The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are a series of American supersonic twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The Super Hornet is in service with the armed forces of the United States, Australia, and Kuwait. The F/A-18E single-seat and F tandem-seat variants are larger and more advanced versions of the F/A-18C and D Hornet, respectively.
A strike fighter capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground/surface missions, the Super Hornet has an internal 20 mm M61A2 rotary cannon and can carry air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles, and a variety of other weapons. Additional fuel can be carried in up to five external fuel tanks and the aircraft can be configured as an airborne tanker by adding an external air-to-air refueling system. Designed and initially produced by McDonnell Douglas, the Super Hornet first flew in 1995. Low-rate production began in early 1997, reaching full-rate production in September 1997, after the merger of McDonnell Douglas and Boeing the previous month. An electronic warfare variant, the EA-18G Growler, was also developed. Although officially named "Super Hornet", it is commonly referred to as "Rhino" within the United States Navy.
The Super Hornet entered fleet service with the U.S. Navy in 1999, supplanting the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which was retired in 2006; the Super Hornet has served alongside the original Hornet as well. The F/A-18E/F became the backbone of U.S. carrier aviation since the 2000s and has been used extensively in combat operations in the Middle East, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and against the Islamic State and Assad-aligned forces in Syria. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which operated the F/A-18A as its main fighter since 1984, ordered the F/A-18F in 2007 to replace its aging General Dynamics F-111C fleet with the RAAF Super Hornets entering service in December 2010. The Super Hornet is planned to be replaced by the F/A-XX in U.S. Navy service starting in the 2030s.
Development
Origins
The Super Hornet is an enlarged redesign of the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The wing and tail configuration trace its origin to a Northrop prototype aircraft, the P-530, , which began as a rework of the lightweight Northrop F-5E (with a larger wing, twin tail fins and a distinctive leading edge root extension, or LERX). Later flying as the Northrop YF-17 "Cobra", it competed in the United States Air Force's Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program to produce a smaller and simpler fighter to complement the larger McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle; the YF-17 lost the competition to the YF-16 for the Air Force's LWF, but the Navy found the twin-engine YF-17 design to be more suitable for carrier operations for the service's Navy Air Combat Fighter (NACF) and selected it over the competing naval YF-16 derivative proposal.
After selecting the YF-17, the Navy directed that it be redesigned into the larger F/A-18 Hornet to meet a requirement for a multi-role fighter (VFAX) to complement the larger and more expensive Grumman F-14 Tomcat serving in fleet defense interceptor and air superiority roles. Northrop teamed with McDonnell Douglas to navalize the design, with the latter eventually becoming the prime contractor. The Hornet proved to be effective but limited in combat radius. The concept of an enlarged Hornet was first proposed in the 1980s, which was marketed by McDonnell Douglas as "Hornet 2000". The "Hornet 2000" concept was an advanced F/A-18 with a larger wing and a longer fuselage to carry more fuel and more powerful engines.Jenkins, Dennis R. F/A-18 Hornet: A Navy Success Story. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000. ."F/A-18E/F Super Hornet." Boeing. Retrieved: 25 July 2011.
The end of the Cold War led to a period of military budget cuts and considerable restructuring. At the same time, U.S. Naval Aviation faced a number of problems. The McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) was canceled in 1991 after the program ran into serious problems; it was intended to replace the obsolete Grumman A-6 Intruder.Donald 2004, p. 45. The Navy then embarked on another attack aircraft program called the Advanced-Attack (A-X), but also considered updating an existing design for an interim capability until A-X could be fielded. Meanwhile, McDonnell Douglas had proposed the "Super Hornet" (initially "Hornet II" and later "Hornet 2000" in the 1980s), which could serve as an alternate replacement for the A-6 Intruder or an interim aircraft for A-X; the design would also address some of the limitations of the previous F/A-18 models, such as insufficient bringback capability, or the ability to recover unused weapons aboard aircraft carriers.Elward 2001, p. 73. The next-generation Hornet design proved more attractive than Grumman's Quick Strike upgrade to the F-14 Tomcat, which was regarded as an insufficient technological leap over existing F-14s and was opposed by the Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney. Furthermore, the A-X, which had evolved into the A/F-X (Advanced Attack/Fighter) due to added fighter capabilities, was canceled in the 1993 Bottom-Up Review as the Super Hornet was viewed as a more attractive low-risk approach to a clean-sheet design due to post-Cold War budget reductions.
