THE DEBATE

Editor’s note: When we first published the in-depth article on the Tomcat versus the Super Hornet, we knew the conversation had just begun. We started knocking on doors and flipping over rocks looking for someone from the U.S. Navy to act as the official spokesperson for the Super Hornet; unfortunately, we found no takers. However, reams of emails and letters on both sides of the issue arrived in the office. We’ve selected several to illustrate the arguments that both sides cling to.

LCDR Alan D. Armstrong

USN Safety Officer/Flight Demonstration

Team Leader VFA-122

NAS Lemoore, California

LIKES THE SUPER HORNET

Armstrong: In the February 2002 issue of Flight Journal, I read with interest your article on the “Battle of the Super Fighters” and was very amused at the conclusions reached by the authors. I suppose that this should have been expected because of the two authors—Mr. Kress and RADM Gillcrist (Ret.)—one was never a tactical aviator, and the other has not flown tactical aircraft in almost two decades. Based on their apparent agenda, I’d be interested to hear for whom these gentlemen work today. In short, your reporting on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet was highly inaccurate and irresponsible.

Unlike either of your two authors, I have flown both the F-14 and the Super Hornet. Over the past three and a half years, I have participated in the early engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) flight tests of the Super Hornet at Patuxent River, Maryland; flown the operational evaluation (OPEVAL) in 1999; co-authored the OPEVAL flight-test report; and am currently an instructor in the Super Hornet Fleet Replacement Squadron, VFA-122, in NAS Lemoore. I am not hesitant to say that the Super Hornet has plenty of flaws and performance characteristics that could be improved, but