Having come back from RIAT 2010 with no usable pictures of the F/A-18F Super Hornet due to the weather I decided I should attend a day at Farnborough to have another go at the Super Hornet. Flying again with it’s weapon load of two AIM-9 Sidewinders and six AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles it was clear that Boeing was pushing the air to air ability of the F/A-18F. The display underlined the technical ability of the Super Hornet with a lot of high alpha and low speed handling; much more suited to Farnborough than RIAT.
Also flying with a weapons load was the BAE Systems Eurofighter Typhoon. The development aircraft IPA5 (serial ZJ700) had thirteen of its hard points filled with three drop tanks, four PGMs, four AIM-120 AMRAAMs and two AIM-132 ASRAAMs demonstrating the Typhoons multirole capability.
Also of note was the Pakistan JF-17 Thunder multi-role combat aircraft making its first appearance at Farnborough. Two great displays from the C-130J and C-27J transport aircraft.
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The shrinking variety of military aircraft types (especially for the UK armed forces) has been something I'm very aware of and is a factor on where I decide to shoot these days. This is one of the reasons I've started...