Swiss fighter jets make highway touchdowns in Alpha Uno drill

The Swiss Air Force recently conducted Alpha Uno exercises involving landing F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets on a highway. In the training footage, a notable element on the jet drew attention: the pilot had affixed a highway vignette to the aircraft.

Armies worldwide regularly train their pilots to handle even the most critical situations. One such scenario may be the necessity to land a fighter jet far from an airbase – on a public road.

It is no different in Switzerland, which completed Alpha Uno operations in early June this year, with a scenario involving attempts to land on a highway (A1 near Payerne). The local armed forces landed F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets on a public road, and aside from this rare sight – one detail stands out in the training footage. Since he was moving on the highway, one of the pilots decided to affix a vignette on the aircraft's windshield, which entitles any vehicle to use such roads in Switzerland.

The mentioned aircraft, which participated in the Swiss exercises to test takeoff and landing capabilities outside an airbase, are American supersonic F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets. Their history dates back to the late 1970s, with the first Hornet flight in 1978. In the same year, serial production of this model began and is still ongoing in the USA.

The propulsion for the F/A-18 Hornet consists of two General Electric F404 engines, which accelerate the structure to Mach 1.8, or over 2200 km/h. The aircraft's maximum altitude is 15,000 metres, while the real range with fully fueled tanks exceeds 3300 km.

The F/A-18's armament varies depending on the specific model (A, B, C, D, E, F). Still, generally, the Hornet's arsenal is quite substantial – primarily the basic six-barrel M61 Vulcan 20mm cannon, AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, AIM-132 ASRAAM, AIM-120 AMRAAM, and various models from the precision-guided munitions AGM family. The Hornet can also carry nuclear weapons on underwing pylons.