F/A-18D Hornet (Boeing)

F/A-18 Hornet deployed in early 80's replacing F-4 Phantom II & A-7 Corsair II. Later it was replace A-6E Intruder in 1990's. F/A-18 Hornet involved in Operation Desert Storm performing as fighter / attack and in former Yugoslavia.

F/A-18D is a dual-seat variant of F/A-18C/D version. F/A-18C/D is the last version of F/A-18 Hornet before Super Hornet produced in early 2000. The F/A-18C Hornet is a single-seat variant.
F/A-18 has twin-engine, carrier-based supersonic and was design to suit with US Navy requirement for all-weather fighter & attack aircraft.

F/A-18D Hornet capable to perform an airstrike mission deep inside enemy territory providing itself self-defense capability & can be equipped with Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles. It also can perform close air support mission & fighter role for fleet air defense mission.
F/A-18D Hornet is an improved version of F/A-18B Hornet with improvement in updated missiles & jamming devices & night attack capability with more powerful F404-GE-402 (with 18,000 lbs thrust) engines & new radar, AN/APG-73.

F/A-18D Hornet is in services with USMC, US Navy, Australia, Canada, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain & Switzerland.
It can be equipped with an air-to-air missiles (AIM-9 (M-X)) short-range air-to-air missiles & AIM-120C AMRAAM (medium range / BVR). For anti-armour missiles, AGM-65 Maverick can be equipped & AGM-88 HARM missile for anti-radiation. AGM-84D Harpoon used for anti-ship missile.
For land attack cruise missile, AGM-84H SLAM-ER (Surface Land Attack Missile Extended Range) stand-off weapons & AGM-84E SLAM can be fitted.
M61A1 20mm gun pre-installed inside the nose of Hornet.

F/A-18D Hornet can can carries up to 6,227 kg external ordnance / weapon using 9 under-wing hard-point stations with 2 x wingtip sidewinders, 2 x on-board wing station for air-to-air missiles & air-to-ground missiles.
2 in-board wing stations for fuel tanks / air-to-air weapons / air-to-ground weapons. 2 nacelles fuselage stations for AMRAAM / AIM-7 Sparrow / sensor pods & 1 centre-line station for fuel tanks / air-to-ground weapons.

For targeting, laser target designator / ranger (housed FLIR) can integrate with precision laser-guided bombs to deliver laser-guided bombs accurately. Early version of F/A-18D Hornet fitted with NAVFLIR (Navigation Forward Looking Infra-red) used for navigation in any weather condition, day or night.

Navigation & targeting pods like NITE Hawk, LITENING AT & AN/ASQ-228 ATFLIR can be fitted / added on F/A-18 Hornet which can integrate with precision-guided munitions like Paveway laser-guided bombs.

For protection system, AN/ALE 50 Towed Decoys, AN/ALQ-165 Radio Frequency Countermeasure & AN/ALR-67 Radar Warning Receiver can be fitted / added.

Specification:

Length - 17.1m
Height - 4.7m
Wingspan - 12.3m
Propulsion - 2 x F404-GE-402 EPE engines
Ceiling - 15,250m
Top speed - Mach 1.8
Combat radius - >900km