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The USS Hornet may be a decommissioned aircraft carrier, yet it has nevertheless become the launch-site for a controversial new war in the skies. The Marine Cloud Brightening Program's Coastal Atmospheric Aerosol Research and Engagement project, led by researchers from the University of Washington, took to the deck of the Hornet Tuesday to launch streams of particles into the sky above the San Francisco Bay. Their ultimate objective is apparently to block and reflect sunlight in hopes of limiting "global warming." CAARE researchers behind the geoengineering scheme opted not to announce their experiment, reportedly citing concerns that there might be...

The F/A-18D Hornet crashed near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California late last night. An F/A-18 Hornet crashed in the vicinity of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in the northern part of San Diego, California, last night. As of 8:00 a.m. local time (PST), the base confirmed to The War Zone this morning that a search and rescue operation was ongoing.Although the fighter crashed at 11:54 p.m. local last night, the incident was not announced by the Marine Corps until earlier this morning, when the base issued a statement. Even though the location of the crash is...

An unmanned tanker drone successfully refueled a fighter jet in mid-air during a test flight on Friday. The impressive feat, which involved a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, demonstrated the significant potential of unmanned tanker drones and could mark the beginning of the end for traditional piloted tanker aircraft. During the test flight, the drone - a Boeing-built device named MQ-25 Stingray - maintained its altitude and speed as the hose extended and the two aircraft briefly linked up to exchange fuel. The test was carried out from the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. In total, 325lbs of fuel...

The U.S. Navy is considering removing conformal fuel tanks, or CFTs, from the Block III upgrade package for its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets after discovering various issues with them during testing. Deciding not to pursue these tanks, which are designed to extend the Super Hornet's range even without it having to carry drop tanks in place of other underwing stores, could have significant ramifications for the service's future tactical aviation plans.

Is it actually Wednesday? I’m not fully sure. The days blend together such that it seems almost like we’ve been transported into that bizarre French Revolution calendar where every week has 10 days or something. I do notice that toilet paper is finally returning to stores in abundance, so much so that I’m thinking of buying a case and TP-ing Gavin Newsom’s house. Who’s in?

Marines Identify Remains Recovered from KC-130J Salvage Operation By: Megan Eckstein June 26, 2019 10:08 AM The Marine Corps has identified the remains of three Marines recovered during a recent salvage operation to retrieve a KC-130J that crashed in December during a refueling mishap off of Japan. Five Marines assigned to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 152 were onboard the aircraft when it crashed last year, and all were killed. The Marine Corps conducted a salvage effort that spanned May 27 to June 7, and during that effort the remains of three of the Marines were found. After sending...

Get a good look at the U.S. Navy Blue Angels while you have a chance. They will be changing to a new plane in a couple of years. The Pensacola News Journal reports the team plans to switch from the F/A-18 Hornet to the F/A-18E Super Hornet in 2021 to mark the team's 75th anniversary. "The jet is more powerful, especially at lower altitudes, so we believe that our maneuvering will be more visible to the crowd and more impressive overall," Cmdr. Frank Weisser, a former Blue Angel pilot, told the Journal.

The wreck of the World War II aircraft carrier USS Hornet has been discovered in the South Pacific, 77 years after Japanese forces sunk the ship in a fierce battle. The research vessel Petrel, owned by the estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, discovered the Hornet three miles under the ocean surface off the Solomon Islands late last month. The Hornet, the last U.S. fleet carrier to be sunk by enemy fire, lost 140 hands under a relentless Japanese air bombing attack at the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on October 26, 1942. As Imperial Navy surface forces...

VFA-34's "CAG-bird" F/A-18C launches from Carl Vinson during the last cruise by an active-duty F/A-18C squadron in 2018. (photo: U.S. Navy) On February 1, the U.S. Navy is holding a special ceremony to commemorate the passing of one of its stalwarts, as the Boeing (previously McDonnell Douglas) F/A-18C Hornet leaves the active-duty fleet. Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 34 “Blue Blasters” was the last unit operating the type in the front line and flew the “legacy” Hornet on its final operational deployment, a cruise with Air Wing Two to the Western Pacific theater aboard the USS Carl Vinson. That deployment ended...

“The aircraft involved in the mishap had launched from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and were conducting regularly scheduled training when the mishap occurred.” A total of seven personnel were believed to be on board the two aircraft, according to ABC News’ Elizabeth McLaughlin. No further information was yet known on exactly how many service members were aboard the two aircraft at the time or what their current status is.

With a new Navy plan to retire nearly half its F/A-18A/B/C/D fleet in the near term to help boost the readiness of its youngest so called "legacy Hornets," which the USMC will inherit in the not so distant future, the Corps is now moving to upgrade seven squadrons worth of jets with new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars. The move signifies the most substantial capability upgrade in the legacy Hornet's entire history. In a posting on the government's contracting site FBO.gov it states that the USMC is looking to install the systems "in 4th Quarter 2020 and complete in...

