U.S. Navy Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet Arrives

Related Video Above: F-35s

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft will live to fight another day … or many days actually, as the first of 78 “new” Block III Super Hornets arrived at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

It makes sense that the Navy and Boeing might engineer a newer, upgraded variant of the F/A-18 to build upon the years of successful upgrades and service life extensions which have already been performed on the 1980s jet.

“The next few Block III jets to leave the production line will head to VX-9, at Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake, California, to start training for operational testing, during which the aircraft will undergo evaluation in scenarios that mimic operational missions,” a Navy report said.

Plans as far back as ten years ago were focused upon sustaining the F/A-18 to fight and fly well into the 2040s and beyond. The idea was, at least in part, to help bridge the gap until larger numbers of the F-35C arrived. Overall, the Navy plans to acquire as many as 273 F-35Cs. Efforts to construct a new Block III Super Hornet, interestingly, might be likened to what is being attempted with Boeing F-15EX, an effort to essentially try to engineer a new generation of massively enhanced 4th-generation aircraft in position to supplement the U.S. 5th-generation fleet.

A Navy report says that the new Block III Super Hornets are being built with an “advanced cockpit with new, configurable displays, advanced networking and radar signature enhancements.” The new Block III is also being built to fly for a 10,000-hour service life.