Key Points and Summary – The U.S. Navy’s F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet are far older than most of the pilots flying them, yet a decade of Service Life Extension Programs has pushed their airframes from 6,000 to 10,000 flight hours and kept them combat-relevant.
-Engineers have reinforced the center barrel, upgraded engines and avionics, added IRST and AESA radar, and even tested conformal fuel tanks and rounded pods to shave the jet’s radar signature. New “magic carpet” software also makes carrier landings safer and more precise.
At sea (Mar. 1, 2007) – Capt. Craig “Animal” Williams (front) in a F/A 18C Hornet (front) and Capt. Richard “Rhett” Butler (back) in an F/A 18C Hornet look up for a photo as they fly over USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76). Capt. Williams, a 22-year Naval Aviator who graduated from the United States Naval Academy, was relieved as Commander, Carrier Air Wing Fourteen (CVW-14) by 21-year Naval Aviator, Capt. Butler, a graduate of the University of Kentucky during an aerial change of command ceremony. The Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group is currently underway in the Pacific Ocean on a surge deployment in support of U.S. military operations in the Western Pacific. Official U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Cmdr. Tam Pham
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-Still, there are limits: however capable the upgrades, the F/A-18 will never be a true stealth aircraft.
How the F/A-18 Hornet Cheated Retirement and Stayed in the Fight
Next-generation infrared target tracking, conformal fuel tanks, a fully redesigned digital cockpit, and new “glide slope” carrier-landing software are just a few of the many life-extending enhancements woven into the US Navy’s classic F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet.
The Navy’s F/A-18 has already outlived its anticipated service life through extension programs, upgrades, and extensive modernization, ensuring the 1980s-launched jet remains relevant, lethal, and cutting-edge in a modern threat environment.
1970s F/A-18
While the original McDonnell Douglas-Northrop airframe dates back to the mid-1970s, today’s F/A-18 is virtually a new aircraft due to the scope of its technological enhancements.
In recent years, the aircraft was the focus of an extensive Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) designed to upgrade and reinforce the airframes, onboard electronics, and engine performance. Specifically, Navy and industry engineers modified the center barrel section to reinforce the airframe.
The impact of this SLEP has been quite substantial, as it has extended the F/A-18’s flight hours from 6,000 to 10,000 over many years.
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Aircraft Handling) 1st Class Jose Mejiacastro, assigned to Air Department aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), prepares to signal to a Carrier Air Wing 8 F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 87 on the flight deck, Sept. 26, 2025. Gerald R. Ford, a first-in-class aircraft carrier and deployed flagship of Carrier Strike Group Twelve, is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations to support the warfighting effectiveness, lethality and readiness of U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, and defend U.S., Allied and partner interests in the region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Mariano Lopez)
Simply put, this has added many years to the F/A-18’s relevance, performance, and continued operational functionality.
This life extension has been and continues to be critical for the Navy as the service fast-tracks the arrival of its 6th-generation F/A-XX.
The SLEP program, which now spans nearly 10 years, was intended to ensure the Carrier Air Wing remained sufficiently lethal during a period when fleet size was reduced by the retirement of the F-14 Tomcat and the delayed arrival of the F-35Cs.
For many years, since 2014 or earlier, the Navy has been requesting additional F/A-18s and regularly placing them on the service’s unfunded priorities list.
All this considered, there is also widespread recognition that there are limits to exactly how much a 1970s and 1980s-era airframe can ultimately be extended and upgraded.
Perhaps most of all, the F/A-18 is not stealthy, meaning its edges, shapes, and external configuration make it extremely difficult to hide from modern air defenses.
Stealthy F/A-18?
Nonetheless, the US Navy has, in recent years, added radar-signature-reducing, curved, conformal fuel tanks and experimented with rounded external weapons pods to add some measure of stealth-like attributes to the aircraft.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 9, takes off from Naval Air Station Point Mugu during Gray Flag, Sept. 12, 2025. Gray Flag 2025 is the naval aviation test community’s premier large force test event, providing unique venues for large-scale integration of new capabilities across services and platforms. Working with the Joint Force, industry, and our nation’s allies to ensure seamless integration and interoperability is key to ensuring warfighters have a decisive advantage in the field. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class August Clawson)
While these initiatives would seem to lower the radar signature or cross-section of the aircraft by smoothing over some of the sharp edges or contours likely to generate a return signal and creating a slightly more horizontal blended wing-body type of structure, Navy developers certainly understood these adaptations would not likely qualify the F/A-18 as sufficiently stealthy to evade modern air defenses.
The F/A-18 also received enhanced digital radios and infrared search and track (IRST) targeting technologies designed to improve threat tracking and to operate in an electronic warfare (EW) environment. Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing Systems enable a broader, higher-resolution field of view for pilots.
Magic Carpet
Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) on the F/A-18 has also been enhanced, and, perhaps of greatest technological complexity, the F/A-18s have received a specially developed software application called “magic carpet” designed to assist pilots with a smooth landing and successful glide-slope as they bank and align for what can often be challenging carrier landings at sea.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
