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F/A-18
What is the F/A-18 Hornet?
Who manufactures the F/A-18 Hornet?
What are the primary roles of the F/A-18 Hornet?
When did the F/A-18 Hornet enter service?
What is the EA-18G Growler?
F/A-18, U.S. twin-engine multirole fighter derived from the Northrop YF-17. Developed by McDonnell Douglas as the F/A-18 Hornet (the F/A designation refers to “fighter” and “attack”), it is a carrier-based aircraft designed for ground attack, but it also possesses excellent air-to-air capability. It entered service with the U.S. Marine Corps in 1983 and the U.S. Navy the following year.
Development and operational history
The Northrop YF-17 was the losing candidate in the U.S. Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program that was launched in the late 1960s to select a “no-frills,” highly maneuverable fighter aircraft that excelled at dogfighting. This competition was won by the General Dynamics (later Lockheed Martin) F-16. McDonnell Douglas subsequently developed the YF-17 into the F/A-18 for use on aircraft carriers, incorporating structural strengthening and components necessary for carrier takeoffs and landings, including folding wings to aid deck, hangar-deck, and elevator stowage. Whereas the YF-17 was a fighter, the F/A-18 was developed with both the fighter and attack roles in mind. Initially, separate fighter and attack variants were proposed, the F-18 and A-18, but it became clear that one multirole variant could perform both tasks.
The Hornet entered service in 1983. It first saw combat in the bombing campaign against Libya in 1986. In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, U.S. Hornets shot down two Iraqi MiG-21s. In the same campaign, one U.S. Hornet was lost to an Iraqi Air Force MiG-25 Foxbat. In the 1990s, U.S. Hornets were used in Operation Southern Watch (the no-fly zone over southern Iraq) as well as the NATO operations in Bosnia and Kosovo. U.S. Navy Hornets took part in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the conflict that followed. The plane was also used in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and subsequent fighting. An F/A-18C was accidentally shot down by a Patriot missile in a friendly fire incident in Iraq in 2003.
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F/A-18 Hornet operators include (or have included) the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, Finnish Air Force, Royal Malaysian Air Force, Kuwait Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Spanish Air and Space Force, Swiss Air Force, and NASA. During the 2026 Iran conflict, a Kuwait Air Force F/A-18C Hornet (possibly more than one aircraft or combined with ground fire) shot down three U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles in one of the most bizarre friendly fire incidents in modern aviation history.
The Super Hornet
Although the legacy F/A-18 series was considered reliable and effective, it was clear that a more versatile naval aircraft could be made by increasing its range and payload. McDonnell Douglas had been studying advanced Hornet derivatives since 1986, both as a lower-risk alternative should future advanced U.S. naval projects fail and as a commercial rival to emerging European projects such as the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Development and variants
The Super Hornet was developed to reduce the number of different aircraft types operated by the U.S. Navy, thus lowering logistical complications and costs. It was hoped at one stage that the Super Hornet would replace some of the maintenance-heavy F-14s in the fleet, as well as reduce the number of A-12 Avenger IIs to be ordered (the A-12 was eventually canceled before entering production). It was to build on the Hornet’s reputation for reliability, adding greater payload, range performance, and “bring-back” (the ability to return to a carrier with unused munitions). There are many differences between the Hornet and the Super Hornet: Commonality is only about 10 percent, so despite the shared designation, they are essentially different airplanes.
The F/A-18E is the single-seat variant, and the F/A-18F has two seats. In the F, the weapon systems officer (WSO) occupies the back seat. The WSO is responsible for operating the aircraft’s radar and weapon systems.
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Airframe, engines, and sensors
One notable feature of the Super Hornet is the far larger and reshaped leading-edge root extensions, the dogtooth in the wing’s leading edge, and a fuselage extension plug. Another significant difference is the Super Hornet’s “caret” style intake, a type of air intake system used on supersonic aircraft, characterized by its V shape. This intake design is intended to efficiently capture and compress air at high speeds while maintaining radar stealth (replacing the kidney-shaped intakes of the legacy Hornet). A jet engine’s compressor face is highly visible to radar; in the Super Hornet, it is concealed by a baffle. Large amounts of radar-absorbent material (RAM) are used in the structure. Though many efforts were made to increase the aircraft’s stealthiness, the specific configuration in which it carries its external stores (fuel, targeting pods, and weapons) is considered particularly unstealthy.
Advances in materials and construction techniques were used in the Super Hornet. By structural weight, the legacy Hornet is 49 percent aluminum, lowered to 31 percent in the Super Hornet. Carbon epoxy use went from 10 to 19 percent, steel from 15 to 14 percent, and titanium from 13 to 21 percent (other materials went from 13 to 15 percent).
