F/A-18 Hornets

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather supersonic, twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft. It was designed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop to replace the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, the A-7 Corsair II, and the remaining McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs, and to complement the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The F/A-18 entered operational service in 1983 and saw combat action during the 1986 United States bombing of Libya, the 1991 Gulf War, and the 2003 Iraq War. The Hornet is highly versatile and reliable, with the ability to carry a wide variety of weapons and perform multiple missions, including fighter escort, fleet air defense, suppression of enemy air defenses, air interdiction, close air support, and aerial reconnaissance. The F/A-18 served as the baseline for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, its larger, evolutionary redesign, which supplanted both the older Hornet and the F-14 Tomcat in the U.S. Navy.learn more on wikipedia