Historical background knowledge
| Site: | Open Flight School |
| Course: | F/A-18C Hornet Basic Course (DCS) |
| Book: | Historical background knowledge |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Tuesday, 30 April 2024, 7:08 PM |
1. The Development
The development of the F/A-18 started already in 1966, when Northrop was looking for a "small and cheap" successor for the F-5 for the US Air Force.
Several manufacturers submitted their proposals for the Air Force tender. Subsequently, two manufacturers (Northrop and General Dynamics) were commissioned to build one prototype each. For this tender General Dynamics built the YF-16 and Northrop the YF-17. In 1975 the Air Force declared the YF-16 the winner of the competition, which then became the F-16 Fighting Falcon.
At the same time the Navy was looking for a successor for the A-7 and the F-4 and was referred to the Air Force tender by the US Congress for cost reasons. The Navy decided however for the YF-17, because they saw in this machine more potential for air-ground missions.
McDonnell Douglas proposed to Northrop a cooperation of both companies and Northrop agreed, because they had no experience with carrier-supported aircraft until then. The project was renamed F-18 and McDonnell Douglas took the lead on the launch vehicle variant. As the development was almost exclusively focused on the carrier version, McDonnell Douglas took the overall lead.
The Navy planned two variants, the F-18 (single-seater) as pure fighter and the A-18 (two-seater) for ground attacks. The prototypes for the US Navy were delivered from 1978-1980, the test program ran until 1982. When the first machines were delivered, the designations changed again. The single-seater was now called F/A-18A and the two-seater F/A-18B. The designation F/A should emphasize the versatility of the machine and stands for "Fighter/Attack".
The first F/A-18 squadron was fully operational in 1983. A further development is the Boeing F/A-18E. The aircrafts are still in service today. In the future the F/A-18 will be replaced by the new F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter).