Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

Updated: October 2026 – Two canted vertical stabilizers, a gray fuselage that blends forward into broad wing roots, and two boxy air intakes below: when a jet like that passes over you with roaring afterburner, you are very likely looking at a Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. It is the most important combat aircraft on US Navy aircraft carriers – and is still constantly mistaken for its smaller predecessor. On this page you learn how to identify the Super Hornet reliably, how to tell it from the Legacy Hornet and the Growler, and where you even have a chance as a spotter in Europe.

What is the Super Hornet?

The F/A-18E/F is a twin-engine, carrier-based multirole fighter. The F/A designation gives away its dual role: F for fighter, meaning air combat, A for attack, meaning strikes on targets on the ground and at sea. It is built for the hard daily grind aboard an aircraft carrier – with reinforced landing gear, an arresting hook and a catapult fitting on the nose gear, plus wings that fold upward for parking on deck.

The name sounds like a refreshed Hornet, but that is misleading. According to standard reference works, the Super Hornet is about 20 percent larger than the original F/A-18. The fuselage is stretched by 86 centimeters, the wing area grew by a quarter, and inside there is roughly a third more fuel. That brings noticeably more range and endurance over the area of operations. At the same time, the design gets by with significantly fewer structural parts than the original.

It is powered by two General Electric F414s, a development of the F404 from the Hornet. Each engine delivers around 98 kilonewtons of thrust with afterburner. That allows the Super Hornet to reach about Mach 1.8 at high altitude and without external loads.

There are two basic versions: the single-seat F/A-18E and the two-seat F/A-18F with the pilot in front and the weapon systems officer in back. The EA-18G Growler, an electronic warfare aircraft, was developed from the F; you will find it on its own page about the Boeing EA-18G Growler.

From Hornet update to its own aircraft

The story begins in the late 1980s. The US Navy needed a replacement for its aging aircraft, and several ambitious new designs had been canceled. Instead of an entirely new type, the Navy bet on a greatly enlarged Hornet. McDonnell Douglas received the contract in 1992, with development costs capped. The basic shape of the wing and tail goes back even further, by the way – to the Northrop YF-17 design, from which the first Hornet once emerged.

The first flight took place on November 29, 1995. When McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997, the program moved under the umbrella of Boeing. The Super Hornet is built in St. Louis in the US state of Missouri, the former home base of McDonnell Douglas. The first aircraft joined the fleet in 1999, and in September 2001 squadron VFA-115 was the first unit to declare operational capability.

In the following years, the Super Hornet gradually took over the roles of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the A-6 Intruder, the S-3 Viking and the older Hornets. The US Navy took its last Legacy Hornets out of active front-line service in 2019; since then the Super Hornet, together with the F-35C, has defined the picture on carrier decks.

Boeing originally wanted to end production in 2025. With a further US Navy order for 17 aircraft, production was extended to 2027. Whether further orders follow after that depends mainly on the US Navy’s plans.

Super Hornet or Legacy Hornet?

This is the key question for anyone with an F/A-18 in the viewfinder. Both share the basic shape with the two canted vertical stabilizers and the long wing roots. But the differences are unmistakable once you know what to look at.

Feature	F/A-18A–D (Legacy Hornet)	F/A-18E/F (Super Hornet)
ICAO type designator	F18H	F18S
First flight	1978	1995
Air intakes	round, D-shaped	angular, boxy
Wing root (LERX)	narrow, slim	much broader and larger
External stations	9	11
Engines	2 × GE F404	2 × GE F414
Length	around 17 m	18.31 m
Wingspan	around 12.3 m (with wingtip missiles)	13.62 m

The quickest feature is the air intakes. On the Legacy Hornet they are round to semicircular, on the Super Hornet angular like a rectangle lying on its side. You can see that from the front, from the front quarter and in side profile – in almost every photo position.

The second feature is the pylons under the wings. On the Super Hornet they point slightly outward – originally so that released loads clear the aircraft cleanly. Loaded with external tanks or weapons, the underside therefore looks slightly splayed. And the Super Hornet has three stations under each wing instead of two.

You will find more on its predecessor on the page about the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. In Europe it is still flying today, mainly in Spain, Switzerland and Finland. Switzerland and Finland have already chosen the F-35 as successors.

F/A-18E, F/A-18F or Growler?

Once you have confirmed the Super Hornet family, the question is the variant. Two simple observations help here, too.

