Watch And Learn: F/A-18 F Super Hornet Built From Ground Up

@MikeofLA: That's my understanding of the turn-around time for the Thunderbirds as well. Of course, planes move from one squadron to another all the time, so folks probably think that's the case, when in fact, that's what the Guard and Reserve forces get. (Which explains why they were flying F-4's in those forces 20+ years after Vietnam.)

grok666

@MyPetFly:

Alright. Thanks for the answers man. I wanted to be a pilot too but my eyesight got ruined when I was young. And I'm terrible with my mathematics.

garytek

@garytek:

There might be some cost savings, I'm not sure, but I think the biggest reason is political, so they don't have to rely on another country for their aircraft (or other military equipment). If the US and Australia had a falling out, they could still produce aircraft. Iran and the F-14 is a good example. They bought F-14s from us, but after the revolution of 1979, we stopped selling aircraft and parts to them, so now they have aircraft sitting around.

@MyPetFly:

Ah ok. But for what purpose does an aircraft have to be built under license? Is it cheaper or something?

garytek

@garytek:

Apparently built under license. It's not uncommon, but I didn't know the Hornet was one. For example, our Marine Corps Harrier is built under license, based on the British Harrier.

Wow. I didn't know jetplanes were mostly pieced together by hand. I always thought they were assembled mechanically to maintain secrecy and precision.

But hold on, Australia makes their own planes? I thought planes were bought from manufacturers directly.

garytek

I noticed at the 1:26 point, one guy forgot to install the bottle opener.

rulerofthemoon

@MurphyNardz: Thunderbirds do the same. at least this newest generation of Block 52's. Prior service life included Homestead AFB (before Hurricane Andrew leveled that place) Moody AFB and Mountain Home AFB

ham_bone43

@Con Seannery: You know, I just thought of what the F-22s would look like done up in Blue Angels colors, and it looks horrible. Same with the F-35s. I guess they'll have to stick with the F/A-18s.

@Dreadfish: It's to protect the sensitive and confidential material.

The super hornet stinks. The f-14d was better in most places. They cited maintanance as the reason for replacing the f-14 but the super horne program went way over budget and they got a worse plane for it. I have talked to pilots who were f-14 pilots and now super hornet pilots and they stated to me that the f-14 was a much better plane. Heck if you look at the upgrades grumman planned you would have gotten a plane just as good as the f-22 without all the stealth problems (the f-14 upgrades wouldnt have had stealth) . The problem was that grumman didnt have as big of a lobby as the other companys did.

GodfreyOriole

was this actually built in Australia or just built for Australia?

Also I want to see the time lapse construction of the Kiwiw's F/A 1964 Ford Galaxie defense fighter. (Flight Of The Conchords joke.)

@seapathac: I feel your pain. I have poor eyesight, I am 6'3" and i couldn't fly a war jet even if i had the money.

MikeofLA

@MurphyNardz: the F/18's the Blue Angels fly can be combat ready in about 48 hours or less. they are NOT old dilapidated planes.
They are serious war birds.

MikeofLA

That was quick! They built it in one day!

tripplehelix

What an amazing talent do Man have, to build things that kills other men.

rotovibe

@orphic1:
It!

@Con Seannery:
*stands and applauds*
Oh Con, you slay me.
What happened to the haiku's?

Although they did come,
and they did try to see it.
Only I could read.

Airplane assembly wasn't a dude thing back in WWII. My great-grandmother riveted B-24s together at Willow Run airport near Detroit and had some good stories to tell. Due to her small size, she could squeeze into places none of the men could and was very good at her job.

@Con Seannery: I don't think you see,
what really makes the pee.
Its the AC-130 makin' them run,
With big Spooky's Gatling gun!

@Con Seannery: Ok Mr Smartypants, let's see you come up with a rhyme with Orange as the rhyming word.

@Xterm11_is Rhyming:
What is it, my friend? I've got no hunch,
As to what's got your panties in a bunch.

Con Seannery

Blue Angles F-18s are actually regular aircraft that fly regular combat missions until they start to get old. Then they are fixed up and painted blue. They don't waste a perfectly good brand new aircraft on flying around being pretty.

MurphyNardz

@Xterm11_is Rhyming:
Your fictional plane, the F-23,
Has nobody fooled, not even me.
But oh yes, we'll see the run,
When we weaponize the SR-71.

Con Seannery

The Aussies didnt build that... That was built right in here in the US of A in St. Louis by Boeing. The US government is now allowing an international version of the F/A18 to be sold to allies

UnwinDadger

I can't believe they still build those pieces of crap. Come on, where are the F-16s? Good god, anyone that knows history can tell you that it was the F-18 (and I'm not about to glorify it with all those damn extra letters) was made from the rescued scrap blueprints of the F-17 that got its arse handed to it by the F-16 in the '70s...

Someone's got to have a video like this of an F-16 being born...

@Xterm11_is Rhyming: Who wants my jellyfish? I'm not sellyfish.

@Dreadfish: this happened to me in like 12 seconds :(

Quick, someone make one in their backyard, using the video as your only instruction

Abraham Quintero

Industrious l'il wallabies, those Aussies are.

