Looks like the incompetence of the Department Of Defense is spilling over into entertainment now. What you’re about to watch are two F-18s crashing into each other midair over the base that Donald Trump wants Qatar to build their own base on. Luckily nobody was killed.
Under Trump's watch with Hegseth at the Pentagon, our military is doing air show stunts while planes collide in broad daylight. This isn't strength — it's incompetence and distraction from real readiness. Taxpayers funding this circus while equipment and training suffer. Enough…
— World Against Trump (@AntiTrumpWorld) May 17, 2026
That was one expensive joyride this afternoon. Luckily for the pilots the doctrine of you break it you buy it, doesn’t apply. This isn’t anywhere near as bad as the airshow plane that crashed into an ice cream parlor killing 23 kids.
Then there were the F-18s that went overboard from the deck of an aircraft carrier. That model of plane is not doing well with Pete Hegweth in charge of the Department of Defense.
I don’t believe the USAF flies F-18s. What was the Navy doing at Mt Home AFB?
Kegsbreath is so f…Ed up!
He doesn’t know anything about the job of Secretary of Defense. As former USAF pilot assigned to Mt Home AFB I really feel for the people on active duty, being ordered around by idiots!
Seriously, USAF doesn’t fly 18’s ? RCAF sure does and so do many others. Why does the US relegate it only to the Navy?
The Air Force’s F-15 (all variants) were considered but despite some attempts to modify them for carrier use it wasn’t practical for multiple reasons.
The F15, a fixed-, mostly delta-wing aircraft. That makes sense. I wouldn’t wanna land a 15 on a carrier deck. But why doesn’t the USAF use the 18 when so many other air forces do? Is it strictly a matter of efficiency – focussing on a few aircraft of F and B type, and not going crazy? ie , if you have the 15 and 16, why add the 18 to your inventory, kinda thing?
I’m a Naval Aviation guy but my dad was Army Air Corps (bombers) back in WWII so I’ve had a fascination with both services and their missions from a young age. The F-18 is a highly capable fighter and attack aircraft (as is the F-15) depending on how the weapons package is configured at takeoff. For the Navy it might be stating the obvious but the first and most important thing for their aircraft is the ability to take off from and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Over and over (I’m referring to the Doolittle raid on Tokyo early in WWII) and also the ability of folding wings for storage on/below decks. AND reduced maint. requirements.
Operating from fixed airfields on land the F-15’s designers didn’t have to worry themselves with any of that. Initially it was designed for air superiority. Period. However the design was so good that as it evolved additional capability was added and it’s now both a fighter and strike airframe.
Each was designed for a specific mission and from the initial versions through the variants both have performed extraordinarily well. Often performing similar functions in the same theater. However there is little the F-18 can do that the F-15 can’t do better. There’s an electronic warfare version of the F-18 (it replaced the EA-6B Prowler) with capabilities the F-15 can’t match.
The F-15 can carry more and more varied weapons. It has a longer range (on internal fuel) and can strike deeper into enemy held territory with more substantial weapons than the F-18, has a much higher operational ceiling, and is flat-out faster while being every bit as maneuverable in air-to-air combat. In fact, the F-15’s engines are so powerful it can do something no other fighter can. With a thrust to weight ratio of 1.1 to 1 (at least when not weighted down with full or nearly full missile/striker packages) it can literally ACCELERATE going straight up. That’s more than merely being ‘cool’, it is part of why none have been shot down in air to air combat regardless of who (our country or others) who fly it. It’s (if memory serves) some six hundred or so knots faster in the air.
The two aircraft were designed with different needs/capabilities in mind. Both are as good if not better than anything produced by anyone else. However, the Air Force simply doesn’t have a need for the F-18 (neither the costs of buying a bunch of them or that of the personnel and parts to maintain them) when they can just buy more strike Eagles. And they can add F-16s if they want pure air to air capability.
Hope that answers your question. Here’s a link you might enjoy that digs into more detail: