Two Squadrons Of The Aging Aircraft Being Flown By Reserve Units

The House Armed Services Committee is calling for the replacement of 33 F/A-18+ Hornets from the Reagan era in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act.

The U.S. Navy Reserve has 33 of the aging aircraft that are normally used in training scenarios to play the "bad guy". They are painted to look like Russian MIG fighters, but they are also supposed to be ready to be pressed into service as replacement jets should there be heavy losses during a crisis.

Defense News reports that the major issue is that the aircraft are now so far behind later models of the Super Hornet in terms of technology that they can no longer fully integrate into a modern carrier wing.

The House Defense Authorization Act says that the HASC "believes these legacy F/A-18+ aircraft need to be recapitalized with next-generation capability in order to provide realistic, threat-representative training for aviators and to maintain operational readiness that provides a relevant and deployable backstop to the Active Duty air wings."

The bill goes on to direct the Secretary of the Navy to present a plan for replacing the older aircraft no later than December 1 of this year.

(Image from file)

FMI: armedservices.house.gov