F-18 has issues of its own. Turns out, the jet only has 1/2 the fatigue life that the Navy thought it did. Surprise surprise, the contractor fudged the results in their reporting to the Navy.
Like it or not, the F22 is going to be slow in production and Congress is not going to buy enough of them fast enough. The F-35 is having some teething problems and will be a bit longer in development before it can be deployed.
The F/A-18, if deployed with he USAF, won’t be as hard used as it would be with the USN - no catapault shots or “controlled crashes” on to a moving deck. Hopefully, it will last a bit longer.
Best of all, its in production, NOW.
Of course, we could always buy some SU-30s...
Some flow control and vibration issues on the wing unless I am mistaken. Watch the lack of vertical pull-ups up vs. the F-16's standing on their tails at airshows. What does that tell you...
Yeah but Navy fatigue is different, no? Carrier landings have a heckuva lot more shock & salt air creates more corrosion problems. I would think land-based F-18's would have much longer lifespans. Plus I think we'd be talking about F18-E/F models which are essentially a different aircraft from the F/A-18 A thru C.