By the mid-1980s, the U.S. Navy faced the fact that its fleet of Grumman F-14 Tomcats and the original F/A-18 Hornets were not going to carry air superiority and strike capabilities into the next century. Programs like the Navy Advanced Tactical Fighter and the A-12 Avenger II promised revolutionary capabilities but collapsed with mounting costs, unproven technologies, and shifting defence budgets in the post–Cold War era.
However, a practical solution was to simply expand the proven classic Hornet into a more capable, survivable multirole aircraft. McDonnell Douglas (later absorbed into Boeing) had proposed the “Hornet 2000” in the 1980s, a redesign that retained the Hornet’s basic design but larger to carry more fuel, and more powerful engines.
The Super Hornet proposal was ordered by the US Navy in 1992. This would be a bigger and heavier redesign of the classic Hornet to carry more fuel, payload and increased range. The wing area was enlarged by 25%, larger leading edge extensions, and fuselage stretched by 34 inches (about 86cm) allowing 33% more internal fuel. Twin General Electric F414 engines replaced the older F404s, giving it 35% more thrust. The large rectangular air intakes are significantly different to the classic Hornet’s oval ones. Advanced avionics and radar, especially the AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array in later blocks, gave the aircraft the ability to see and strike deeper into contested airspace.
The Super Hornet was a big leap from its classic Hornet origins. It has 42% fewer structural parts with much of the airframe completely redesigned. The first flight was at the end of 1995, and by 1999 the F/A-18E was operational with the U.S. Navy – achieving initial operating capability by September 2001. The Super Hornets quickly took up the roles of the retiring F-14 and the cancelled A-12, becoming the Navy’s true workhorse—air superiority fighter, fleet defence interceptor, precision strike platform, and even tanker through the use of buddy-store refuelling pods.
In Australia the Air Force was looking for a bridge between the retiring F-111s in 2010 and the full operational capability of the F-35 further down the track. The Super Hornet would fit the bill, and in March 2007 the Australian Government announced its intention to purchase 24 F/A-18F Super Hornet Block II, twin-seat multirole fighter-bombers.
RAAF aircrew began training with the USN in California soon after the contract was announced, with No 1 Squadron at Amberley receiving its first aircraft in March 2010. By early December, just days after the last F-111s were retired, the squadron had Initial Operational Capability. No 6 Squadron would provide conversion training, and by October 2011, all 24 aircraft had been delivered and the RAAF had Final Operational Capability by December 2012.
The F/A-18F Block II package included installed engines and six spares, Link 16 connectivity, LAU-127 guided missile launchers, and a towed decoy. Central to this package is the AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, a defining addition that transforms the Super Hornet’s combat capability. Unlike mechanically scanned arrays, the APG-79 can steer its radar beam almost instantaneously, enabling near-simultaneous air-to-air search, target tracking, and precision ground mapping. Its high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) modes allow crews to identify and engage ground targets with unprecedented clarity, while its resistance to jamming and ability to track dozens of targets at once greatly enhance survivability in contested airspace.
These attributes naturally complement the two-crew cockpit, with one pilot focusing on flying and tactics while the weapons systems officer manages the radar’s multi-mission workload. The Super Hornet’s rectangular air intakes further contribute to its reduced radar cross section, and when combined with the integrated defensive electronic countermeasures suite, the aircraft achieves a notable increase in combat survivability compared to the Classic Hornet.
The Super Hornets of 1 Squadron had achieved Final Operational Capability in time to support coalition operations against the Islamic State in Iraq. In September 2014, under Operation Okra, six RAAF F/A-18Fs joined an Airbus KC-30A tanker and a Boeing E-7A Wedgetail in deploying to the United Arab Emirates to take part in operations. By early October, the Super Hornets were undertaking strike missions, the first by the RAAF since the 2003 Operation Falconer deployment of Classic Hornets in Iraq.
By March 2015, Classic Hornets replaced the Super Hornets on operations. They had completed 418 sorties, over 3361 combat flying hours, released 278 precision-guided munitions and achieved a mission success rate of approximately 97% without loss.
In May 2017, No 1 Squadron returned to operations over Iraq and also Syria for a final rotation. During this period over 376 sorties were flown, clocking up 3091 combat flying hours while employing 398 precision guided munitions in support of the international effort to combat the Islamic State. 1 Squadron flew the last combat sortie of Operation Okra on the 14th of January 2018.
By late 2016, No. 6 Squadron, which had been responsible for F/A-18F operational conversion training, began preparing to transition to the electronic attack role. With the first of Australia’s EA-18G Growlers delivered in 2017, the squadron would become the RAAF’s frontline electronic warfare unit. To enable this change, all twenty-four Super Hornets were consolidated under No. 1 Squadron, while aircrew requiring conversion training were integrated into U.S. Navy VFA-106 at Oceana, ensuring continuity of expertise until a renewed domestic training was established.
No 1 Squadron maintained its own training capability for F/A-18F aircrew to bridge the
gap for those returning from the US and to provide some limited ‘in house’ conversion training. In early 2020, the RAAF established the 82 Wing Training Flight, restoring a more substantial Super Hornet conversion training capability at Amberley and reducing reliance on U.S.-based courses.
Although the F/A-18F Super Hornet remains based at Amberley in Queensland, its training footprint has been growing significantly both domestically and internationally in recent years. Training exercises like Crimson Dawn over Townsville and Tindal have become key to the Operational Conversion Course, exposing crews to wide airspaces, unfamiliar airfields, and combined air‐to‐air and air‐to‐ground missions. Bilateral and multinational events like Talisman Sabre 23 and Red Flag / Bamboo Eagle further sharpen interoperability with partner nations. Meanwhile enhanced ground-based training and simulators under the newer Electronic Attack Air Combat Training Support contract are helping ensure that Super Hornet crews stay current with evolving tactics, systems, and threat environments.
The Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet emerged as a solution to carry the U.S. Navy’s strike and air defence capabilities into a new era after other programs failed for various reasons. Larger, stronger, and more versatile than its predecessor, the Super Hornet was redesigned with advanced systems to become a dependable workhorse of modern carrier aviation. For Australia, the aircraft proved a good stop-gap measure, bridging the retirement of the F-111 and the eventual arrival of the F-35. Yet the Super Hornet has seemingly grown beyond its original role.
In RAAF service, the aircraft has demonstrated itself as a potent force in battlespaces over Iraq and Syria. The Super Hornet proved its ability to deliver precision firepower and demonstrated the reliability and endurance expected of a frontline strike fighter. Its involvement in multinational exercises across the Asia-Pacific has further reinforced Australia’s interoperability with allies.
It would be fair to say that the Super Hornet has matured into a cornerstone of Australia’s air combat force.
