McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a twin-engine supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole combat jet, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft. The Hornet is use by the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

During the War of 1996, the F/A-18 were used by the VMFA-314 "Black Knights" during their assault on a City Destroyer in Los Angeles. The Black Knights were severely defeated in a one-sided dogfight by the aliens' attacker ships in which nearly all the Hornets are destroyed.

F/A-18's later participated in the more successful July 4th counterattack during a battle over Area 51.

Behind the Scenes

• All the F/A-18 depicted in the film were either models, digital creations or full-scale wooden mockups.

• Steven Hiller's F/A-18 is shown to have a deployable braking parachute. In reality, the F/A-18, being a carrier based aircraft, does not actually possess a braking parachute, relying on its arrestor hook to slow it down when landing on carriers. Neither does it maneuver through a canyon, as depicted in the film.

• F/A-18's are depicted with the IAF Stars of David in the "Iraqi Desert" scene. In real life, the Israeli Air Force does not operate F/A-18's.

• F/A-18's are erroneously depicted in Area 51, which is an U.S. Air Force base that doesn't operate F/A-18's.

• The missile-firing shots from the Hornets are miniature missiles that were attached to the F/A-18 models and launched using Estes model rocket engines. Other shots were achieved in-camera with large-scale fighter wing models shot on a smoke-blown stage. Wider shots then incorporated digital smoke trails.