Gordon Gest

@ninjajazza:

I would guess that's a large part of the cost, with the other two being machinery / tooling and engineering time. I have a feeling (and I could be very wrong) that the cost of materials doesn't come near those other costs.

@Crispy Aardvark:

I believe Blue Angels aircraft have already served in the fleet and are nearing the end of their expected airframe life. Not positive, but pretty sure.

@Will Nickelson:

Funny as in odd, not funny as in humorous.

@seapathac: That may have told you more that the girl was crazy than anything about your eyes, but I see your point.

@Will Nickelson: Funny=interesting, stop trolling

that's just astonishing. i wonder how much of the huge price tag comes from the enormous amount of manual labour required in building these things?

ninjajazza

What's with the cheesy techno soundtrack?

@Con Seannery:
Please nerdtalker take no offense,
I am just rhyming to make me less tense.

@Will Nickelson: If you cannot take tongue-in-cheek humor, then Gizmodo is not the site for you.

@Xterm11_is Rhyming:
Now now, xterm, try to be civil!
This guy may be daft, but don't spam out this drivel!

Con Seannery

@Con Seannery:
Oh my, oh my, what have a started?
Damn I can't stop, now I must say the word "farted"

@Con Seannery:
That F-22 is much over-hyped
you didn't know that, as you typed.
In their pants, the Aussies will pee,
when they observe our F-23.

@Wilson Rothman: What's a "funnys?" And you still haven't explained what is so funny about there being so few women involved in the making of this aircraft.

Will Nickelson

@Xterm11_is Rhyming:
Those Aussies fancy that a jet,
But the we know they ain't seen nothin' yet,
It may be the choice of the Angels, Blue,
But it's got nothin' on the F-22.

Con Seannery

What's the big deal here? This is exactly how I get dressed every morning.

@Dreadfish: That's the secret to Australian technology.

@blazedshaggy: Depends. Are you playing as Australia?

@Itspeat!: I know because a girl once told me I want to gouge your eyes out with a spoon and put them in a jar in my room so I can stare at them all the time... and plus they're mine. So yeah!

How many times did they attach/remove the canopy?

@Will Nickelson: You do know there are two funnys, right? Like, one is Eddie Izzard, the other is what milk smells like a week after the expiration date. We're using the latter here.

Why the confusion about str8 lines to start the build? It would be the best way of having complete matching curves at those later steps... And as Homer sez... mmmmmmm.... curves.

grok666

And just what exactly is so funny about the lack of women in this field?

Will Nickelson

I may be crazy but after about 20 seconds I stopped seeing people, and started to see legos.

After all that effort I'm so glad it didn't get a Blue Angels paint job. I swear we lose more Hornets at airshows than in combat..

@Xterm11_is Rhyming:
If you pause the video with 15 seconds left,
It shows the night sky, now you mustn't feel deft.

MUHAHAHAHA NOW KAZAKHSTAN HAS GREAT POWER

GiraldoGerbil

@nerdtalker:
Please my friend, don't give me sass,
As your avatar shows that your head's up your ass.

Those Australians think they're ahead of their time
with skills, ingenuity, that's top of the line.
They think they're cool 'cause they call themselves "mates"
but they prob'ly bought the parts in the United States

@seapathac: How do you know they are beautiful? YOU'RE COLORBLIND!

.. sorry my Billy Mays key got turned on for a second

If I could fly a jet fighter I'd be the happiest boy in the world. Too bad you can't be colorblind and allowed to fly those things. Stupid beautiful beautiful worthless eyes of mine.

An amazing video. Do they work 24/7 or are the nighttime scenes cut out? That's my only question.

Some Things are just meant to have more guys, just like engineering..

Women like using the finished products, not making them duhh
(Disclaimer:Not a serious generalization)

So THIS is what I have to wait so long for every time I buy a new jet on Command and Conquer 3!

Aircraft manufacturing is much cooler in person at real speed... the level of effort going into it helps you understand the high cost of these suckers.

And women are involved on some models I have noticed high numbers involved in helicopter wiring, and part milling.

freelunch

If you want to see an amazing example of modern manufacturing, check out how Lexus builds cars. PBS had a episode of Nova about a week ago were they showed how Lexus makes SUV's. It was amazing.

I know F-18's are not built in numbers that would make a modern automated assembly line cost effective, so I don't fault the video or the manufacturing process. But that process was absolutely archaic. Goodness, were those things built by hand?

I would love to see a manufacturing process like what Lexus uses for SUV's applied to the manufactur of fighter jets. But for that to happen, we would need to be building jets at a rate that only global war would necessitate. Not really worth it I guess.

newgalactic

@FalconFour: F-16's don't land on carriers and the F-16 is being replaced by the F-35. The F-16 has run it's course.

@Crispy Aardvark: There has only been 1 Blue Angel crash that I can recall. That was back in South Carolina. Otherwise they have a spotless record as a demo team.

@UnwinDadger:
Correct, US built..However, the video is probably pretty old, since Australia is set to retire its F/A18's in 2015

f/1.4 is the new f/2.8

@MikeofLA: He didn't say they were dilapidated just refurbished. They are not going to be doing air shows in new planes but they aren't going to be doing them in rust buckets either. Blue Angles run refurbished planes that are maintained very well but they are not new.

quayzar