Hornet 2000

At the end of the 1980s, the A-6 and A-7 fleets were ageing badly, and it was obvious that a replacement would have to be found quickly and without political-industrial imbroglio (I'm thinking of the A-12 program).McDonnell had the beginnings of a solution with the Hornet 2000 program, which consisted of increasing the fuel/armament carrying capacity of F-18 variants, There will be numerous studies and designs, some of which will be "offered" to European countries (Spain, UK, France, Germany) by the American manufacturer in order to compete with the Eurofighter/Rafale programs (note that the IV configuration would have remained the most likely choice for the European market; the secretprojects forum mentions that the European Hornet 2000 could have been fitted with a 25mm cannon). This will obviously remain a failure, but a profitable one for McDonnell, which will be able to take advantage of the catastrophic failure of the A-12 program and the withdrawal (in 2006) of the F-14 to promote its Super-Hornet variants.