However, F-18 falls into a expensive, medium-weight class of fighters, developed with a twin-engine to provides a longer range. Ukraine is not Interestingly, a senior official in Ukrainian Air Force rejected offer, referring to F-18 as “airborne junk”. A info published in Australian Financial Review as F/A-18, it hadn’t been for such action, these aircraft could be patrolling Ukrainian airspace right now.
MiG-29 ,not F-18 - Despite rejecting F-18, Ukraine welcomed a significant number, MiG-29 from various Eastern European countries, widely utilized in combat, typically perceived as F-18’s closest Eastern-bloc counterpart, produced by the former USSR and subsequently Russia.
Interestingly, Australian F-18s & MiG-29s from Europe have notably comparable service lives. However, MiGs come with substantial benefits, including superior climb rates, thrust-weight ratios, operational altitudes, speeds, and access to R-73 missiles with helmet-mounted sights, paving the way for high off-boresight targeting.
Upon comparison, both MiG-29 & F-16 emerge as far more successful aircraft than the F-18. Even today, they remain in limited-scale production for export, whereas the F-18 — despite being a newer design — was discontinued 24 years ago, back in 2000.
F-16 replaces for F-18? (Yes)
Final F-18 Hornets U.S. Navy were replaced for F-16s?, still a handful still serve in U.S. Marine Corps. Something to note F-18, it’s essentially a derivative of YF-17 design, U.S. turned down in 1975, favoring F-16. YF-17 itself significantly design is for F-5 fighter, a model saw old service in 1961 Vietnam War. U.S. Navy F-18 primarily due to dual enginecrucially reduced risk of crashes, a fundamental requirement for aircraft carrier operations.
Service history, F-18 faced two types of foreign fighters in air-to-air combat — Soviet MiG-21 & MiG-25, flown by Iraqi Air Force. F-18 emerged victorious in both encounters with former, while it did not succeed in its lone engagement with the latter.
https://bulgarianmilitary.com/2024/02/15...-decision/