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NAA Presents Collier Trophy to Boeing Super Hornet Team

ST. LOUIS, May 04, 2000 -- The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet team received the U.S. aerospace industry's highest honor during ceremonies last night. National Aeronautic Association President Donald Koranda presented the 1999 Robert J. Collier Trophy to representatives of Boeing, the U.S. Navy and the Hornet Industry Team.

Accepting the prestigious award on behalf of Boeing were Military Aircraft and Missile Systems President Mike Sears and F/A-18 Vice President and General Manager Pat Finneran. Sears gave the credit for winning the 1999 Collier Trophy to the men and women -- past and present -- "who turned our dreams into super-performing reality."

"This team helped get the program started . . . kept it on track . . . and brought it in on schedule and within budget," said Sears. "And now, every single day, they make sure that this plane delivers the very best service to our customer."

The Super Hornet is the U.S. Navy's newest tactical fighter and the most advanced version of the combat-proven F/A-18 Hornet. Both the single-seat E and two-seat F models of the Super Hornet offer increased range, greater endurance, more payload-carrying ability, more powerful engines, increased carrier bringback capability, enhanced survivability and a renewed potential for future growth. The Super Hornet is an adverse-weather, day and night, multimission strike fighter, whose survivability improvements over its predecessors make it more difficult to find, and if found, more difficult to hit, and if hit, more difficult to disable.

Working as an integrated team, Boeing, G.E. Aircraft Engines, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and the U.S. Navy demonstrated the Super Hornet's superb performance, efficiency and safety throughout 1999. Specific accomplishments include completion of almost 7,000 mishap-free flight hours, and completion of the development program on schedule and under cost.

Koranda, NAA president, presented each organization with a trophy bearing the citation: "For designing, manufacturing, testing and introducing into service the F/A-18E/F multimission strike fighter aircraft, the most capable and survivable carrier-based combat aircraft."

Awarded annually in recognition of the greatest achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in the United States, the Collier Trophy has been called the greatest and most prized of all aeronautical honors in the country.

The Navy has ordered 62 F/A-18E/Fs and plans to buy a minimum of 548 of the aircraft. Congress has approved and the President has signed into law, authorization for the Navy to enter into a multi-year contract for the purchase of 222 F/A-18E/F aircraft over five years, fiscal years 2000 through 2004.

An industry team led by Boeing builds the Super Hornet. Boeing builds the forward fuselage and wings, and conducts final assembly. Northrop Grumman Corp. is the principal airframe subcontractor, supplying the center and aft fuselage. G.E. Aircraft Engines produces the F414 engines, and Raytheon Co. builds the APG-73 radar.

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Contact Info:
Ellen LeMond-Holman
(314) 232-6496