![]() The Super Hornet has a new, 25% larger airframe, larger, rectangular air intakes, more powerful General Electric F414 engines, and an upgraded avionics suite. The new Super Hornet single-seat variant F/A-18E and two-seat F/A-18F carry over the name and design concept of the original F/A-18 but were extensively redesigned by McDonnell Douglas, and depending on whom you ask, represent an essentially entirely new aircraft. The Marine Corps flew its last F/A-18C mission in 2021. The last original-airframe-size F/A-18C/D aircraft were built in 2000. One of the reasons the F/A-18 Hornet concept has been so successful is that it was significantly redesigned and upgraded into the Super Hornet, which entered service in 1999. What’s the difference between the original F/A-18 Hornet and the Super Hornet? The Navy purchased the YF-17 for use by the Navy and Marines, which after the trials and further development for carrier operations would become the excellent F/A-18 Hornet and later the Super Hornet. After all, you can’t simply glide to a safe landing if your only engine flames out over the Arabian Sea. Experience had taught the Navy that when it comes to emergency procedures at sea, two engines are better than one. General Dynamics was given a military contract from the United States Air Force for full-scale development and production of both single- and two-seat configurations of the F-16.įor various reasons, the Navy often goes its own way where aircraft and equipment are concerned, and was more impressed with the YF-17 and its twin-engine, twin-stabilizer design. In the trials, test pilots reportedly favored the YF-16’s superior maneuverability compared to the YF-17, and in January 1975 the YF-16 was announced as the winner of the ACF competition. These two aircraft were the two obvious standouts in the 1972 LWF competition, which was rolled into a larger-scope Air Combat Fighter (ACF) competition in 1974 in response to NATO allies’ changing requirements. ![]() General Dynamics submitted their single-engine, single-horizontal-stabilizer entry as the YF-16, and Northrop offered their twin-engine, twin-vertical-stabilizer design as the YF-17. Over the next several years, Boyd and his group continued pushing their mantra of “lighter, faster, and more maneuverable,” and the DoD approved military funding for prototyping and trials of 5 designs as part of the Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program. The Fighter Mafia’s persistent arguments and data modeling were compelling enough to secure Department of Defense funding in 1969 to develop and study design concepts based upon the Boyd/Christie energy-maneuverability theory. Major John Boyd and mathematician Thomas Christie, in response to the lumbering, crazy-expensive behemoths passing for fighter aircraft at the time, developed the energy-maneuverability theory to predict or model a combat aircraft’s performance.īy the late 1960s Boyd had gathered a group of engineers and designers known as the “Fighter Mafia,” and the group became somewhat notorious for being very vocal advocates of their theories regarding the need for the military to develop a new generation of light, powerful, highly maneuverable aircraft that could be built more inexpensively and efficiently. In the early 1960s, events were set in motion that would result in the eventual development of two iconic jet fighters, the F-16 Fighting Falcon and the F/A-18 Hornet. Origins and early history of the F-18 program Let’s go over the history of the F-18 and learn how this versatile, excellent aircraft has kept itself relevant over four decades. So why do we care? No, not because we’re fans of sweaty, shirtless, beach-football montages (and, well, who isn’t), but because one of the primary stars of the film (in addition to Cruise’s creepily youthful physique and Miles Teller’s creepily pubescent mustache) is the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet that, like Tom Cruise, has been kicking ass and taking names since 1983. The film is Tom Cruise’s biggest movie ever (earning the actor a cool $100 million), and has surpassed Titanic’s earnings to become Paramount’s highest-grossing movie domestically. Whether you consider 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick as a sequel or a reboot of the iconic 1986 joint, there’s no question that the feel-good popcorn movie slash naval aviation recruiting vehicle is objectively a jaw-dropping blockbuster, earning (as of fall 2022) over $1.45 BILLION worldwide.
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