Most Advanced Version Of The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Delivered To The U S Navy theaviationist.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theaviationist.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
However, the Lightning costs a lot more and is rife with issues.
Here s What You Need To Remember: When facing threatening adversaries, the two aircraft types could potentially synergize well, with the Lightning, confined to lighter internal weapons loads when flying in a stealthy configuration, ferreting out targets for the Super Hornets to slug away at from a relatively safe distance.
In June, the U.S. Navy released a budget allocating $264.9 million towards upgrading its roughly six hundred FA-18E and F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler fighters to the new Block III standard, which includes some of the enhancements proposed for the Advanced Super Hornet. This is intended to coincide with a service-life extension program (SLEP) meant to increase the type’s flight hours from six thousand to nine thousand. The first of the upgraded aircraft are expected to enter service in 2019, and the Pentagon is now talking about keeping its Super Hornet fleet active through 2046.