| Revision as of 19:42, 16 February 2005 editNight Gyr (talk | contribs)Administrators12,224 edits fixed picture to an actual f-18C← Previous edit |
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#REDIRECT ] |
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The '''F-18 Hornet''' is the ] variant of the ] ] multi-role attack and ]. It lacks certain avionics, target acquisition and weapon control features, limiting its capability to engage surface targets. |
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{{Redirect category shell| |
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The decision to purchase the aircraft (64 in total, with 7 two-seat '''F-18D''' models and 57 single-seated '''F-18C''' models) was made in ], soon after the ] ]. The original plan was to buy about 40 western fighters and about 20 soviet fighters due political reasons, |
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{{R from short name}} |
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but the ] ] removed the political reason to buy also soviet aircraft, and the plan changed to 60 single-seat + 7 dual set fighters of same type, and F-18 won the contest. Due F-18's high price, the number of fighters to be purchased was decreased by three, to 57+7. |
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A key goal in the ] of that era was to take no action that might be interpreted by the Soviets as a security threat; a weapons purchase of this magnitude certainly applied. Buying only ]-compatible, ] fighter jets was not possible for ] before the U.S.S.R.'s collapse. |
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The primary reason for the lack of ground attack features in the aircraft is the semantic meaning of the word "attack". For example, Finland has ''Defence Forces'', not an ] -- even the possibility of Finland ever attacking its neighbors is denied on all levels. This made the policy decision to purchase ''attack aircraft'' impossible in the nineties aftermath of ], leading to factory reconfiguration of the F/A-18 to the F-18 variant. |
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It is widely believed that the removed features can be reinstalled with comparative ease if a regional conflict or a similar need so dictates. |
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== External links == |
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* |
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