Ensuring the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet continues to serve effectively as the backbone of U.S. Navy’s carrier air wing is a priority for Naval Aviation. New Super Hornets continue to enter the fleet, with the Navy now expecting the final delivery to occur in 2025—ensuring the capabilities of the strike fighter remain at the service of the nation now and well into the future.

The F/A-18 and EA-18G Program Office (PMA-265) has conducted a successful series of manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) flight tests in which a Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet demonstrated command and control of three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The event took place at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Pt. Mugu, California, and included four flight tests supported by Air Test and Evaluation Squadrons (VX) 23 and 31 and industry partners, Boeing and BAE Systems.

Imagine landing a fighter jet at 150 miles per hour on a small runway bobbing in the middle of the ocean – with only one engine. Thanks to the Navy’s latest version of the Precision Landing Mode (PLM), landing in this extremely challenging scenario is now much safer and easier. 

Latest PLM upgrade allows pilots to land safely in failure conditions

The data speaks for itself. Using several innovative technologies in the data analytics realm, the F/A-18 and EA-18G program office (PMA-265) sees significant improvement in the affordability and availability of fleet aircraft.

Several factors influence availability; maintenance, corrosion and Condition Based Maintenance (CBM). CBM, which is executed by Hornet Health Assessment and Readiness Tool (HhART), is the maintenance strategy used to monitor the condition of assets and help determine maintenance plans.

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, while charged with maintaining mission capable rates across the Navy’s fleet of Super Hornets and Growlers, the F/A-18 and EA-18G Program Office (PMA-265)-led Integrated Supply Chain Management (ISCM) Team revolutionized Fleet support practices and successfully resolved major logistics issues.

The U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Readiness program won the Aviation Week Overall Excellence Award 2021 during the annual Defense Chain Conference in Washington D.C., Oct. 20. Rear Adm. Shane Gahagan, program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs (PEO(T)), accepted the award.

The esteemed Aviation Week Program Excellence Awards honors excellence in program leadership and this is only the third time in 17 years a program has won the Overall Excellence award.

The F/A-18 and EA-18G Program Office (PMA-265) completed a successful technology demonstration for the Secure Live Virtual Constructive Advanced Training Environment (SLATE) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland last month.

The event included four flight tests, supported by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 and industry partners, The Boeing Company and Cubic Corporation.

The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the first new-production Block III F/A-18 Super Hornet on Aug. 31.

The first of 78 new Super Hornets built by The Boeing Company was ferried to Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, for continued developmental testing. The next few Block III jets to leave the production line will head to VX-9, at Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake, California, to start training for operational testing, during which the aircraft will undergo evaluation in scenarios that mimic operational missions.

The F/A-18 and EA-18G program office (PMA-265) has experienced a stretch of readiness control since meeting mission capable rate mandates in 2019 thanks in part to the Hornet Health Assessment and Readiness Tool or HhART.

As of June 1, the program also marked 90 days without a reported Physiological Episode (PE) for all F/A-18s and EA-18Gs – citing HhART as the primary contributor to the notable decrease. HhART has the ability to identify component degradation and enable proactive maintenance planning.

The F/A-18 & EA-18G Program Office (PMA-265) commenced the five-year Growler Capability Modification (GCM) program at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island, Washington. This kicks off the first major effort to upgrade the capabilities of the EA-18G Growler in the history of the platform.