F/A-18 Hornet, created in the second half of the 1970s on the basis of the experimental ground-based fighter Northrop YF-18 (the main rival of the General dynamics YF-16 aircraft in the competition announced by the US air force for a prototype of a fourth-generation light fighter), from the very beginning was intended to solve both purely "fighter" and shock tasks. In the 1980s he, along with heavy fighter-interceptor F-14 "Tomcat" was almost completely replaced on the decks of American aircraft carriers multi-purpose aircraft F-4 Phantom II. However, if in the role of air defense interceptors and fighters of air superiority "Tomcat" and "Hornet" almost completely blocked the "niche" "Phantom", providing a sufficiently effective air and missile defense of American aviation groups and compounds, the impact capabilities of F/A-18 in terms of "combat load/range" slightly inferior to the corresponding parameter of the heavier F-4. As a result, in the analytical centers of the Navy and the company McDonnell-Douglas began research opportunities for further improvement of "Tomcat", focused primarily on increasing the impact potential of the aviation complex.