At the time, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the Navy's primary air superiority fighter and fleet defense interceptor. Cheney described the F-14 as 1960s technology, and drastically cut back F-14D procurement in 1989 before cancelling production altogether in 1991, in favor of the updated F/A-18E/F.Donald, David. "Northrop Grumman F-14 Tomcat, U.S. Navy today". Warplanes of the Fleet. London: AIRtime Publishing Inc, 2004. . The decision to replace the Tomcat with an all-Hornet Carrier Air Wing was controversial; Vietnam War ace and Congressman Duke Cunningham criticized the Super Hornet as an unproven design that compromised air superiority. Between 1991 and 1992, the Navy gradually canceled the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF), which would have been a navalized variant of the Air Force's Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor to complement the A-12, due to escalating costs. As a cheaper alternative to NATF, Grumman proposed substantial improvements to the F-14 beyond Quick Strike, but Congress rejected them as too costly and reaffirmed its commitment to the less expensive F/A-18E/F. Originally viewed as an interim for A-X or A/F-X, the Super Hornet would become the mainstay of the Carrier Air Wing.Donald 2004, pp. 13, 15.
Testing and production
The Super Hornet was first ordered by the U.S. Navy in 1992, and the total Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) cost was capped at $4.88 billion in FY 1990 dollars (~$ in ). The Navy retained the F/A-18 designation to help sell the program to Congress as a low-risk "derivative", though the Super Hornet is largely a new aircraft. To some extent, the design of the F/A-18E/F was driven by a more cautious development approach favoring incremental improvements over the F/A-18C/D, affordability, and reliability at the expense of raw performance. The Hornet and Super Hornet share many characteristics, including avionics, ejection seats, radar, armament, mission computer software, and maintenance/operating procedures. The Super Hornet's F414 engines were derived from the Hornet's F404 while also incorporating advances developed for the A-12's F412. The initial F/A-18E/F retained most of the avionics systems from the F/A-18C/D's configuration at the time to reduce upfront development costs. The design would be expanded in the Super Hornet with an empty weight slightly greater than the F-15C. The division of manufacturing would largely mirror the Hornet's, with McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) responsible for the forward fuselage, wings, and stabilators while Northrop Grumman produced the center/aft fuselage and vertical tails. The design service life was 6,000 flight hours.
The Super Hornet first flew on 29 November 1995. Initial production on the F/A-18E/F began in 1995. Flight testing started in 1996 with the F/A-18E/F's first carrier landing in 1997. Low-rate production began in March 1997 with full production beginning in September 1997. Testing continued through 1999, finishing with sea trials and aerial refueling demonstrations, as well as design modifications to resolve "wing drop" and possible stores release interference. Testing involved 3,100 test flights covering 4,600 flight hours. The Super Hornet underwent U.S. Navy operational tests and evaluations in 1999, and was approved in February 2000.Nathman, John, Rear Admiral U.S. Navy. "DoD Special Briefing on "Super Hornet" Operation Evaluation Results." Defenselink.mil, 15 September 2000. Retrieved: 8 July 2011.
Following the retirement of the F-14 in 2006, all of the Navy's combat jets were Hornet variants until the F-35C Lightning II entered service. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F two-seat aircraft took the place of the F-14 Tomcat, A-6 Intruder, Lockheed S-3 Viking, and KA-6D aircraft. An electronic warfare variant, the EA-18G Growler, replaced the EA-6B Prowler. The Navy calls this reduction in aircraft types a "neck-down". During the Vietnam War era, the Super Hornet's roles were performed by a combination of the A-1/A-4/A-7 (light attack), A-6 (medium attack), F-8/F-4 (fighter), RA-5C (recon), KA-3/KA-6 (tanker), and EA-6 (electronic warfare). It was anticipated that $1 billion in fleetwide annual savings would result from replacing other types with the Super Hornet. The Navy considers the Super Hornet's acquisition a success, meeting cost, schedule, and weight (400 lb, 181 kg) below requirement threshold limits."F/A-18 fact file." U.S. Navy, 13 October 2006. Retrieved: 25 July 2011.
The total Super Hornet procurement number would fluctuate considerably throughout its production run. The 1997 Department of Defense (DoD) Quadrennial Defense Review cut the originally planned number of around 1,000 by nearly half. By October 2008, Boeing had delivered 367 Super Hornets to the U.S. Navy, but the service was still experiencing a strike fighter shortfall as older aircraft types retired and the procurement rate was not sufficient to replenish the carrier air wings, especially with ongoing combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as substantial delays with the F-35 program. In 2006, the Navy was 60 fighters below its validated requirement. The FY2010 budget bill authorized a multiyear purchase agreement for additional Super Hornets, finalized on 28 September 2010, that reportedly saved $600 million over individual yearly contracts. This contract for 66 Super Hornets and 58 Growlers was intended to mitigate a four-year delay in the F-35 program. In 2019, Boeing received a $4 billion contract to deliver 78 Block III Super Hornets for the Navy through fiscal 2021. The Navy plans to sign year-to-year contracts to convert all of its Block II aircraft to Block III variants through 2033. As the F-35 began entering service, Boeing announced plans to end Super Hornet production in 2025, later extended to 2027 with an additional 17 orders from the U.S. Navy.
Improvements and changes