The F-18L was a very good fighter at the time, but McDonnell Douglas succeeded in getting it killed. How successful can it be and what would it's impact be.
Depends on if britain goes nuclear in the 60s? Meaning if the older carriers get sunk or if the maltas get built then converted to nuclear in the 60s during re fits.
ah ah the tornado gets delayed and pushed back due to some un fore seen reason like the Prototype crashes into the ground then we could see Britain buying it until the typhoon is built then the F18L gets turned into the Bomber it should always be.
For this to work, the USAF would have had to have picked the YF-17 (F-18 prototype) over the F-16. That didn't happen and without a large US buy, you probably don't get enough export orders to justify production.
Without the Tornado, I'd see the UK going for the Eagle with it's better capabilities rather than the more limited Hornet.
The F-18L came around later than this. It was meant to be a land based export fighter marketed by Northrop while McDonnell Douglas sold the carrier variant to the USN and other naval operators. It was McDonnell Douglas, not the air force that killed it when they offered the F/A-18 in direct competition with the F-18L and their relationship soured from there.
Perhaps. But the F-18 had a number of advantages over the F-15.
One being it was more maneuverable.
Two, it is a much smaller target.
Three, despite having a slower absolute top speed due to fixed air inlets (Mach 1.8 opposed to Mach 2.5), the Hornet proved it could out accelerate an F-15 Eagle from a standing runway start. IIRC, F-18s have routinely outrun F-15s from stationary to Mach 1.2.
F-18s have routinely outrun F-15s from stationary to Mach 1.2.
Are you sure it wasn't the other way around? F/A-18s are notorious for poor transonic performance, at least in the Super Hornets.
I was referring to original models. The Super Hornets are considerably more massive so their acceleration curve might be inferior.
They also canted out the pylons based on the results of wind tunnel testing so they essentially have speed breaks on. I talked to a Super Hornet pilot once, he said that the #1 drawback to the plane is that you can't run from anybody.
Britain was always in the need of a long-range interceptor. It was crucial in order to intercept Soviet bombers over the North Sea on their way to the UK. This role was partially taken over by the Phantom, later the Tornado-ADV did the job. The F-18L was too short legged fir this mission, the F-15 would have been the plausible solution.