Northrop/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet

The multi-role aircraft F/A-18 is one of the most successful combat aircraft in the world. Paradoxically, its creation was accompanied by failure, as it lost the LWF (Light Weight Fighter) competition to the future F-16. However, the enormous experience gained in the original prototype YF-17 Cobra became so interesting that the US Navy decided to use it and gave the type hope for a second life. Under the new designation F/A-18, the aircraft with the marketing name Hornet gradually became the successor to several airborne types, including the legendary F-14 Tomcat, mainly thanks to advances in radar and guided missile technologies. Unlike most of its predecessors, the F/A-18 was conceived from the beginning as a multi-role aircraft, which was equally intended to destroy air, sea and ground targets, as its unusual designation F/A (Fighter/Attack) instead of the more usual F suggests. To introduce it into service with the US Navy, the manufacturer joined forces with the McDonnell Douglas concern, which was the main supplier of onboard engines. This alliance, which was later terminated by the courts, was successful for the aircraft itself, which reached regular service and export. However, it was disadvantageous for the original manufacturer, for whom this type was the last to reach large-scale production. After the highly successful F-5 Freedom Fighter and Tiger II models, Northrop only achieved a very limited production of the "stealth" B-2 bomber, and after losing its YF-23 type to the future F-22 Raptor, it had to join forces with the similarly struggling Grumman company for economic reasons. Only now, after decades, has it won the contract to build the new B-21 Raider bomber.  The F/A-18 has also become successful in foreign markets, although it has clashed with the politically much more supported F/A-16. Nevertheless, the twin-engine concept and versatility in the field of deployment have appealed to countries such as Australia, Finland, Spain and Switzerland, which at the time of selection required capabilities that only the Hornet could meet in the world. Successful exports have occurred despite the fact that the Hornet was significantly more expensive compared to the F-16, both because of its multi-purpose and adapted equipment, as well as because of many specific naval features and, last but not least, because of the smaller number of machines produced. However, the type has still been very successful in service, and when the horizon of the end of the technical life of the existing fleet began to approach, the US Navy, at a time of global financial cuts, chose not a new type from the manufacturer, but a deep modernization that preserved the main design features of the F/A-18. It has been designated the Super Hornet, and its production has been ongoing since 1995 and is scheduled to continue until at least 2027. This means that the last F/A-18 Super Hornet will roll off the production line almost fifty years after the first YF-17 prototype took off. And that's certainly not a bad result for a type that lost the original competition for which it was intended and designed.  Many critics of fifth-generation aircraft such as the F-22 or F-35 state that they have deviated from the areas that were the reason for the success of machines such as the F/A-18, F-16 or F-15. First of all, it concerns the maneuverability of the aircraft, which despite the BVR weapons is still of significant importance on the modern battlefield, and then the possibility of operating close to the enemy, as the multi-role F/A-18 also represents an essential element of direct combat support for ground forces. Their direct replacement by naval aircraft of the F-35B category is not entirely obvious, and in many respects the F/A-18 will remain an unsurpassed type. That is why the US Navy command launched the F/A-XX project, which is to lead to the selection of a successor to the Super Hornet. Boeing, which took over McDonnell Douglas years ago, is bidding for the contract, and the name of the competition itself shows that it is still counting on a multi-role type continuing the tradition established by the original F/A-18 Hornet.