American carrier-based fighters of the fourth generation F/A-18C Hornet officially decommissioned, according to Popular Mechanics.
According to the magazine, the last such aircraft completed their mission on the aircraft carrier Nimitz. In the near future, the F/A-18C Hornet should be replaced by the fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II fighters.
The publication recalls that the F/A-18C Hornet entered service with the US Navy and Marine Corps in the mid-1980s and has since participated in four major conflicts, in particular, the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In February 2020, Popular Mechanics named The Nimitz-class Theodore Roosevelt " probably the best protected aircraft carrier in history."
In November 2019, Jane's Defense Weekly reported that, according to Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu, the country's Royal Air Force (RAF) does not plan to buy new fighters until 2030 and is interested in maintaining the existing Su-30MKM and F/A-18 Hornet.
Ivan Potapov