The F/A-18 series of fighters was born in the 1970s and 1980s and was developed by the former McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing). The emergence of this series of fighters has brought about a turning point in the application of carbon fiber composite materials in military aircraft.
In 1976, the original McDonnell Douglas took the lead in developing the F/A-18’s composite wing, and the amount of carbon fiber composite material exceeded 10% for the first time. Later, the FA-18E/F was manufactured with 12 pieces of CFRP by further adopting automatic wire laying technology. The body skin, 10 air intake pipe skins, and 4 horizontal tail skins use carbon fiber composite materials to exceed 20%.
Boeing expects to complete newbuild production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet by the end of 2025 after delivering the final batch of fighter jets to the U.S. Navy. If the Super Hornet is selected by an international customer, production could be extended until 2027.
It is worth mentioning that the world’s most advanced fighter jet, the fifth-generation U.S. fighter F/A-22, uses carbon fiber composite materials for the fuselage, wings, tail and other most important parts, and the proportion of composite materials reaches up 34%.
