The Fighter Jet Russia Never Wanted to Face

January 17, 1991. The first day of the Gulf War. Four F-A-18 Hornets slice through the scorching air above the Persian Gulf in a tight wall formation. Each aircraft is laden with four Mark 84 2,000-pound bombs. The formation pushes towards its target, deep in Iraqi territory. At 30,000 feet and 30 miles south of their objective, the Hornets fly at maximum speed Suddenly, the voice of an E-2 Hawkeye cuts through the radio, quote, bandits on your nose, 15 miles. Iraqi MiG-21s are rapidly closing in on the formation, and the heavy bomb loads have left the F-A-18s vulnerable. Aboard his Hornet, Lt. Cmdr. Mark Fox's radar picks up one of the approaching MiG-21s. The Iraqi fighter is closing in fast, leaving precious little time for decision-making. Fox engages the Sidewinder missile's quick-lock acquisition mode. After several tense seconds, he achieves a lock and fires. The Sidewinder streaks away at Mach 2.5, disappearing into the distance. But there's no immediate indication of a hit. No smoke trail. No explosion. With the MiG-21 still incoming and the fate of the Sidewinder uncertain, Fox quickly prepares to fire the larger radar-guarded Sparrow missile. The outcome of this split-second engagement could set the tone for the air war to come. In the 1970s, in the midst of technological advancements and shifting military defense strategies, the United States Navy and Marine Corps were looking to invest in a new, versatile, carrier-capable fighter jet able to fulfill air-to-air combat and ground attack roles at the same time. Influenced by the grueling lessons learned in the Vietnam War, the Naval Fighter Attack Experimental Program, or VFACS, was initiated to develop a cost-effective, lightweight strike fighter meant to complement the newly operational F-14 Tomcat. Thus, an intense competition with several aerospace companies vying to meet the Navy's stringent requirements began. However, there was one major problem. The programs were astronomically expensive, and in 1973, Congress stepped in, urging the service to find ways to cut costs. After noticing that the Air Force was in the midst of a similar program, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger directed the branches to look into a potential collaboration. Back at the Air Force, top officials were occupied with the General Dynamics YF-16, a prototype aircraft designed for their Lightweight Fighter, or LWF, program. After an extensive fly-off, the model's excellent agility, speed, and advanced technology caught the attention of the Navy as the potential basis for their new multirole fighter. And while the prototype was promising, Naval aviators were hesitant about flying over vast stretches of ocean in the model's specific design, a single-engine aircraft with narrow landing gear, which they felt was ill-suited for the demanding conditions of carrier operations. With this, a partnership with McDonnell Douglas, now part of Boeing and Northrop, set out to tweak their own design, the YF-17, to meet the Navy's needs, making it tougher, more forgiving, and much, much more powerful. The new development process involved a series of design iterations, extensive testing, and validation. And in 1977, the new plane was renamed the F-18 Hornet, which, like the F-4, F-14, and F-35, now incorporated twin engines for reliability, as well as advanced avionics for multirole missions, and the capability to operate on aircraft carriers. In the end, while the Air Force chose not to select this model for their program, instead choosing the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon, the Navy was thrilled with the multirole F-18, capable of excelling in both dogfights and precision ground strikes, a model that would soon become a cornerstone of American and international naval aviation. The F-18 Hornet made its first flight on November 18, 1978. This all-weather, twin-engine, carrier-based aircraft merged fighter and attack roles, hence the F-A designation. Powered by a duo of F-404-GE-402 enhanced performance turbofan engines, each delivering nearly 18,000 pounds of thrust, the model can exceed speeds of Mach 1.7 and operate at altitudes above 50,000 feet. Measuring 56 feet in length and standing at over 15 feet, the Hornet's wingspan reaches 40 feet 5 inches. At first glance, the model's wing design is one of its most distinctive elements, with leading-edge extensions, or lecks, that provide additional lift and improved maneuverability, crucial for dogfights and low-speed carrier landings. Additionally, the wings can fold for efficient storage aboard carriers. The Hornet also adopted advanced technologies, the most important being digital fly-by-wire flight controls. One of the earliest applications in a fighter, this advanced system allows the aircraft to perform high-G maneuvers with precision, making it agile in air combat while still maintaining control and stability. Equipped with advanced avionics suites, including multi-function displays, pilots can quickly switch between different mission profiles and weapon systems, which include the M61A1 Vulcan 20mm cannon, the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, and a range of bombs, including laser-guided munitions. While its advanced technology and armament are indeed