Small F-18 Super Hornet Fighters complicates their use in the fight against Russia and China and makes US aircraft carriers vulnerable to distant attacks. This is reported by the Military Watch edition.
F-18 Super Hornet served as a replacement for diverse aircraft on board aircraft carriers, including the A-6 Intruder deck storming attack aircraft and the F-14 Tomcat long interceptor, which was part of the effort to reduce operating costs. This reduced the aircraft carrier’s military influence zone by 77 percent, which was considered an acceptable price in the world after the Cold War.
Super Hornet has been criticized for its low range, and the US Navy planned to commission an airplane with a larger range. However, it turned out that the F / A-18E / F Super Hornet will not be equipped with conformal fuel tanks. As the newspaper writes, the abolition of modernization plans is a threat to the viability of aircraft carriers, since such potential opponents, as Russia, North Korea and China, already exist more efficient classes of anti-worm weapons.
Thus, the US Navy will probably be forced to expect when their future aircraft carrier fighter of the sixth generation will go into service to get superiority in the air at long distances.