The F/A-18 design began as the Northrop YF-17 Cobra, one of two competing designs for the USAF's Lightweight Fighter Program, on which the USN was a minor partner. The YF-17 prototype first flew in 1974. The Navy preferred the YF-17 over the winning F-16 Fighting Falcon, because of its twin-engine design. For the Navy version, Northrop teamed with McDonnell Douglas to capitalize on the latter's extensive experience in building carrier aircraft, including the highly successful F-4. When the two services ended up choosing different aircraft, McDonnell Douglas became the primary contractor for the Navy design (McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997).
The Navy's design concept originated from Vice Admiral Kent Lee. He drew on his experience as a naval aviator in WWII, where fighters hastily converted for bombing with jury-rigged bomb racks proved to be versatile assets, which were capable of defending themselves once they had dropped their bombs. He and his supporters pushed for the VFAX concept, a cheap and lightweight strike fighter, to complement the F-14 Tomcat which had become operational and was just being introduced to the carrier air wings in 1973.
F/A-18 Hornets (A and B variants) were first test-flown in 1978, and entered service in 1983, replacing the F-4 Phantom II and the A-7 Corsair II. The F/A-18 first saw combat action in 1986, when Hornets from the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) flew SEAD missions against Libyan air defenses during the attack on Benghazi.
After a production run of 371 F/A-18As, manufacture shifted to the F/A-18C in September 1987. As the A-6 Intruder was retired in the 1990s, its role was filled by the F/A-18. The F/A-18 demonstrated its versatility and reliability during Operation Desert Storm, shooting down enemy fighters and subsequently bombing enemy targets with the same aircraft on the same mission, and breaking all records for tactical aircraft in availability, reliability, and maintainability. The aircraft's survivability was proven by Hornets taking direct hits from surface-to-air missiles, recovering successfully, being repaired quickly, and flying again the next day. Ten F/A-18's were lost in the Gulf War, most to surface to air missiles although one was allged to have been shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25PD in the first hours of the air campaign. F/A-18's were credited with two kills, both of MiG-21's, during that conflict.
In the 1990s the US Navy faced the retirement of its aging F-14 Tomcat, A-6 Intruder, EA-6 Prowler airframes without proper replacements even in development. To answer this deficiency, the Navy developed the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Despite its designation, it is not an upgrade of the F/A-18 Hornet, but rather, a new, larger airframe utilizing the design concepts of the Hornet. Until the deployment of the F-35C, Hornets and Super Hornets will serve complementary roles in the US Navy carrier arsenal.