impressive, the FAA-18 Hornet's true strength lies in its multi-role capability. It was designed from the outset to handle air-to-air and air-to-ground missions seamlessly, all within the same sortie. The FAA-18 Hornet underwent its initial test flights in 1978. The Navy introduced a new approach called the Principal Site Concept for this aircraft. This method centralized testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, moving away from the traditional practice of testing near the production facility. Additionally, Navy and Marine Corps pilots conducted early development tests, replacing civilian testers. During the trial phase and operational evaluations, the Hornet received positive feedback from the fleet. Entering service with the United States Navy and Marine Corps in the early 1980s as their primary carrier-based fighter, the FAA-18 quickly became the backbone of their operations, replacing older platforms like the F-4 Phantom II and A-7 Corsair. The FAA-18 saw its first combat in 1986. Hornets from USS Coral Sea engaged Libyan air defenses during Operation Prairie Fire in the Gulf of Sidra. They also participated in Operation El Dorado Canyon, striking Benghazi, in response to Libyan-backed terrorism. Only a few years later, the 1991 Gulf War gave the FAA-18 Hornet its first real chance to shine in large-scale combat. As part of Operation Desert Storm, our coalition forces aimed to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation and neutralize Saddam Hussein's military capabilities. The Allies began a massive air campaign to soften Iraq's defenses before launching a ground invasion. For this matter, the Navy deployed over a hundred Hornets, while the Marine Corps fielded 84, all critical in the first wave of strikes that would shape the course of the conflict, which many considered to be the end of the Cold War. On the first day of the Gulf War, on January 17, FAA-18 Hornets focused on the suppression of enemy air defenses, or S.E.A.D., targeting enemy surface-to-air missile sites and radar installations, hindering Iraq's ability to track and engage incoming aircraft and creating a safe airspace for the incoming coalition forces. Alongside S.E.A.D., two Hornets also bombed Iraqi airfields, disrupting their ability to launch fighter jets. And from the very first day, it was abundantly clear just how flexible the FAA-18 was. Armed with a powerful combination of precision-guided munitions for ground attacks and air-to-air missiles, Hornet pilots transitioned from bombing runs to engaging enemy aircraft, depending on the threat. During the first daytime airstrike of Desert Storm, 30 airplanes launched from an aircraft carrier, USS Saratoga in the Red Sea, to bomb Airfield H-3 in southwestern Iraq. Amongst the team were U.S. Navy pilots Lt. Cmdr. Mark Fox and Lt. Nick Mongilio. On this brilliantly blue day, the sun glanced off sea and sand, and the Americans were trustful in their skills and their aircraft's capability to protect itself and its payload. But they also knew the Iraqi pilots weren't bad either. Their recent Soviet training and eight years of combat against Iran had sharpened their abilities, making them tougher adversaries than expected. According to Pilot Fox, "...we respected them. There was no question about it." Earlier that same day, another pilot from Fox's squadron, Captain Michael Scott Speicher, had just been shot down by an Iraqi warplane in a confusing dogfight, becoming the first Allied casualty of the war. Adding to the danger, from dust storms to pitch-black nights to unfamiliarity with unstudied terrain, the Middle Eastern Territory presented ever-constant challenges to the Americans. The group that day was a perfectly layered defense combination to ensure the Hornets could focus on their primary mission. En route to the target area, four of the Hornets tasked with bombing the airfield were escorted by four F-14 Tomcats to handle any potential air-to-air threats. Prowlers provided electronic warfare support to protect the Hornets, while higher above, E-2 Hawkeye aircraft provided early warning and coordination, ensuring the mission was tightly monitored and guided in case of any trouble. As they flew south to north, the E-2 suddenly alerted Fox's group to incoming bandits, Iraqi-owned but Soviet-made MiG-21s. But while the E-2s used the airfield as the reference point to relay the bandits' location, the Hornet pilots, more familiar with using their carrier as a reference, had trouble adapting and calculating the bandits' position quickly, doing the mental math and further adding stress as they navigated unfamiliar procedures. Nonetheless, Fox and the other pilots moved in quickly toward the target, ready to drop their bombs on the enemy. At 30,000 feet and only 30 miles south of the target, the F-A-18s were flying, according to Fox, quote, as fast as you can make a Hornet go without using an afterburner. On board, in addition to Sidewinder missiles on the wingtips and two Sparrow missiles, all pilots had three Mark 84 2,000-pound bombs, with Fox having an extra one. Nine miles away, Fox put the Sidewinder missile into quick-lock acquisition mode on the Iraqi MiG. With the enemy flying at Mach 1.3, while the American was not so far behind at 0.91, the two aircraft were closing in at