The McDonnel Douglas CF-18 Hornet is a supersonic jet fighter. The CF-18 was designed as a multirole fighter, meaning that it excels at air to air and air to ground. In 1982 Canada purchased 138 Hornets. Ninety eight of them were single seaters and 40 were dual seaters. They were purchased to replace the CF-104 Starfighter , CF-101 Voodoo and the CF-5 Freedom fighter as Canada's primary fighter. Four squadrons were formed that contained 15 aircraft each. There are also 2 squadrons which are ready to be deployed anywhere in the world. The Hornet has a few Canadian modifications such as a searchlight for night identification of aircraft, a Canadian designed survival kit, a "Canadianized" cockpit and a false canopy painted on the bottom which is very effective in fooling the enemy. The CF-18 Hornet is going to be serving the Canadian forces well into the next century.

The CF-18 Hornet is 17.07 m long, 4.66 m high and has a wingspan of 12.31 m. The CF-18 10,455 kg fighter can reach speeds up to mach 1.8 due to its two GE F404 low bypass turbofans that produce 7,290 kg of thrust. The Hornet has a range 3,704 km and a ceiling of 15,000 m. The CF-18 can be armed with sidewinder and sparrow missles (Air to Air), maverick missles (Air to Ground), conventional and precision guided bombs, rockets and always the M-61 20mm cannon. Canada has 122 CF-18's, 60 are operational and 62 are used for fighter training, testing and rotation. The CF-18 Hornet is located in Bagotville, Quebec and Cold Lake, Alberta.