At the Farnborough Air Show Boeing provided details of upgrades which would become available to F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft in the 2015-2017 period.
Included are conformal fuel tanks for a 10 per cent range increase, upgraded F414 engines for up to 20 per cent power increase, an advanced cockpit with a wide touch screen glass panel, a chin-mounted internal infrared search-and-track system and an all-aspect missile and laser warning system.
To reduce the Super Hornet’s radar cross section, a fuel tank-shaped weapons pod will carry air-to-air missiles or other weapons internally.
The pod will be fitted to the fighter’s centreline hard point station.