The Growler also has no onboard cannon; electronics sit in the nose in its place. For everyday spotting, though, the wingtips and the jamming pods that often hang under the fuselage and wings are enough.

Who flies the Super Hornet

The number of operators is small, which makes the Super Hornet a special catch for spotters outside the US. According to common reference works, at least 632 aircraft had been built by 2020.

Operator	Variants	Note
US Navy	F/A-18E and F/A-18F	Main operator, dozens of squadrons ashore and on aircraft carriers; plus the Blue Angels
Royal Australian Air Force	24 × F/A-18F	Amberley base in Queensland; plus EA-18G Growlers
Kuwait Air Force	22 × F/A-18E, 6 × F/A-18F	Ordered in 2018; delivery delayed against the plan

US Navy: Here the Super Hornet is the backbone of the carrier air wings. The squadrons carry the designation VFA and are based ashore mainly at the big naval air stations on the East and West Coasts. Since the end of 2020, the Blue Angels, the Navy’s aerobatic team, have flown the Super Hornet as well. The article Europe’s aerobatic teams gives an overview of aerobatic teams on this side of the Atlantic.

Australia: The Royal Australian Air Force ordered 24 F/A-18Fs in 2007 as a replacement for its F-111s. The first squadron was operational at the end of 2010. That makes Australia the only operator outside the US that uses two-seaters exclusively.

Kuwait: The emirate ordered a total of 28 Block III Super Hornets in 2018, in addition to Eurofighters it had already ordered. The first Kuwaiti aircraft were built in St. Louis; the ferry flight to Kuwait was delayed, among other reasons because pandemic-related delays held up construction of the necessary infrastructure at the bases.

Several European countries evaluated the Super Hornet in their procurement processes or were offered it, including Denmark, Finland and Germany. In the end they all chose other types – mostly the F-35 Lightning II. In Germany, a mixed fleet of Eurofighters and Super Hornets was briefly under discussion in 2020, before the decision for the F-35 came in 2022.

Where to see the Super Hornet in Europe

Since no European country flies the Super Hornet, sightings in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are rare and hard to plan. A few situations improve your chances:

• Carrier groups in the Mediterranean or Atlantic: When a US aircraft carrier is operating in European waters, individual aircraft occasionally land ashore – for maintenance, exercises or ferry flights, for example.
• Exercises and ferry flights: During multinational maneuvers or transfer flights between the US and areas of operation, Super Hornets show up at military airfields, often accompanied by tankers.
• Airshows: At big aviation shows the US Navy is represented sometimes with and sometimes without Super Hornets. Which aircraft will come is usually settled only shortly beforehand. The article Airshows in Europe for plane spotters offers an overview.

Because military flights are often missing from flight trackers or show up only via multilateration, the guide Tracking military aircraft online is worth a look. How US armed forces serials are structured is explained in the article on US military serials – in the Navy these are the six-digit Bureau Numbers that you often find in small print at the tail, supplemented by the large squadron code on the vertical stabilizer.

What is allowed at the fence of a military airfield and what is not is covered in the article Photographing military airfields: the rules.

Photo tips for the Super Hornet

Fighter jets are fast, loud and often far away. A few points will still get you sharp, meaningful pictures.

You will find general tips for shows in the guide Photographing airshows. When the light works at your location, you can calculate with the guide Planning the sun position for your photo spot.

Commonly confused types and how to rule them out

Besides the Legacy Hornet, there are other twin-engine jets with twin tails. The F-15E Strike Eagle is much larger, has upright vertical stabilizers and angular intakes far out on the fuselage sides. The F-35 has only one engine and a very smooth, angular stealth shape. The Eurofighter, in turn, drops out of the running immediately with its delta wing, canards at the nose and a single vertical stabilizer. The article Identifying fighter jets in Europe explains further distinctions.

Log the Super Hornet in Planetrack

A Super Hornet sighting in Europe is often a story in itself. In Planetrack you post it with photo, aircraft type, serial, operator, airport and spot, and from then on it stays in your hangar for good. On the wish list you note types you are still missing – such as the Growler or the Legacy Hornet – and in the community you show your pictures, collect likes and comments or chat with other military spotters.

Conclusion

The Super Hornet is not a dressed-up classic but an aircraft in its own right, significantly larger, with a new airframe, more powerful engines and more range. For spotters, a single look at the air intakes is enough to tell it from the Legacy Hornet; the number of seats and the wingtips reveal the variant. In Europe it remains a rarity because only the US, Australia and Kuwait operate it – which makes every sighting all the more valuable.