Could An Ex-RAAF F/A-18 Hornet Air Wing Beat A Russian Su-35 Air Wing (WarGames 142) | DCS

*JUST read comments and I think I used the wrong radar for the legacy Hornet, sorry about that. I have no way of changing the radar in this plane so can't redo.

With news that Ukraine are considering taking on Australia's retired F/A-18 Hornets, we simulate how effective they would be against Russian front line Su-35 fighters, if they were indeed to be used in the air to air role.
0:00 Overview
1:07 Details
5:25 Scenario Details
6:34 Predictions
9:05 BATTLE 1: F/A-18 Legacy Hornet vs Su-35
21:47 BATTLE 2: F/A-18F Super Hornet vs Su-35

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[grimreapers]

*JUST read comments and I think I used the wrong radar for the legacy Hornet, sorry about that. I have no way of changing the radar in this plane so can't redo.
Ukraine-Russia Series:

[LeonAust]

RAAF F/A-18A Hornets were put through the Hornet Upgrade Program (HUG) thus equal to an upgraded F/A-18C or early Super hornet.
They have upgraded ECM, ESM, and a capability to fire AMRAAM AIM-120C to D, ASRAAM, AIM-9X, LJDAM-ER bombs, JASSM missiles, SDB, Harpoon II anti ship missiles, Litening targeting pods and the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS).
Communications and networking increased with the comms and link 16 upgrades.
Some Hornets were put through the centre barrel replacement program so this upgraded classic Hornet is no ordinary A model it is a very capable 4 to 4.5 gen aircraft deadly in the right hands.

[gregbarnes]

RAAF legacy F18s use the AN/APG73 radar and have Link16 meaning they should be able to use the latest datalink systems and weaponry too

[robertmansfield]

An/apg-73 Radar on RAAF hornets have an approximate range of above 60nm. RAAF honeys were upgraded in the early 2000s. Ordinance on the legacy hornets would be almost identical to super hornets.

[jimmyandtommy]

I feel like you should re-do this, with the correct setup for the hornets. Dont overload them, put the correct radar on them. Fight them how they ought to be fought.

[Headhunter_]

In 1992 I was boogey-boarding in Port Macquarie AUS, and two RAAF F/A-18s flew overhead and were dogfighting at an absurdly low altitude. Insane. Could not have been more than .5 - 1.0 mile offshore

[stevewhan]

I thought the legacy RAAF F18s had upgraded radar to AN/APG-73.

[angmid]

Great video Grim Reapers — I was waiting for this one after I heard the news about the ex-RAAF hornets!

(Sneaky wishlist)
I’d love to see you run a couple of small scale all-human tests of these aircraft — maybe a scenario of attacking & defending a small armoured column?

Say 2-4 fighters and 2 helicopter a side each side has a stationary target to hit, a small convoy to attack, a small convoy to defend, and a stationary target to defend. Points for each objective and for air to air kills. But smaller and faster the better so we can see how different aircraft, like the Franken-Migs, the raaf hornets, might go against the might of the Ka-52s and Su-35s (and maybe the beautiful Su-34 on an attack run?:) )

[McAllisterCo]

Your killing me cap ! The warzone article you cited to make this video literally explains that the RAAF hornets have been upgraded to A++ standard! AN/APG 73 radar, JHMCS, targeting pods, and data link just to name a few! Much more similar to c/d model at this point than a/b

[WilliamNolan-fneg]

RAAF hornets used ASRAAM towards the end of there time in service, also they were upgraded in the early 2000’s to be as good as standard fa-18c

[Gryphorim]

Wouldn't the ex-RAAF hornets use ASRAAMs for WVRAAM, as they would during RAAF service?

[CombatWombat.mm]

The RAAF F18s would be armed with the latest AMRAAMs

[raptorblarg]

Im pretty sure the reason the Super Bugs did so well is due to the smaller radar cross section. Its simply a harder target to acquire for both the planes and missiles.

[Barilla]

I know you really like to put as many spAMRAAMs as possible on fighters, but it's really penalizing the Hornets. They aren't gonna launch all of them anyways so it's just giving them more drag and worse kinematics. Just put 6 on each. Only scenario where they would be fully loaded is heavilly assymetric conflict where the enemy fighters can't fight back anyways so the Bugs can just lurk in the air and snipe anyone that dares to come close.

[robertmansfield]

RAAF hornets received an upgrade to the radar to AN/APG 73

[VimyScout]

Well done Matrix. Hung on for dear life there👍

[TheCaptainbeefylog]

The RAAF upgraded the Hornets to use current systems. If Ukraine picks them up then they'll able to use pretty much anything the Falcons carry. They'd more likely be used in CAS/SEAD than CAP anyway.
Having more missiles on a legacy Hornet is just a penalty if you don't ripple them off. The drag and dead weight would be a kill-maker.

[herrzimm]

For the 18/35 fight: From what I could tell, there appeared to be an issue of firing 1st, turning to avoid incoming missiles, then turning to re-engage leaving you exposed to the second wave of missiles. Meaning that while the 18's could avoid the first wave from the 35's, they were opening themselves up for the 2nd wave to close enough distance so that when they started to turn away from the 2nd wave the "closer distance" was too small to out turn them. Meanwhile, the 35's simply didn't have the distance to turn around in time to outrun the wave of missiles coming at them. They could turn, but simply didn't have the speed to get away from all of the shots coming their way. They would turn to re-engage and already be facing a 2nd missile coming at them as they got their launch authority to fire. At which point, they were having to turn/run and it became too little - too late to help them out.

That is the only reason that I could see that explained why the numbers started to drastically change over the battle.

[Ironwulf]

The RAAF has AN/APG-73 after Hornet Upgrade Program

[jansenart]

I've been through this a lot on twitter; Seems like the only viable way to get them over to Ukraine would be to ferry them 3 at a time inside of C5s being refueled from Guam, Hawaii and San Diego, then to refurb them before shipping them to ETO.