Canada's CF-18 Hornet

Canada’s fighter force and the supersonic CF-18 Hornet play a significant role in NORAD to help protect and safeguard North American skies against airborne threats.


The CF-18 Hornet replaced the CF-104 Starfighters and the CF-101 Voodoos starting in 1982. Equipping five squadrons in Canada and three in West Germany at CFB Baden-Soellingen, the CF-18 was better suited to the modern battlefield with its superior manoeuvrability, good self protection equipment, modern communications, and excellent radar.

In Europe, the CF-18s were optimized for air defence missions and stood ready to counter the substantial Warsaw Pact air forces that had been expanded and upgraded in the 1970s with new MiG and Sukhoi fighter aircraft.

Canada’s CF-18s stood ready to blunt the first waves of Soviet strike aircraft aimed at NATO’s airfields, missile sites, and nuclear weapons facilities. CF-18 pilots also trained for ground strikes in this period, using the unguided rockets and bombs available at that time.