Bridge To Where?

The arrival of the first five Super Hornets in late March was an historic occasion, the first time the RAAF has welcomed a new frontline fighter into service since the original ‘classic’ Hornets 25 years ago in May 1985.

Since that time the classic Hornets have been comprehensively upgraded under the HUG program, but even so the Super Hornets, with their APG-79 AESA radars and introduction to stealth technologies, represent something of a step change for the RAAF, particularly for those aircrews and maintainers transitioning across from the 40 year old F‑111s the Supers, or ‘Rhinos’ as they are nicknamed, are replacing.