over Mach 2 combined speed. After several attempts, the missile got a lock, and Fox fired. But after a few seconds, the American pilot became confused, as he expected a smoke trail from the missile training exercises he'd done before. He recalled, quote, I thought, man, you know, it is the first day of hunting season. I may have buck fever. Doubting the veracity of his Sidewinder hit, Fox began to prepare the much larger and more powerful radar-guided Sparrow missile as a backup. But as he fired, the Sidewinder struck, with the Sparrow following close behind, utterly destroying the MiG-21, burning from mid-fuselage to aft in a massive explosion. As Fox notified his team of the hit through the radio, yelling, quote, Splash One, and before anyone had time to celebrate, a surprise, quote, Splash Two, was also heard. The hit was from fellow Hornet pilot, Captain Nick Mongo-Mongilio, who also, unbeknownst to Fox, was on a high-speed chase of his own, engaging another enemy. Following his ordeal, Fox talked about that life-changing moment, stating, quote, How well you train is a direct indicator of how well you will fight. There's nothing really magical about that, except for the fact that you don't know until you actually release ordnance in anger. And then you realize my training has been very good. Fox and Mongilio's nearly simultaneous victories were the only two United States Navy MiG downings during Desert Storm. Shot down with powerful AIM-7 and AIM-9 missiles in a brief dogfight that lasted 40 seconds from the moment the bandits appeared on the radar until both enemies were on their way to the ground. Following their victories, the group of F-A-18s finished their bomb run before landing on USS Saratoga. For the rest of the day, according to Fox, quote, The ship's food tasted better. The sun shone brighter. It was just good to be alive. During the Gulf War, F-A-18s flew over 4,500 sorties. Out of these missions, only 10 Hornets sustained damage, with three aircraft losses, all from the Navy. On January 24, a Hornet flown by Lieutenant H.E. Overs took off from the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, but suffered either engine failure or loss of control while flying over the Persian Gulf, forcing the pilot to eject. Still, the American was recovered safe and sound by USS Wisconsin. Not long after, on February 5, another F-A-18A piloted by Lt. Robert Dwyer was lost while flying over the North Persian Gulf following a successful mission in Iraq. Still, the nearly 200 Hornets that took part in the conflict performed excellently, often shooting down enemy fighters and bombing enemy targets with the same aircraft on the same mission, breaking records in availability, reliability, and maintainability. On one occasion, after taking hits in both engines, a Hornet managed to fly 125 miles back to base, where it was repaired and continued flying missions within only a few days. Following their stellar participation in the Gulf War, the F-A-18 Hornet's success in combat attracted significant international interest. Several countries looking to modernize their Cold War-era air forces with versatile and multirole aircraft like the Hornet actively looked into acquiring the groundbreaking and all-around model, with the Royal Australian Air Force purchasing 75 Hornets, Spain 72, and Switzerland adding 34 to its fleet. In later years, other nations like Finland and Kuwait also bought F-A-18s for their defense needs. Surprisingly, Canada became the second largest operator of the Hornet outside the U.S. In 1980, following a fierce and controversial bidding war, the F-A-18 won the New Fighter Aircraft Project competition to replace older models like the CF-104 Starfighter, CF-101 Voodoo, and CF-116 Freedom Fighter. And deliveries of the CF-18, the Royal Canadian Air Force variant, began in 1982. For their model, the Canadian forces retained many features that made the F-A-18 suitable for naval carrier operations, like the robust landing gear, the arrestor hook, and wing-folding mechanisms. However, while essentially identical, the CF-18 had a few key modifications. The first and most important was a .6 Megacandela nose-mounted night identification spotlight added for nighttime and low-visibility intercept missions crucial in Arctic conditions. Other changes included enhancements for durability in harsh weather and operational demands, and a unique false canopy painted on the underside, a clever visual trick to confuse enemy pilots during dogfights. While Canada deployed more than two dozen CF-18s during the Gulf War, flying over 5,700 hours, their involvement was limited, primarily performing escort duty. Without the capability for precision-guided munitions, their impact was less significant compared to other coalition forces. Before long, another regional conflict became the focus of international attention. The Balkans, with a perfect storm of complex ethnic divisions and independence movements, quickly degenerated into widespread violence. And while the Canadian Air Force was slow to mobilize as the Balkan conflict evolved, in the spring of 1999, a contingent of CF-18s arrived in Aviano, Italy, ready for offensive combat operations over the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Canadian Hornet Detachment in Aviano