The Navy landed its new FA-18E/F Super Hornet attack fighter on the deck of a carrier for the first time Saturday in trials off the coast of North Carolina.
Officers had high praise for the jet criticized by congressional auditors as redundant and an unnecessary upgrade of the Navy's arsenal."So far she has five landings and five cat shots (catapult takeoffs), and she's performed brilliantly," said Capt. Robert Klosterman, commander of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.
The fighter, piloted by Lt. Frank Morley of Patuxent River Naval Air Warfare Station, Md., landed in strong and gusty winds as the Stennis operated 100 miles southeast of Cherry Point Marine Air Corps Station, N.C., Klosterman said in a telephone interview from the ship's bridge.
Tests will continue for about two weeks with various aircraft loads and under various wind conditions, he said.
The Navy flew the jet for the first time in November 1995 and has conducted catapult launches and arrested landings on the ground at Patuxent. It plans to spend $81 billion on 1,000 of the new jets, which will replace the recently retired A-6 Intruder, the F-14 Tomcat and the older FA-18 Hornet.
In April, the General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog agency, recommended the Navy consider canceling the Super Hornet program. It called into question improvements achieved over the existing Hornet.
The GAO said upgrading the FA-18 would be more cost effective than producing a new model. The auditors suggested installing larger fuel tanks on the Hornet and strengthening landing gears so the plane can better return to a carrier with unused armaments. The Super Hornet's increased range is achieved at the expense of its combat performance, the GAO said.
But, Klosterman said, "It's an airplane that will take us well into the next century. It's an historic day for our Navy . . . Quite a success story."