F-18 Hornet
History
The @F-18 Hornet would first begin its life as the YF-17 Cobra, a contender to the YF-16 Viper. Both TSFs were part of the Lightweight Tactical Surface Fighter program, but despite the YF-16's victory and its subsequent development into the @F-16 Fighting Falcon, the US Navy had concerns about the F-16's operating time, load capacity, and maintainability. McDaell Doglam eventually took over development of the YF-17, refining it into the multi-purpose F-18 Hornet which is later adopted by the US Navy.
Although the @F-14 Tomcat was the main TSF of the US Navy, the decision to retire it was in part due to its poor cost-to-performance ratio; each sortie required costly maintenance to its systems, and that was before factoring in the cost of its specialized AIM-54 Phoenix missile. The F-18's performance was close to the @F-15 Eagle for a lower operational cost per TSF and greater versatility than the F-16, making it popular for export to other countries such as @Australia.
Deployment
The legacy F-18A/B, and later C/D with improved avionics, variants were operated by both the US Navy and various nations, with the US Navy switching to the F-18E/F Super Hornet in 1994. F-18s are still operated by Australia, Nepal, and many other nations, and a flight of F-18s are operated by an Australian experimental unit at @Yukon Base in Alaska as part of Project PROMINENCE.
The legacy A, and C Hornets, and E Super Hornet variants are single-seaters, while the multi-seat variant is indicated as the legacy B, and D Hornets, and F type Super Hornet.
Variants
F-18E/F Super Hornet
A redesigned Hornet developed by McDaell Doglam, the Super Hornet achieved 2.5th generation status due to various improvements to its operating time and systems.
The head module was expanded to accommodate improved sensors and avionics, its shoulder units are expanded to house large thrusters, and its hip block and lower legs are expanded to extend operating time, defensive ability, and carrying load. Once again, with efficiency similar to its equivalent, the F-15E Strike Eagle, and at a lower cost, the Super Hornet was established as the flagship machine of the US Marine Corps and US Navy, and is also exported to COSEAN, @Australia, and @Africa.
Northrock later sued McDaell Doglam over the production of the Super Hornet, claiming it had not given permission for production of F-18 variants. Production was eventually taken over by Boening after its merger with McDaell Doglam.
The USMC uses the single seat F-18E model while the US Navy utilizes the two-seater F-18F; notable examples include the USMC's VMF-318 Black Knives and VMF-536 Bloody Nightmare squadron as F-18E users, and the USN's VF-133 Raging Busters squadron as F-18F users.
The Super Hornets of VMF-536 Bloody Nightmare would be deployed as strike units, operating in tandem with other squadrons of the US Marine Corps' 26th TSF Wing to run herd-thinning operations in Europe in April 2000. Garuda Test Flight of COSEAN also operated Super Hornets for the duration of Project PROMINENCE and the Blue Flag exercises.
F-CK-1 Ching-kuo
The F-CK-1 Ching-kuo is a 2nd generation TSF developed by Taiwan, based on the requirement of running culling operations across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan chose the F-18's base design over the F-16's for its superior operating time and versatility.
To further extend the F-CK-1's operational range, its upgrades (similar to the F-18E/F Super Hornet's) include a lightened frame and enlarged leg fuel tanks.