F/A-18 Hornet

F/A-18 Hornet
General Info
Role	Medium Fighter
Hangar level	13
Difficulty	★☆☆☆☆
Durability	▰▰▰▱▱▱
Speed	▰▰▱▱▱▱
Agility	▰▰▰▱▱▱
Traits	none
Base Stats
Hitpoints	150
Top speed	1249 km/h
Acceleration	40 m/s²
Turn rate	35 °/s
Ideal turning speed	648 km/h
Afterburner fuel	15 s

A carrier-based Medium Fighter of the 1980s. Well-balanced and easy to fly.

— In-game description

The F/A-18 Hornet is a medium fighter first introduced into service in July 1984. The F/A-18 Hornet is the durability/agility/damage balance point in the American aircraft between nimble, fragile, and lesser armed light fighters, and sluggish, durable, considerably armed heavy fighters.

Loadout

The F/A-18 Hornet is equipped with short range ×2 heat-seeking missile, long reaching mid-range ×4 manual missile, and an internal precision cannon. The F/A-18 Hornet is also equipped with ×4 flares.

Type	Max Damage (DPS)	Ideal Range (km)	Reticle Range (km)	Spin-up Time (s)	Spread	Overheat Time (s)	Ammo	Armor Piercing
Assault cannon	205	0.4	0.9	1.3	low	5.0	∞	none

Guidance	Range Type	Range (km)	Quantity	Damage	Speed (km/h)	Turn Rate (°/s)	Lock Angle (°)	Lock Time (s)
Heat-seeking missile	Short range	2.8	2	75	3240	15	7	1.3
Manual missile	Medium range	7.5	4	85	4680	15	5	1.0

Special Ability

The F/A-18 Hornet has a special ability called Rapid Refuel. When equipped and triggered, it decreases the time the afterburner needs to recharge its fuel.

Veteran Tips

The F/A-18 Hornet, is equipped with multiple, longer ranged, medium range missiles that are quick to lock, and have fast speeds. This comes at the cost of smaller lock reticle angles. The multiple short range missiles have average damage. The cannon, has average damage and is more resistant to overheat, at the cost wider spread, and a slow spin-up time. The F/A-18 Hornet has a slow roll speed which makes the maneuverability feel sluggish. The afterburners are adequate. The afterburners have enough power to maintain optimal turn speeds in continuous maneuvers. The F/A-18 Hornet has a low top speed which makes it less than ideal for Air Superiority. With four longer range, medium range missiles, the F/A-18 Hornet Hornet can employ fighting at stand-off distances. With the higher amount of missiles and afterburners than can maintain continual maneuvers, the F/A-18 Hornet is predictable, and easy to master. It best utilized in medium ranged dog fights.

Trivia

In real life, the F/A-18 Hornet was derived from the the Northrop YF-17 Cobra, a prototype lightweight fighter aircraft designed by Northrop aviation for the United States Air Force's Lightweight Fighter (LWF) technology evaluation program. The Northrop YF-17 Cobra had lost the LFW competition to the General Dynamics YF-16 Fighting Falcon, which the latter the USAF had pressed into service as the F-16A Fighting Falcon. The United State Navy took interest in the YF-17 Cobra for the Navy's Naval Fighter Attack Experimental (VFAX) program. Having limited experience with carrier based aircraft design, Northrop had partnered with McDonald Douglas to capitalize on the latter's experience in building carrier aircraft. The resulting aircraft became the F/A-18A and first went into service January 7 1983 with the United States Marine Corps. The F/A-18 Hornet was adopted by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps to replace the A-7 Corsair II and F-4 Phantom II, complementing the more expensive F-14 Tomcat. The F/A-18 Hornet “Fightin’ Bengal” Paint is inspired by (USA) 2nd Marine Air Craft Wing VMFA(AW)-224. VMFA(AW)-224 are big fans of Metalstorm.

Paints

The F/A-18 Hornet has 5 different paints available, including the default.

Name	Unlock requirement	Rarity	Image
Factory Gray	Default	Basic
Mach Altus	29 gold	Common
Boneyard	65 gold	Uncommon
Fightin' Bengals	149 gold	Epic
Predator	249 gold	Legendary