malon agains 24 f16 ID TNI AU,how will win you can ask your stupit brain

    BalasHapus
    Balasan
    1. Then go to jokowi..ask him to attack malaysia if you want to know the answer...or you can ask it from gatot...or you can find it on youtube..of course the winner is indon...

      Hapus
    2. Iqram@ tak usah di attack indonesia,malonpun dah hancur lebor di attack najib....thanks tun najib Wkwkwk

      Hapus
    3. Tak hancur pun..indon semakin ramai yang datang..tanpa izin lagi...

      Hapus
    4. kalo pak najib ama om anakerokan datang pake ijin gak dulu, moyangnya coba tanya dech haha!

      nich ada pisang oleh2 buat luh mad oke kan mad🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌

      Hapus