The F-18 Hornet has been in service in a number of countries, including Canada (90 CF-18A, 39 Cf-18B), Australia (55 AF-18A, 16 AF-18B), Finland (57 F-18C, 7 F-18D), Kuwait (32 F-18C, 8 F-18D), Malaysia (8 F-18D), and Spain (59 EF-18A, 12 EF-18B). One thing that has happened is that some of these countries are customizing these F-18s – giving them a much more powerful sting.
One of the upgrades has been from Spain. The Spanish air force adding the Taurus KEPD 350 missile. This is a system that uses GPS guidance for precision attacks, while also adding imaging infra-red guidance for the terminal phase of its attack, making it a potent anti-ship weapon as well. It has a range of 350 kilometers and delivers a 1,080-pound MEPHISTO warhead onto its target. The MEPHISTO is intended as a hard-target penetrator. This will enable the F-18s to fire at ships and other targets well out of the range of most surface-to-air missiles, and the missiles only cost about $675,000 each, compared to over $1 million for the shorter-range Storm Shadow/SCALP.
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