called themselves the Balkan Rats, a quirky yet politically incorrect name coined for the abundance of rodents in and around the Canadian airfields. By the late 1990s, despite the Hornet's initial cutting-edge design in the previous decade, the CF-18s were starting to show their age, as years of underinvestment and lack of upgrades left them lagging behind the latest Allied aircraft participating in the NATO coalition. Although the models had been recently modified to carry precision-guided munitions, they still lacked many advanced systems for targeting and communication, putting them at a disadvantage in modern warfare, making Canada's aging frontline fighter appear increasingly obsolete just as the Kosovo conflict was about to erupt, worrying pilots and top Air Force officials alike. In an 11-week period from March 24 to June 9, 1999, Canadian Hornets joined aircraft from 14 other countries in a powerful NATO-led air campaign called Operation Allied Force, with the primary objective to halt the ethnic cleansing and widespread violence in Kosovo by degrading the military capabilities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, led by Slobodan Milosevic. The NATO airstrikes aimed to force the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces and restore peace to the region. For this air campaign, there were only six CF-18 models involved, which later increased three-fold. While the Balkan Rats pilots tried time and time again to field a night vision capability prior to the operations, the Canadians had no choice but to fly lights out and blind for almost half of their 678 combat sorties, leading to yet another nickname, the Balkan Bats. And while the 18 fielded Canadian Hornets represented only 0.02% of the massive 800-strong aerial armada of NATO against Yugoslavia, the aging and unequipped models participated in 10% of all bombing missions. In only two and a half months, Canadian pilots flew 678 sorties, including 558 bombing missions. Despite bad weather and powerful Yugoslav ground-to-air attacks threatening them every day during the campaign, Canadian planes launched 361 laser-guided bombs and 171 regular 485-pound bombs. Throughout the conflict, the armed forces remained utterly secretive about the Hornets' use, divulging virtually no details of their participation in bombing raids or other military operations. However, in the summer of 1999, the secrecy shattered when top leadership launched a wave of propaganda highlighting Canada's pivotal role in the liberation of Kosovo, making the powerful statement that the laser-guided bombs hit their targets 75% of the time. According to Defense Minister Art Eggleton, NATO military leaders were so surprised by the Canadian Balkan Bats that the pilots were asked to lead more than half of their assigned missions. During a June 16 press conference, Lieutenant General and Deputy Chief of Defense Staff Ray Hanult stated, QUOTE, "...the contribution of our CF-18s, their pilots and our supporting team. Absolutely remarkable." It will always be a source of great pride for the Canadian people, as much as for the Canadian Armed Forces. Since its inception, the F-18 Hornet has undergone several upgrades and spawned variants, enhancing its capabilities, addressing evolving operational requirements, and extending its service life. One of the latest is the EA-18G Growler, an electronic warfare variant equipped with advanced electronic warfare systems, including jamming pods and radar-detecting equipment, allowing it to suppress enemy air defenses and disrupt enemy communications. The model entered service in 2009, replacing the EA-6B Prowler in the U.S. Navy. But no variant is more striking than the now iconic Super Hornet. In the 1990s, with the U.S. Navy's aging F-14 Tomcat and A-6 Intruder on the verge of retirement, the Navy developed the F-18EF Super Hornet, which, despite its name, is a whole new airframe, retaining the multi-role capabilities of the Hornet while incorporating modern technologies to meet the demands of 21st century warfare. The result is a larger, more advanced version of the original F-18 Hornet, with approximately 25% more surface area and about 15,000 pounds heavier, significantly improving range, endurance, and payload capacity. Featuring state-of-the-art avionics, including enhanced radar systems, survivability equipment, and advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array radar in the nose, this model, introduced in the late 1990s, is much more effective in both air-to-combat and air-to-ground missions, especially due to its duo F-414 GE-400 turbofan engines, each providing approximately 22,000 pounds of thrust. The Super Hornet excels as a one-size-fits-all combat aircraft, with stealth characteristics that minimize its radar cross-section, allowing it to serve in ground attack, air superiority, electronic warfare, and aerial refueling. When equipped with the Aerial Refueling System, or ARS, the Super Hornet can carry a 330 gallon tank on the centerline and four additional 480 gallon tanks, along with its internal fuel tanks. However, operating on tanker duty places extra stress on the aircraft due to the increased weight, and as a result, these tanker-configured Super Hornets tend to have shorter service lives due to the additional wear and