Hope for end of 2019.
I’m the son of a helicopter pilot, pessimism is in my blood!
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We’ll be exceedingly lucky if the Hornet is done in that time frame. Expect some time in the early portion of the next decade.
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It only took a decade for the Bug. The Falon cant be more than 14 months away.
Pay attention Franze, this is how you fake optimism.
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On the other hand, a viper isn’t much more than a downgraded bug with a proper light fighter airframe (we are getting a block 15 A model, right?) So systems modelling should go a lot faster than the bugs’ as it’ll consist mostly of cutting stuff away 
where do you base that info on? It’s going to be the C model afaik, see https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=205813
EDIT: Should have an approximately identical featureset to the envisaged hornet implementation so I expect faster delivery. Nevertheless I would assume work to start after the hornet is finished.
Considering the Hornet came after the 16, not sure how that works. That’s like saying Kirk Douglas is a downgraded version of Michael Douglas.
The F-18 was the contemporary of the F-16. It was just a scaled up F-5. It failed. Then the USN was forced to pick between them and had a strong bias against the single engine concept so they picked the 18. Of course they redesigned the hell out of it to make the F/A-18. In fact, I would say the differences between the F-18 and the F/A-18A are about the same as the differences between that and the F/A-18E, including the scaling up. The F-18 was a SMALL jet and capable of nothing more than what the F-16A could do.
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Schurem’s right. The Hornet also has two vertical stabilizers, which are jauntily angled, to the Vipers one. Everybody knows that two is better than one, so…
And as he said. All they have to do is remove one of them and you have a viper model!
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Eh we’re not talking about the YF17 here I’m sure? The F16C and F/A18C have practically the same systems and weapon delivery capability. The only thing is the F18 does less well in dogfights (shots fired, but definitely not the same T/W) however can carry more ordinance. If I understand correctly schurem ment a downgraded bug since he assumed the A-model was planned, which has avionics from the '70.
Actually the A model bug and viper don’t differ all that much. The viper has a slightly smaller radar antenna and a rather larger engine. That makes it a far better energy fighter.
On the other hand, the bug carried sparrows from the outset, while the viper only got BVR missiles when it got the AMRAAM, in the C model (or MLU).
And that’s just the Air-to-Air portion of it. The viper does feature ground mapping and moving target indication modes on its radar, as does the bug, but the bug carried a FLIR pod by design. The viper only added those far after the gulf war. The bug also always carried a bigger and more diverse load than the viper, with harpoons, walleyes, harm, etc.
So yeah. Late C model viper pretty much mirrors the capabilities of the hornet. It’s a different manufacturer so there will be almost no copy-paste work in the avionics. It’s gonna take years.
My earlier posts were in jest.
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Wasn’t there something about a look-down, shoot-down radar advantage for one or the other?
…actually…if you think about it…take the existing Bug cockpit, pull out the middle MFD…take out the coding for the Bug’s second engine…redo some weight and balance…do a quick F-16 model replacement…put in a 350º oven for 4 hrs (oh wait, that last bit is the Thanksgiving turkey)…Presto! Instant Falcon!
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