The Royal Australian Air Force will modernise and extend the service life of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft by 10 years to fill the fighter shortfall

By: Maksim Panasovskiy | 17.07.2023, 22:18

The Royal Australian Air Force has found a way to partially solve the shortage of fighter aircraft. For this purpose, the service will modernise the already existing aircraft Super Hornet of Boeing.

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Back in 2007, Australia decided to purchase F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters manufactured by Boeing. The Ministry of Defence ordered 24 aircraft worth almost $3 billion to replace the outdated General Dynamics F-111 all-weather bombers.

Now the Royal Australian Air Force is considering extending the service life of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet by about 10 years. This would allow the aircraft to fly until the middle of the next decade, as announced by Air Marshal Robert Chipman.

The service will probably have to upgrade the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to the Block III standard. The standard calls for enhanced communications system capabilities, improved avionics, and a reduced infrared and radar effective scattering area.

Source: Aviation Week