An American carrier-based multirole fighter, derived in the late 20th century, used extensively in global combat operations. Key figures: top speed 1,915 km/h, range 2,346 km, service ceiling 15,940 m, max takeoff weight 29,900 kg, unit price $70M, built 632. In service with 3 air forces as of 2026 — United States (549), Kuwait (28), Australia (24).
| Crew | 1–2 (1 on the E, 2 on the F) |
| Length | 18.3 m (60.1 ft) |
| Wingspan | 13.6 m (44.7 ft) |
| Height | 4.9 m (16.0 ft) |
| Wing area | 46.5 m² (500.5 sqft) |
| Empty weight | 14,550 kg (32,077 lbs) |
| Max. takeoff weight | 29,900 kg (65,918 lbs) |
| Powerplant | 2 × General Electric F414-GE-400 turbofans 9,979 kgf each |
| Ejection seat | Martin-Baker Mk 14 |
| Maximum speed | 1915 km/h (Mach 1.8) |
| Operational range | 2,346 km (1,458 mi) |
| Service ceiling | 15,940 m (52,297 ft) |
| Climb rate | 228.0 m/s (748.0 ft/s) |
The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are American twin-engine, carrier-capable supersonic multirole strike fighters derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. Designed by McDonnell Douglas and built by Boeing since the 1997 merger, the type first flew on 29 November 1995, entered United States Navy fleet service in 1999 and has been the core of US carrier air wings since the 2000s, replacing the F-14 Tomcat. Known in the fleet as the "Rhino", the type also serves with Australia and Kuwait and spawned the EA-18G Growler. As of 2025 the US Navy had 416 in service.
McDonnell Douglas had marketed a stretched "Hornet 2000" since the 1980s to cure the Hornet's short combat radius and limited bringback. The opening came when the A-12 Avenger II was cancelled in 1991: the Navy ordered the Super Hornet in 1992 as a low-risk interim type, capping engineering and manufacturing development at $4.88 billion in fiscal 1990 dollars, and dropped the A/F-X in the 1993 Bottom-Up Review. The aircraft shares little beyond its forward fuselage with the F/A-18C/D.
The first aircraft flew on 29 November 1995 and made its first carrier landing in 1997; low-rate production began in March 1997 and full-rate production in September 1997, and operational evaluation ended with approval in February 2000. The 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review nearly halved the planned buy of about 1,000; a 2019 contract worth $4 billion bought 78 Block III aircraft. Block II aircraft received the AN/APG-79 AESA radar from 2005, with 135 earlier airframes retrofitted from 2008; the Block III, first delivered in 2021, adds a 10,000-hour airframe, a 25 × 48 cm (10 × 19 in) touchscreen cockpit and open mission systems, and the Navy plans to convert its Block IIs through 2033. The self-funded Advanced Super Hornet prototype, with conformal fuel tanks, an enclosed weapons pod and a 50% smaller frontal radar cross-section, flew from 5 August 2013; the Navy dropped conformal tanks for the Block III in 2021. Production, once due to end in 2025, runs to 2027 after 17 further Navy orders.
The Super Hornet is about 20% larger than the Hornet, 3,200 kg (7,000 lb) heavier empty and 6,800 kg (15,000 lb) heavier at maximum weight, with 33% more internal fuel giving 41% more range and 50% more endurance. The fuselage was stretched 86 cm (34 in) and wing area increased by 25% with 42% fewer structural parts. Rectangular caret inlets with fixed ramps, serrated panel joints and perforated panels give a frontal radar cross-section an order of magnitude below previous fighters. Two General Electric F414-GE-400 turbofans, developed from the F404, produce 58 kN (13,000 lbf) dry and 98 kN (22,000 lbf) in afterburner each. The aircraft is 18.31 m (60 ft 1 in) long, weighs 14,552 kg (32,081 lb) empty and 29,937 kg (66,000 lb) at maximum take-off, reaches Mach 1.8 (1,908 km/h, 1,185 mph) at 12,200 m (40,000 ft), is rated for 7.5 g, and flies a 1,033 km (642 mi) hi-lo-hi radius with two GBU-10s.