One of the strangest sagas in defense procurement over the last decade has been Canada's meandering road to a new fighter aircraft to replace, or even augment, the country's relatively small fleet of aging CF-18 Hornets. We have talked in great depth about this issue, and although the Super Hornet is clearly the right jet for Canada, a recent trade spat has made it politically unsavory for the Trudeau Administration to order even a handful of the strike fighters as a interim measure before selecting a fighter to replace the entire CF-18 fleet sometime in the future. In the meantime,...

The Canadian government is looking into buying second-hand fighter jets in Australia – instead of a new fleet of 18 Super Hornets – as it tries to force Boeing Co. to drop its trade dispute against Bombardier Inc., sources said. Federal officials said the government is refusing to sign a planned multibillion-dollar contract for Super Hornets as long as Boeing pursues its complaint against Bombardier at the International Trade Commission in the United States. A final decision to pull the plug on the Super Hornet contract has not been made, but tensions with Boeing are quickly escalating and the government...

“STICK me in this jet, and I’ll take her anywhere,” said a Royal Malaysian Air Force F/A-18D Hornet ‘driver’.” The pilot’s confidence in the much-vaunted strike fighter’s ability to handle modern threats is due to the fact that the RMAF’s 20-year-old fleet recently underwent a comprehensive upgrade that gives it an even more lethal “sting”. The best just got better. The programme, carried out in phases, was to enhance the Hornet’s combat effectiveness in its primary tasking in the air-to-air and air-to-ground roles. This included the integration of four primary elements — Boeing’s Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), the super-agile,...

A power outage Tuesday affecting west Alameda caused the cancellation of Fourth of July festivities at the USS Hornet Sea, Air and Space Museum, according to the museum's Facebook page. The museum's post said: "Due to the continuing power outage that is affect the west side of Alameda, today's Fourth of July event has been canceled. Guests may receive a rain check from guest services during normal business hours or by contacting info@uss-hornet.org. We sincerely apologize for this unforeseen inconvenience." Earlier Tuesday, when the power went out, the museum evacuated guests as a safety precaution, the museum said. Among the...

Will Super Hornets bridge IAF's 200-aircraft gap? November 04, 2016 15:11 IST Boeing expects the IAF to soon place an inquiry for twin-engine fighter jets to bridge a 200-aircraft gap in its armoury. And the Super Hornet is ready to fly in, reports Ajai Shukla. The Indian Air Force has already approached major global fighter vendors, inviting them to build single-engine, medium fighters in India.Now the spotlight is expanding to encompass heavier, twin-engine fighters as well.On Thursday, November 3, Pratyush Kumar, president, Boeing India revealed that he expected a second inquiry from the IAF, asking international manufactures for interest...

Not all F/A-18 pilots have heard of Leslie Shook, but every Hornet pilot knows her voice. The Boeing employee is the voice of the "oral alert," a series of pre-recorded commands that help a pilot avoid his or her imminent demise. Shook is now retiring from the company, which put together a nice tribute video to her. The F/A-18 can sense when corrective action is needed—right away—and the plane promptly warns the pilot what needs to be done. Bitchin' Betty will bark commands like "Pull up! Pull up!" until the pilot complies. There are numerous Bitchin' Betties across various airplanes,...

Faced with delays in the adoption of the F-35, the U.S. Navy is trying to keep F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighters flying until replacements arrive. According to Military Times, the service is stretching the lifespan of existing planes, keeping them in the air far longer than originally planned. The U.S. Navy's F/A-18C Hornets comprise half of the fighter force on a typical Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. These older Hornets, known as "legacy Hornets" to differentiate them from the Super Hornet, were only meant to fly an average 6,000 hours. Generally speaking, this works out to about 20 years of peacetime...

Did You Know that American advanced F-14 Tom Cat Fighter Jets, helped to keep Ayatollah Khomeini in Power during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s? When Iran was under the pro-American Shah of Iran, America sold 79 F-14 Tom Cats to Iran in 1974-1978. The world's most experienced combat pilots in the F-14 are Iranians. According to Wikipedia: "...In 1980, an Iranian F-14 shot down an Iraqi Mil Mi-25 helicopter for its first air-to-air kill during the Iran–Iraq War. According to research by Tom Cooper, within the first six months of the war Iranian F-14s scored over 50 air-to-air victories,...

America’s $400 billion, top-of-the-line aircraft can’t see the battlefield all that well. Which means it’s actually worse than its predecessors at fighting today’s wars. When the Pentagon’s nearly $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter finally enters service next year after nearly two decades in development, it won’t be able to support troops on the ground the way older planes can today. Its sensors won’t be able to see the battlefield as well; and what video the F-35 does capture, it won’t be able to transmit to infantrymen in real time. Versions of the new single-engine stealth fighter are set to...