How Much Does an F-18 Fighter Jet Cost?

Updated on May 18, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 12 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

The F/A-18 is a U.S. Navy carrier fighter family, not one fixed aircraft with one fixed bill. As of May 2026, NAVAIR lists the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet unit figure at $67.4 million in FY21 dollars on the Super Hornet page, but a full usable aircraft program adds data rights, spares, upgrades, repairs, weapons integration, fuel, and training support.

The cleaner number is the aircraft figure. The real budget question is whether the buyer means a legacy Hornet, a new Block III Super Hornet, a service-life modification, or a fleet support contract.

For the F/A-18 family, the cost unit can be per aircraft, per production lot, per upgrade line, or per sustainment order. Block level, carrier wear, technical data, and depot access change the total faster than paint, seating, or ordinary trim choices.

TLDR A modern F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has a public aircraft figure of $67.4 million, but the practical bill rises when the Navy pays for technical data, upgrades, repairs, fuel, and support.

How Much Does an F-18 Fighter Jet Cost?

Jump to sections

• Base: $67.4 million (at $30 per hour, earning that amount would take about 1.1 thousand years of full-time work, before taxes) is the public F/A-18E/F Super Hornet unit figure in FY21 dollars.
• Legacy: $29 million is the listed F/A-18A-D Hornet unit figure.
• Recent buy: $1,137,300,000 covered 17 Lot 46 and Lot 47 Super Hornets plus Phase One technical data.
• Support scale: recent F/A-18 repair and sustainment awards range from $211,986,000 to $319,267,437.

Public F/A-18 price points

A search for F-18 price can return several defensible answers because the Hornet name covers different aircraft generations. The older F/A-18A-D Hornet is listed at $29 million (about 465 years of full-time work at $30 per hour) on NAVAIR’s legacy Hornet page, and the newer F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is a larger aircraft with different engines, avionics, range, and carrier-air-wing roles.

The gap is not a typo. Subtracting $29 million from $67.4 million gives a $38.4 million spread between the listed legacy Hornet and Super Hornet figures. Dividing $67.4 million by $29 million puts the Super Hornet figure at about 2.3 times the older aircraft figure. That comparison is useful for scale, but it does not price a modern squadron package.

Paying for a Super Hornet

A Super Hornet purchase makes the most sense when the buyer is already inside the Navy carrier ecosystem. Catapult launches, arrested landings, weapons software, F414 engine support, and carrier squadron training all point to a buyer that needs a naval strike fighter rather than a simpler land-based jet. Boeing said in 2023 that new-build Super Hornet production was expected to end in late 2025 after final U.S. Navy fighters, with a possible extension tied to an international customer, according to its production timeline notice.

Makes sense if

• A force needs a carrier-capable strike fighter tied to existing F/A-18 tools and training.
• The fleet already has Super Hornet maintenance channels and pilot pipelines.
• Service-life work can bridge a gap before replacement aircraft arrive.

Doesn’t make sense if

• Stealth is the main mission need.
• The budget excludes spares, depot work, technical manuals, and fuel.
• A land-based fighter can meet the mission with a smaller support burden.

Current Navy buy math

The 2024 final planned Navy Super Hornet buy is one of the clearest recent pricing anchors. The Defense Department contract notice lists a not-to-exceed $1,137,300,000 (about 18.2 thousand years of full-time work at $30 per hour) modification covering 10 F/A-18F Lot 46 aircraft, two F/A-18F Lot 47 aircraft, five F/A-18E Lot 47 aircraft, and Phase One technical data for F/A-18E/F and EA-18G sustainment in the March 2024 award.

Simple division gives $1,137,300,000 divided by 17 aircraft, or about $66.9 million per aircraft. That aligns closely with the public $67.4 million Super Hornet figure, but it should not be read as a clean cash-register price. The same award also includes technical data, and that data can affect repairs, manuals, training material, and long-run support rights.

What this is in plain terms

The F/A-18 is a carrier fighter family built around Navy and Marine Corps strike missions. The legacy Hornet covers the smaller A-D models, and the Super Hornet covers the larger E-F models that became a main Navy carrier strike fighter. It can fight aircraft, strike ground targets, carry external tanks and weapons, and operate from aircraft carriers.

It is different from the EA-18G Growler, which uses the Super Hornet family but is built for electronic attack. It is also different from the F-35C, a stealth carrier fighter with a separate procurement path. A useful price comparison needs to match the aircraft version to the mission, not just the name painted on the tail.

