Worldwide War Pigs: Drop Tank IRST Tests Well For Supers

About 1 ¾ years ago, I wrote about how Boeing was looking into putting an Infra-Red Search and Track (IRST) on the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet by fitting it to the front half of a center-line drop tank.

Well, Boeing has completed successful flight tests on the system, which is supplied by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control^*.

There hasn't been an aircraft in the US inventory with an IRST for air-to-air since the F-14 Tomcat was retired, but Russian and European fighters have embraced this technology.

The advantages of going passive are real, though I would wonder about the reliability of the system under the very turbulent and vibration laden environment beneath the Super Bug.

My original post on this.

H/t Worldwide War Pigs

^*Full disclosure, I worked at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in the late 1990s.^†
†Yes, I have worked everywhere. Maybe I can't hold down a job, but more likely this has been my role as "technical hit man", where you are parachuted in to take care of a specific need.