Throwback Thursday: F/A-18 Hornet

Welcome to Throwback Thursday, Inside Defense's occasional look back at what was happening on or around this day in years past.

The Defense Department inspector general's office this morning released a report originally published in December 1994 on the durability of the jet engines on F/A-18 Hornet fighter aircraft.

According to the lightly redacted report: 

The audit was requested by a Senate Appropriations Committee staff member. In 1992, the Navy reported to Congress that there were durability problems with the F-404 engine used in its F/A-18 aircraft. Concerned about the durability of the F-404 engine and the durability of other jet engines used in DOD aircraft, the committee staffer requested the Inspector General, DOD, to review the durability of the F-404 engine and other DOD aircraft engines designed by the General Electric Company.

Audit Results

Our audit of three jet aircraft engines designed by General Electric showed that the Military Departments have experienced lower durability than predicted from various components in each jet aircraft engine. However, the Military Departments were aware of the reasons for the poor durability and were initiating corrective management actions. Special problems relating to the warranties of F-404 jet aircraft engine components, use of T700 engines beyond the manufacturer's recommended life limits, and use of an inspection program on the F-404 engine were addressed in separate Office of the Inspector General, DOD, reports issued during the audit.

The following year, McDonnell Douglas -- which merged with Boeing in 1996 -- unveiled the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. As Inside the Navy reported at the time:

The aircraft, dubbed the "Super Hornet" by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jeremy Boorda, will now undergo a three-year flight test program at the Navy's aircraft test facility at Patuxent River, MD.

Under the flight test plan, the industry team, lead by McDonnell Douglas, will provide seven flying test aircraft, five single-seat E models and two double-seat F models. Three other aircraft will be built and used as ground test aircraft at the company's St. Louis facility.

The flight test program starts January 1996, but will be prefaced by a series of low- and high-speed taxi tests of the E-1, the first aircraft, in November, according to a McDonnell Douglas release.

Although the test program will begin in earnest next year, the company will have to fly two aircraft by the end of this year, as mandated by Congress, before it can receive additional funding. "We have two airplanes flying in this calendar year," Michael Sears, the vice president and general manager of the F/A-18 Hornet program, said. "That will become the basis for the early operational assessment which will then make it [to] a DAB [defense acquisition board] and start us down the production channel with the long-lead funding for the first production set of airplanes."

Read the full story here (available to all).