The Boeing (formerly McDonnell-Douglas) F-18 Hornet is a twin-engined multirole jetaircraft in use by air forces throughout the world. Chief visual traits of this carrier-capable machine include twin vertical tails (canted outward), the shallowly swept wings with their large leading edge root extensions, and the long nose with a gun port on top for the 20mm M61 cannon it carries.
The more advanced F/A-18E-F Super Hornet (which, apart from being larger, has rectangular air intakes rather than the contoured ones on the F/A-18A-D) was built to replace the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, and is currently only used by the United States Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. A Super Hornet variant built for electronic warfare, known as the EA-18G Growler, is designed to replace the aging EA-6B Prowler and carries a multitude of underwing pods to accomplish this role.
