The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is the Navy’s highest priority aviation modernization program. It is replacing the Navy F/A-18C/D Hornet combat aircraft. The decision to undertake the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet program was made during a period of great turbulence in Navy aviation modernization. During this timeframe the Navy struggled to identify and implement the best way to modernize itsaging fleet of F-14 fighters and A-6E attack aircraft. The A-12 program (a stealthyreplacement to the A-6E) was terminated in January 1991. The AFX program,another proposed replacement for the A-6E, began in 1991, but was also terminated. The principal alternative to the F/A-18E/F was a modest upgrade of the F-14 — a large, two-seat fighter designed in the 1960s, with potential air-to-surface attackcapabilities. Some observers describe the F/A-18E/F as an upgraded and largerversion of the F/A-18C/D, with increased range and payload capacity and more spaceand weight for future improvements. Others assert that the differences between thebaseline Hornet aircraft and the E/F model are so great that they would describe theSuper Hornet as an entirely new aircraft. The Department of Defense is currently facing a shortage of radar and communications jamming capability. The Navy and Marine Corps EA-6B Prowlersescort and protect Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force aircraft operating in hostileairspace. The Prowlers, however, are few and rapidly aging. 1 All the Services are evaluating preferred approaches to ameliorating this shortfall. The Navy’s approachis to produce a new electronic attack aircraft based on the F/A-18F, called the EA-18G.