The Super Hornet is significantly larger and heavier than the legacy Hornet. The Hornet (F/A-18C/D) has a length of 56 feet 1 inch (17 meters), a wingspan of 40 feet 5 inches (13.5 meters), and a height of 15 feet 4 inches (4.6 meters). Its empty weight is approximately 23,000 pounds (10,433 kg), with a maximum takeoff weight of 51,900 pounds (23,541 kg). The Super Hornet (F/A-18E/F) is 60 feet 1 inch long (18.3 meters), with a wingspan of 44 feet 9 inches (13.6 meters) and a height of 16 feet (4.9 meters). Its empty weight is 32,100 pounds (14,552 kg), and its maximum takeoff weight is 66,000 pounds (29,936 kg). The Super Hornet has a roughly 20 percent larger airframe, enabling greater fuel capacity (14,400 pounds [6,531 kg] vs. 10,860 pounds [4,926 kg] for the Hornet) and payload (about 17,750 pounds [8,051 kg] vs. 15,500 pounds [7,030 kg]). This results in a combat radius of about 390 nautical miles for the Super Hornet, compared with 290 for the Hornet. The Super Hornet can be configured as an airborne tanker by adding an external air-to-air refueling system.
The Super Hornet’s primary sensor was originally the AN/APG-73, an all-weather, multimode radar system, a mechanically scanning radar. Later the AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar was introduced. The AN/APG-79 was one of the first AESA radars fitted to a combat aircraft; the United States (along with Japan) was a pioneer in the field of these radars. Despite initial developmental issues, today the AN/APG-79 is highly regarded by the aircrew who use it.
The Super Hornet is compatible with the AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR (Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared); Kuwaiti Super Hornets use the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP). Either pod serves as an electro-optical sensor and laser designator pod (laser designation pods shine a laser on a target to guide laser-guided bombs).
Communications equipment includes the AN/ARC-210 VHF/UHF radio and a Link 16 datalink.
The Super Hornet is powered by two General Electric F414-GE-400 low-bypass ratio turbofan engines. Each engine can generate up to 22,000 pound-force (97.9 kilonewtons) of thrust with afterburner.
Weapons and targeting systems
The Super Hornet has an internal 20mm M61A2 Vulcan rotary cannon with up to 412 rounds of ammunition. The Super Hornet can carry up to 17,750 lb (8,050 kg) of external stores. External stores can be carried on 11 hardpoints (an additional two compared with the legacy Hornet). The Super Hornet is typically armed with AIM-120 AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles for the air-to-air role. A notable weapon carried by the Super Hornet is the AIM-174B, a large, very-long-range, air-to-air missile.
In the air-to-surface role, the Super Hornet has a wide choice of munitions that include the AGM-65E/F Maverick guided missile, AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response) cruise missile, AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) and AARGM-ER (Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Extended Range) missiles, AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) cruise missile, AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) glide bomb, AGM-84 Harpoon anti-shipping missile, and AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM). Bomb options include JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition), Paveway series, SDB II Stormbreaker, and unguided “dumb” bombs.
The Super Hornet employs the Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS). The JHMCS integrates a visor-projected display onto the pilot’s helmet, allowing critical flight, navigation, and weapon data to be viewed without looking down at cockpit instruments. The helmet uses magnetic head-tracking to align displayed information with the pilot’s head movements, enabling precise targeting. Pilots can cue missiles, such as the AIM-9X Sidewinder, to targets simply by looking at them, reducing reaction time in dogfights. The system supports off-boresight engagements, meaning weapons can be aimed at targets outside the aircraft’s forward path. JHMCS is compatible with night vision and augmented reality.
The EA-18G Growler
The EA-18G Growler is a specialized electronic-warfare aircraft variant of the F/A-18F Block II (upgrades are organized as Blocks) Super Hornet. It is a land- and carrier-based, radar- and communication-jamming aircraft. It was created to degrade or destroy enemy air defense systems; its wartime roles include jamming integrated air defense systems, lethal suppression of air defenses using weapons, and disruption of enemy communications. It does not contain an internal gun; this space is taken up by an avionics pallet containing part of the AN/ALQ-218 system and the AN/ALQ-227(V)1 Communications Countermeasures Set (CCS). It has wingtip-mounted pods containing Northrop Grumman AN/ALQ-218 Tactical Jamming System Receivers. It can carry three external ALQ-99 jammer pods.
Super Hornet and Growler operational history
The Super Hornet entered service in 2001 with the U.S. Navy. In the 2020s the Super Hornet is by far the most numerically significant U.S. Navy combat aircraft, in service in far greater numbers than the F-35C. The Super Hornet has seen combat in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and the Red Sea.
On June 18, 2017, a U.S. Navy F/A-18E shot down a Syrian Air Force Su-22 “Fitter” fighter-bomber near Tabqa. This was probably the first aerial kill of a crewed aircraft by an American fighter in the 21st century and the very first “kill” by a Super Hornet (and the third by an F/A-18). Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea on December 22, 2024, when their F/A-18F was mistakenly shot down by the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64). Depictions of the Super Hornet have appeared in many television shows, computer games, and movies; the most famous example is the 2022 Tom Cruise blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.
The Super Hornet is used by three countries, as of 2026: Australia (Royal Australian Air Force), Kuwait (Kuwait Air Force), and the United States (Navy). The Growler is operated by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force (390th Electronic Combat Squadron), and the Royal Australian Air Force.