Boeing Reveals Concepts for F/A-18E/F Replacement

Boeing has started publicly marketing two concepts for a stealthy, tailless, supercruising strike fighter to replace its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet after 2025.

Both twin-engine concepts, which feature optionally-piloted cockpits, resemble a modern-day replacement for the ill-fated A-12 Avenger. The carrier-based stealth bomber project was cancelled in 1991 amid cost overruns and technical problems.

Talk of replacing the F/A-18E/F, which entered service from 1999, may seem premature, but the earliest stages of the navy's acquisition process have already started, says Dave Thieman, a programme development official in Boeing's advanced global strike systems division.