Organic Block III Upgrade

The Navy has completed its first F/A-18 Super Hornet Block III upgrade entirely inside a military depot, without handing any part of the modification to outside industry. (navair.navy.mil) Fleet Readiness Center Southwest in San Diego announced the milestone on April 21, 2026, saying its artisans and engineers carried out the full upgrade in-house on a Super Hornet. The depot sits at Naval Air Station North Island and handles overhaul, repair and modification work for Navy and Marine Corps aircraft. (navair.navy.mil 1) (navair.navy.mil 2) Block III is the latest major Super Hornet configuration. NAVAIR says it extends service life and range and adds an advanced cockpit system, reduced radar cross section and upgraded networking infrastructure. (navair.navy.mil) (boeing.com) In plain terms, the work turns older Block II jets into newer-standard aircraft instead of waiting for brand-new replacements. Boeing says the Service Life Modification line returns those aircraft with Block III capability and additional flight hours. (boeing.com) (navair.navy.mil) The shift started last year. Naval Aviation News reported on Sept. 25, 2025, that Fleet Readiness Center Southwest had begun Super Hornet modernization work under a new approach tied to the 2025 National Defense Strategy. (navalaviationnews.navy.mil) That matters because the Super Hornet remains the backbone of the carrier air wing, and the Navy is trying to keep those jets available while extending their useful life. NAVAIR says Block II aircraft have been in service since 2001, and the final Block II production aircraft was delivered in April 2020. (navair.navy.mil) (boeing.com) The Navy has also been building a bigger sustainment base around the aircraft. In 2024, it awarded Boeing a $1.3 billion contract for 17 new Super Hornets and a technical data package that NAVAIR said was vital to sustaining the platform. (navair.navy.mil) For maintainers, “organic” means government workers at a Navy depot can do the job themselves rather than sending aircraft to a contractor for every major upgrade step. That gives the service more direct control over scheduling, parts integration and workforce know-how on one of its busiest fighter fleets. (navair.navy.mil 1) (navair.navy.mil 2) The first all-organic upgrade does not change what the Super Hornet is asked to do at sea. It changes who can keep it current on shore — and the Navy now says that work can be done inside its own hangars. (navair.navy.mil)