US Navy Faced Rapid Wear of Hornet Fighters

22.09.2011 US Navy has faced unexpectedly rapid wear of deck-based fighters F-18 Hornet and Super Hornet, reports Strategy Page. It is because aircraft life time was estimated on the assumption of peacetime operations, but through recent 2 years the US has been actively conducting warfare abroad which reduces lifetime of F-18.

In particular, F-18C fighters commissioned in 70-80's should have been in service at least 20 years. However, their lifetime began to shorten as a result of combat use in the Gulf War 1991 and in numerous ant-terror operations. Due to loss of lifetime, aircrafts must undergo repairs more frequently.

Same problem happened to F-18E/F/G. In particular, F-18E was commissioned about 10 years ago, and designed life of its frame is 6,000 hours. Nevertheless, due to frequent participation in combat actions, life time of these airplanes has been reduced down to 3,000 hours – that is current life time of their outer wings. The point is that during combat missions fighters take off with full bomb and missile load, but sometimes do not spend it completely and have to bring it back while landing on the deck.

In itself, deck landing is a structural load, and onboard arms make it heavier. As a result, metal fatigue comes earlier which leads to fissuring and impairs flight safety. It is possible to repair and replace some parts of an airplane, but lifetime of frame is limited, and F-18 must be written-off sooner or later. Namely, due to rapid wear most of F-18A fighters will be decommissioned before the US Navy will receive new F-35B/C Lightning II.

At present, US Navy runs a fighter recovery program which will increase lifetime of Hornet and Super Hornet fighters up to 10,000 flight hours. Presently, flight time of F-18E/F has reached 3,000 hours, and F-18A/B/C/D - 8,600 hours. Each of F-18 fighters operated by US Navy spends in air at least 330 hours a year.

In order to prolong service life of aircrafts, US Navy aviation commanders were ordered not to dispatch airplanes with maximal flight time to missions requiring accelerated maneuvers or heavy combat load. Such measures will help to keep operable most of F-18 fighters until F-35 deliveries.