The F/A-18 Hornet is an American twin-engine, carrier-capable multirole fighter developed by McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing, entering United States Navy and Marine Corps service in 1983 as a single airframe able to serve interchangeably in the fighter and attack roles that earlier American naval aviation had split across separate aircraft types. Descended from a design that lost the Air Force's lightweight fighter competition to the F-16 but was reworked into a navalized carrier fighter, the Hornet combined reasonably good air-to-air performance with a strong ground-attack payload and the ruggedness needed for repeated carrier landings, and its extensive combat record spans the 1986 airstrikes on Libya through the Gulf War, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. An enlarged and substantially redesigned successor, the Super Hornet, entered service in 1999 and has gradually replaced earlier Hornet variants in American service, while the original design remains in front-line use with several allied air forces around the world.
Facts
Weapon Classtwin-engine, carrier-capable multirole fighter aircraft 1 Introduced Year Classification
Service Status Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category) Connections
Associated With
Gulf War, Wars F/A-18 Hornets flew strike and fighter escort missions from carrier decks during the Gulf War
Operated By
Source Wikipedia: McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
Used In
Gulf War, Wars Source Wikipedia: McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
Iraq War, Wars Source Wikipedia: McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
Lead section, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F/A-18_Hornet
is an all-weather supersonic, twin-engined, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and ground attack aircraft
Operational history, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F/A-18_Hornet
The Hornet entered operational service with the U.S. Navy in 1983, gradually replacing the A-7 Corsair II and the remaining F-4 Phantom IIs.
service status
The remaining legacy Navy Hornets were retired in 2019 with the fielding of the F-35C Lightning II
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
Used In: Gulf War, Wikipedia article text
The aircraft first saw combat action during the 1986 United States bombing of Libya and subsequently participated in the 1991 Gulf War, operations over Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, and in the 2003 Iraq War as well as follow-on operations in the Middle East.
Used In: Iraq War, Wikipedia article text
The aircraft first saw combat action during the 1986 United States bombing of Libya and subsequently participated in the 1991 Gulf War, operations over Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, and in the 2003 Iraq War as well as follow-on operations in the Middle East.
Operated By: United States Marine Corps, Wikipedia article text
As of 2024, The United States Marine Corps operated a fleet of 179 F/A-18C and D Hornets, with plans to keep them operational with upgraded radars and electronics until 2030, when they are scheduled to be fully replaced by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.
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