General Background

The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic twin engine all-weather night fighter and attack aircraft. The F/A-18s first flew in November 1978 and the first production flight on April 12, 1980. The first 380 aircraft were F/A-18As and in September 1987 production switched to the F/A-18C. Variants A and C are single-seat aircraft while B and D are tandem-seats. The Hornet can operate from either aircraft carriers or land bases with the capability of in flight refueling. A total of 1,480 A-D variants were built.

The Aircraft

On March 12, 2011 the Arab League asked the U.N. Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over. Canada along with the U.S., the U.K. and France sent men and machines to carry out the no-fly zone. Between late March 2011 and November Canada sent six CF-18s along with other aircraft and support as its contribution. One of the CF-18s was 188759 c/n 405/A337 from 425 Squadron and on June 25-26 2016 it made an appearance at the Quinte International Air Show held at Trenton Ontario.

Specifications

• Number of aircraft purchased: 62 CF-18A / 18 CF-18B
• Crew: 1 x CF-18A / 2 x CF-18B
• Dimensions
• Length: 56 ft 0 in (17.07 m)
• Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.31 m) with Sidewinders
• Height: 15 ft 4 in (4.66 m)
• Weight:
• Empty: 23,049 lb (10,455 kg)
• Loaded: 37,150 lb (16,850 kg)
• Maximum Take off: 51,550 lb (23,400 kg)
• Performance
• Power Plant: 2 × General Electric F404-GE-400 turbofans, 16,000 lbf (71.2 kN) per engine
• Maximum Speed: Mach 1.8 (1,127 mph, 1,814 km/h) @ 36,100 ft (11,000 m)
• Combat Radius: 330 mi (290 nmi, 537 km) on hi-lo-lo-hi mission
• Ferry Range: 2,070 mi (1,800 nmi, 3,330 km) (range without ordnance)
• Service Ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,000 m)
• Rate of Climb: 50,000 ft/min (254 m/s)
• Armament
• Nine Weapon/ Store Stations (5 pylons: 1 Under Fuselage and 4 Wing Stations) (2 LAU 116 located on sides of fuselage: deploys AIM 7 Sparrow and AMRAAM Missiles)(2 LAU 7 located on the wing tips: Deploys AIM 9 Sidewinder Missile), carrying up to 13700 lb (6215 kg) of missiles, rockets, bombs, fuel tanks, and pods
• 1 × 20 mm M61A1 Vulcan internal Gatling gun with 578 rounds, with a firing rate of 4,000 or 6,000 rounds per minute
• Missiles
• Air-To-Air - AIM-9 Sidewinder, AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-7 Sparrow
• Air-to-ground - AGM-65 Maverick, CRV7 rockets
• Bombs - Paveway, Mk 82, Mk 83, Mk 84, GBU-10, -12, -16 and -24 laser guided bombs
• Avionics
• Raytheon AN/APG-73 radar
• BAE Systems AN/APX-111 IFF
• Rockwell Collins AN/ARC-210 RT-1556/ARC VHF/UHF Radio
• General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems AN/AYK-14 XN-8 mission computer
• Smiths Aerospace AN/AYQ-9 Stores Management System