tear from carrying such heavy fuel loads. As the world was forever changed following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States and its allies were quickly thrust into a new era of military operations, bringing the F-18 Hornet and Super Hornet to the forefront of major conflicts all over the world, this time in the 21st century. Since then, they have been deployed in various military campaigns, including Operation Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. For more than two decades, Hornets have been used for enforcing no-fly zones, conducting combat air patrols, delivering precision strikes, and supporting ground forces. On June 18, 2017, United States forces were conducting air patrols in Syria as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the ongoing campaign against ISIS and pro-Assad forces. That day, as part of their mission to protect Syrian Democratic Forces aligned with the American-led coalition, Navy pilots Lieutenant Commander Michael Maub Trummel and his wingman, Lieutenant Commander Jeff Jojo Kruger, were providing close air support over the region, taking off from the carrier George H.W. Bush. Later that day, troops backing President Assad's regime assaulted positions held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, an anti-government group inflicting heavy casualties. As the Super Hornets flew in the skies above the area, a Syrian Su-22 fighter bomber appeared on the scene, dropping ordnance near the positions time and time again. While an E-3 Sentry issued several warnings to the enemy, all were ignored. It was up to the F-18E, piloted by Trummel, to take it out. According to him, "...the whole mission out there that day was to go defeat ISIS. If at any point in time that day it had escalated, that would have been fine by us." Trummel and his wingman, Kruger, observed a Syrian Su-22 nearing ground forces, armed for attack. Despite repeated radio warnings, the Su-22 dropped its payload near U.S.-supported troops. Trummel, acting in line with the rules of engagement, quickly got to work, firing an AIM-9X Sidewinder at the aircraft. However, the missile veered off course, lured by the Sukhoi's flares. Trummel knew he had to act fast, recalling, "...I know I was just operating on brainstem power." Relying now on the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, the radar-guided weapon struck the aircraft, with the pilot ejecting from the burning Soviet-made jet as it plummeted toward the ground. Pilot Trummel's success was the first aerial victory of a crewed aircraft by an American fighter since 1999, the first by the Navy since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the first victory by a Super Hornet, and the third by an F-18 Hornet as a whole. While Trummel likely carries the memory of that day with him, so does his Super Hornet. According to Pentagon photos from 2017, the F-18E he flew into battle now proudly displays a victory mark, celebrating the Su-22 downing for his squadron, the Golden Warriors. In September 2024, a Navy-owned Super Hornet, its identity clear due to the distinctive gloss-black retro scheme native of the Naval Air Weapons Station's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 9, Vampires, based in California, was spotted with a never-before-seen air-to-air loadout. In these photographs, the jet carries four AIM-174B Long-Range Missiles, three AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, and two AIM-9X Sidewinders, along with an infrared search and track system and an advanced targeting forward-looking infrared targeting pod. Especially surprising is the AIM-174B, an air-launched variant of the Navy's SM-6 missile. Despite officially being publicly acknowledged only in recent years, the weapon has since become a key part of the Navy's strategy to counter China's expanding air-to-air threat capabilities. All weapons shown in the Super Hornet are training rounds, which means the most likely explanation of what the heavily armed F-18F was doing when photographed is that it was being prepared for a gray flag exercise. Their most recent additions have placed a big focus on several advanced capabilities intended to challenge the ability of enemy forces to spot, track, and target friendly aircraft. The series of photographs of the Californian Super Hornet carrying such a diverse air-to-air payload is a sign of the thorough and diligent work being done in an attempt to get a leg up on aerial combat, especially in a new era where China's area denial strategy extends further and further out into the Pacific. It is also a big sign that the now 41-year-old base model of the McDonnell Douglas F-18 Hornet is still going strong. The aircraft, in all its many variants, remains one of the post-Cold War era's greatest aviation success stories. Fast, powerful, rugged, and versatile, it will soldier on in the United States and many other international services well into the 2030s. The Hornet remains the workhorse of Marine Corps tactical aviation and will serve as the Marine Corps' primary bridging platform to the F-35 until its planned sundown in 2030. As for the Navy, while the branch has retired the original F-A-18C-D Hornets, the F-A-18E-F Super Hornets remain in service and will continue to do so until at least the mid-2030s.