Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the first flight of the F/A–18 E1 Super Hornet from Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, and the 30 years of service of the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet to the United States Navy and to allies of the United States.

Recognizing the 30th anniversary of the first flight of the F/A–18 E1 Super Hornet from Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, and the 30 years of service of the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet to the United States Navy and to allies of the United States.

Whereas, on November 29, 1995, the F/A–18 E1 Super Hornet made its first flight, departing from Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, flown by McDonnell Douglas pilot, retired Lieutenant Colonel Fred Madenwald;

Whereas the F/A–18 E1, as the inaugural Super Hornet produced, serves as a United States Navy carrier-based, supersonic fighter jet, manufactured in St. Louis, Missouri;

Whereas the F/A–18 E1 was later returned to the Boeing facility in St. Louis for use in training under a program involving aircraft sales to Kuwait;

Whereas the F/A–18E is configured as a single-seat aircraft and the F/A–18F is designed for a 2-person crew;

Whereas the F/A–18E and F/A–18F are twin-engine, carrier-capable, multi-role fighter aircrafts, both derived from the McDonnell Douglas F/A–18 Hornet platform;

Whereas the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet is about 20 percent larger, 7,000 pounds heavier empty weight, and 15,000 pounds heavier maximum weight than the original McDonnell Douglas F/A–18 Hornet;

Whereas, on February 21, 1997, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, the F/A–18 E1 flew with an aeroservoelasticity-store configuration, comprised of 3 480-gallon fuel tanks, 2 MK–84 bombs, 2 AGM–88 high-speed anti-radiation missiles, and 2 AIM-9 sidewinder missiles, making this flight the heaviest test flight to that date in the test program;

Whereas the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet officially entered the fleet service of the United States Navy in 1999, with Strike Fighter Squadron 122 based at Naval Air Station Lemoore in California, and achieved initial operating capability in 2001;

Whereas, on November 6, 2002, F/A–18E models participated in a strike on hostile targets in the “no-fly” zone in Iraq, as a part of Operation Southern Watch;

Whereas, on June 18, 2017, a United States Navy F/A–18E shot down a Syrian Air Force Sukoi Su–22 fighter-bomber that had bombed a position held by Coalition partnered forces;

Whereas such shooting was the first aerial kill of a crewed aircraft by a fighter aircraft of the United States since 1999, the first aerial kill by the United States Navy since the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the first kill by a Super Hornet, and the third kill by an F/A–18;

Whereas the United States Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, which operates out of Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, transitioned to the F/A–18E Super Hornet airframe in 2021, on the 75th anniversary of the squadron’s operation;

Whereas the F/A–18F Super Hornet gained recognition as the primary fighter aircraft featured in the film “Top Gun: Maverick”;

Whereas, in December 2023, the F/A–18 E1 arrived unassembled at the National Museum of Transportation, on loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum on behalf of the Naval History and Heritage Command;

Whereas, in July 2024, the reassembly and installation of the F/A–18 E1 were completed, with a dedication ceremony held on August 3, 2024;

Whereas the Naval Air Station Lemoore, in California, is the West Coast home for the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet, and the Naval Air Station Oceana, in Virginia, is the East Coast home for the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet;

Whereas the F/A–18F Super Hornet operates in Nevada in support of training on the Fallon Range Training Complex at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada;

Whereas the TOPGUN school is located at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, where the Navy’s most elite pilots train on the F/A–18E/F aircraft;

Whereas the Royal Australian Air Force F/A–18F Super Hornet achieved final operational capability in December 2012 and are based at Number 1 Squadron at Royal Australian Air Force Base Amberley, Australia;

Whereas, on July 10, 2023, a Mobile Aircraft Arresting System received a Kuwait Air Force F/A–18 Super Hornet at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait;

Whereas Super Hornets embarked on USS Gerald Ford, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Theodore Roosevelt, and USS Harry S. Truman were involved in defending Israel and ensuring the free flow of goods through the Red Sea as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian from December 2023 to May 2025;

Whereas, on February 3, 2024, 2 United States destroyers and F/A–18E/F Super Hornets flying from USS Dwight D. Eisenhower joined a multi-national strike on 13 locations in Yemen;

Whereas, on February 1, 2025, the Armed Forces of the United States carried out an airstrike in Somalia from the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, which was the largest airstrike launched from a single aircraft carrier in the history of naval aviation; and

Whereas the strike dropped approximately 124,000 pounds of munitions on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Somalia targets: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) recognizes the achievements and contributions of the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet to the national security of the United States;

(2) recognizes the dedication, service, and sacrifice of the United States Navy pilots and weapons system officers who have operated the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet;

(3) recognizes the dedication, service, and sacrifice of the United States Navy F/A–18E/F Super Hornet maintenance teams who provide expert and agile support to the aircraft;

(4) recognizes the role that the F/A–18E/F Super Hornet has had in maintaining naval supremacy and ensuring freedom of the seas; and

(5) respectfully directs the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an enrolled copy of this resolution to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri.