The story of how the Super Hornet and Growler came into existence is
the focus of this new book. The F/A-18E/F has its roots in the late-1980s Hornet
2000 study, which itself evaluated ways to enhance the range, payload, and
bring-back capability of the existing F/A-18 Hornet. Through a series of
trade-offs imposed by largely limited defence funds, what emerged was a
versatile, affordable strike fighter aircraft that has served the Navy well
since its fleet introduction in 2002. The Growler has a similar history. Itself
an offshoot of the Super Hornet program, the EA-18G brought many of the Super
Hornet's attributes - speed, manoeuvrability, self-defence capability, and
advanced systems - into the electronic attack community and is now posed to
assume all such missions from the venerable EA-6B Prowler within the next few
years. The book draws on interviews with many of the key players in the
F/A-18E/F and EA-18G program and on many press reports of the day to tell the
story of how these aircraft were designed, developed, and deployed. Moreover,
the book provides insights into the problems faced by these key individuals as
well as the management methods they used to produce aircraft that have
consistently been delivered at or ahead of schedule, under cost, and under
weight.
