Rhinos to reinforce ‘world’s best small air force’

The arrival of the RAAF’s first five F/A-18F Boeing Super Hornets (Rhinos) on March 26 was an historic and very proud day for the Air Force. I and everyone in the Air Force had been eagerly awaiting their arrival since the first Australian Super Hornet rolled off the Boeing production line in St Louis in July 2009.

The touchdown of the Super Hornets at RAAF Amberley, led by Wing Commander Glen (Blitz) Braz, the Commanding Officer of No1 Squadron, heralded a new and potent air combat capability for the Air Force.

The Rhinos are the RAAF’s first new air combat aircraft in 25 years. In fact, some of the crew who flew the Rhinos into Amberley had not been born when RAAF took delivery of its first F-111s, the aircraft the F/A‑18Fs are replacing, in 1973.