"Is not operationally suitable"

Well, range was never going to be of a useful value when you put all the specs on a piece of paper anyway.

This is an interesting read from 1982 about the F-18A, and problems the U.S. Navy had getting it into the fleet.

Not mentioned is that once it got going in later blocks as it approached the C model, it would need about 27 maintenance man-hours per flight hour.

A figure far better than some of the other aircraft on the carrier deck at the time.

Number's people took notice.

Bring in the big tankers...