Models and configurations

Block level is the aircraft equivalent of a major configuration choice. A legacy A-D Hornet, a Block II Super Hornet, a new Block III aircraft, and a modified Block III aircraft do not represent the same buy. Block III work brings cockpit, computing, networking, and service-life changes. Boeing said in 2024 that it delivered the first two Service Life Modification Block III fighters from St. Louis and San Antonio in its SLM delivery notice.

That matters for price readers because a life-extension path is not a used-jet discount in the normal retail sense. The Navy may already own the airframe, but it still has to pay for inspection, disassembly, rework, avionics, software, and return-to-fleet labor. A new aircraft buy spends money on production. A service-life path spends money to recover flight hours and add Block III capability.

What you spend after purchase

The post-purchase bill is where fighter aircraft separate from ordinary products. Carrier use adds stress through catapult launches, arrested landings, saltwater exposure, and tight maintenance cycles. Fuel, tires, engine work, flight-control surfaces, corrosion repair, support equipment, and technical manuals all sit outside the public unit figure. Readers comparing aircraft operating costs can place fuel in context with jet fuel pricing, but fuel is only one part of the fleet burden.

You might also like our articles on the cost of a battle tank, or a submarine.

Recent support contracts show the scale. Boeing received a $319,267,437 2024 contract for F/A-18 automated maintenance environment sustainment, covering engineering, structural support, maintenance data, configuration work, technical manuals, software upgrades, and Hornet Support Centers in the maintenance environment award. A buyer thinking only in aircraft-count terms would miss that layer.

Real buyer cases

New aircraft case. A fleet planner using the 2024 Block III award sees a recent production buy tied to technical data. That buyer is not just adding aircraft. The buyer is also trying to preserve maintenance control after production winds down, which makes the case different from a standard fighter comparison. T

Repair-driven case. Boeing received $264,069,575 in 2024 for inspections, modifications, and inner wing panel repairs for F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft under the inner-wing repair contract. That case is driven by airframe life, not new aircraft quantity. A different repair line awarded $211,986,000 for 11 configurations of flight-control surfaces used on F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft under the flight-control repair order.

Worked total

A simple procurement view can use public records without pretending to be a Navy quote. NAVAIR said the Navy awarded Boeing a $1.3 billion contract in March 2024 for 17 Block III Super Hornets and a technical data package, with deliveries scheduled to begin in winter 2026 and end no later than spring 2027, in the Block III contract release.

Line item	Public input	Procurement view
One Super Hornet aircraft figure	$67.4 million	$67.4 million
One share of the 2024 not-to-exceed award	$1,137,300,000 divided by 17	About $66.9 million
Technical data and support rights	Included in the award scope	Not cleanly separable per aircraft

That means the public aircraft figure and the 2024 award division point to roughly the same aircraft-scale result, about $67 million per jet before a clean allocation for technical data. A Rafale or F-35 comparison should be handled as a separate aircraft choice, not a direct substitute without mission context, which is why Rafale jet pricing needs its own support and weapons assumptions.

What we checked

• Checked independent reporting that the final planned Super Hornet buy included 17 aircraft and technical data in the USNI March report.
• Confirmed data-rights risk through GAO’s 2025 weapon-system sustainment review, which included F/A-18 among programs studied in the GAO sustainment report.
• Verified fleet scale through NAVAIR’s 2025 note that F/A-18 and EA-18G aircraft surpassed 12 million flight hours in the fleet milestone notice.

Article Highlights

• The public F/A-18E/F Super Hornet figure is $67.4 million in FY21 dollars.
• The older F/A-18A-D Hornet figure is $29 million, but it is not the current Super Hornet price point.
• The 2024 Navy award works out to about $66.9 million per aircraft before separating technical data.
• Repairs and sustainment can bring contracts above $200 million even without buying new aircraft.
• Fleet cost depends on model, Block level, carrier use, depot work, fuel, and data rights.

Answers to Common Questions

Is an F-18 the same as a Super Hornet?

No. The F/A-18A-D Hornet is the older family, and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is larger, newer, and priced under a different public unit figure.

Is $67.4 million the full cost of a Super Hornet?

No. It is a public aircraft figure. A fielded aircraft program can add support equipment, spares, technical data, fuel, weapons integration, and depot work.

Why is the 2024 award division close to the official unit figure?

The $1,137,300,000 award divided by 17 aircraft gives about $66.9 million, close to the $67.4 million public figure, but the award also includes technical data.

Can a civilian buy an F/A-18?

There is no normal civilian purchase path for a current Navy Super Hornet. Legacy military aircraft sales face export control, demilitarization, maintenance, and operating restrictions.