Flight control is quadruplex digital fly-by-wire that compensates for battle damage. The AN/APG-73 radar gave way to the Raytheon AN/APG-79 AESA, which maps the ground and tracks air targets simultaneously; the AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR pod, to be replaced by the AN/AAQ-28(V) Litening, is the main targeting sensor, and the AN/ASG-34(V)1 IRST21 infrared search and track, housed in the nose of a modified centreline tank, became operational in January 2025. With an A/A42R-1 refuelling store on the centreline and four 1,800 L (480 US gal) tanks the aircraft carries 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) of fuel as a tanker, a role that ties up about a fifth of an air wing's aircraft on typical missions.
An internal 20 mm M61A2 Vulcan cannon carries 412 rounds. Eleven hardpoints — two wingtip, six underwing and three under the fuselage — take 8,050 kg (17,750 lb) of stores. Air-to-air loads include up to twelve AIM-120 AMRAAMs with two AIM-9 Sidewinders, or four AIM-174B long-range missiles with three AIM-120s and two AIM-9s; the AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9X are also carried. Air-to-surface weapons include the AGM-65E/F Maverick, AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER, AGM-84 Harpoon, AGM-88 HARM, AGM-154 JSOW, AGM-158 JASSM and AGM-158C LRASM, with the AGM-88G AARGM-ER and Joint Strike Missile being integrated. Bombs range from up to ten GBU-32/38/54 or four GBU-31 JDAMs to Paveway laser-guided bombs, Mk 80 series bombs and Mk 62/63/65 Quickstrike mines.
VFA-115 at NAS Lemoore declared initial operating capability in September 2001 and flew the first combat mission on 6 November 2002, when two F/A-18Es struck surface-to-air missile launchers at Al Kut and an air defence bunker at Tallil during Operation Southern Watch with 910 kg (2,000 lb) JDAMs. In the 2003 invasion of Iraq VFA-14, VFA-41 and VFA-115 flew close air support, strike, SEAD, forward air control and tanker sorties. Two Super Hornets from USS George H.W. Bush opened the air campaign against Islamic State on 8 August 2014 with 227 kg (500 lb) laser-guided bombs near Irbil. On 18 June 2017 a VFA-87 F/A-18E from the same carrier shot down a Syrian Su-22 near Tabqa with an AIM-120 after an AIM-9X missed — the US Navy's first air-to-air kill of a crewed aircraft since the 1991 Gulf War, and the Super Hornet's first.
In the Red Sea, Super Hornets from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the destroyer USS Laboon destroyed 12 drones, three anti-ship missiles and two cruise missiles on 26 December 2023. The campaign cost three aircraft: a VFA-11 F/A-18F downed by an SM-2 from USS Gettysburg on 22 December 2024, a VFA-136 F/A-18E that rolled off USS Harry S. Truman on 28 April 2025 as the carrier turned hard under attack, and an F/A-18F lost on 6 May 2025 when the Truman's arresting gear failed; all crews survived. Australia signed for 24 F/A-18F Block IIs on 3 May 2007 for $2.9 billion as an interim F-111 replacement, received the first five at RAAF Amberley on 26 March 2010, declared the first squadron operational on 9 December 2010 and flew its first strike over northern Iraq on 8 October 2014. Kuwait ordered 22 F/A-18Es and six F/A-18Fs for $1.5 billion in June 2018.
The Pentagon announced on September 29, 2026 that Boeing will build the F/A-XX, the US Navy's sixth-generation carrier-based fighter, under a full-scale development contract worth more than $20 billion to replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler from the 2030s.
Australia declared Initial Operational Capability on 11 September 2026 for the AGM-158C LRASM anti-ship missile and the AGM-158B JASSM-ER cruise missile, carried by Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18F Super Hornets and P-8A Poseidons.
The US Navy disclosed the Raytheon-built AIM-424 Malice at the Tailhook symposium in Reno on 22 August 2026: a 1,500-pound two-stage weapon credited with more than 250 nautical miles of reach, destined for the Super Hornet, the F-35C and the future F/A-XX.
The US Air Force awarded Boeing a $75 million contract on August 5, 2026 on behalf of the Navy, clearing the jet-powered JDAM for production. The GBU-75 pairs a turbojet and pop-out wings with a standard 500-pound bomb to reach targets 300 nautical miles away.
A quarter-century after VFA-115 declared the type operational in September 2001, the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet remains the backbone of US carrier air wings even as the last new-build airframes approach delivery.
