I was going to post some stuff before heading out of town later this week but, not sure as some things have come up.
But I just checked my papers and came across this
significant article concerning the
F/A-18 HORNET specifically the A-D series versions.
They are
ALL retired as of
2 Oct 2019 from the
USN. They will remain operational with the USN Reserves and Blue Angels (
Non game issue for both.) but, more importantly for the game the
USMC will still be flying them.
As normal, DID puts their links within the articles/paras etc.
From the "lead" as quoted, note where the links are in the article are shown as highlighted below...
"October 8/19: Retirement The US Navy has retired its fleet of Boeing F/A-18A-D Hornet combat aircraft from active service. The USN
announced on October 2 that the final flight took place out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia. The retirement of the ‘classic’
Hornets brings 35 years of frontline service with the USN to an end and comes just over a year since the service performed its final carrier deployment of the type earlier in 2018. While the Hornet has been retired from the USN’s active unit inventory, it will remain operational with the Navy Reserve, the Blue Angels display team, and the US Marine Corps (USMC)."
The
F/A-18 E/F and
F/A-18G are still operational and will be for at least 10 or more years.
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...-flying-02816/
NAVAIR has not started reporting any stories for Oct. as of this very moment. However one of the last stories for the month of Sep. concerning the maintenance of the
AV-8B indicates the "last" major maintenance cycle should be or is expected to completed by the
end of 2021.
This simply means it'll be around
after games end. I thought I came across an article awhile back that indicated a targeted retirement date of
2028.
Regards,
Pat
