How good is this L.M F-18

I see amongst all our messes currently ongoing in the UK at the moment, we've just put in a huge trillion Dollar order for a whole bunch of F-18's (various models)from the U.S. company Lockhead-Martin

Given that these things were the first to be designed/built/AND programmed and tested by Lockhead-Martin directly, and there are already questions being asked as to the wisdom of that decision in the U.S.(orinarily they like a separate company to do the programming)
How good are they ?

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1GHOST · M

On the first day of the Persian Gulf War, four F/A-18Cs took off from the USS Saratoga to bomb an airfield in southwestern Iraq. These F/A-18s were heavy. Each carried four MK 84 2000-lb. bombs, two AIM-7 Sparrows, two AIM-9L Sidewinders, and a centerline drop tank. As the Hornets from VFA-81 (the "Sunliners") made their approach, an E-2 Hawkeye airborne control aircraft passed word to the pilots: Two Iraqi MiG-21s were on the hunt.

The MiGs turned to intercept the Hornets, closing at 1.2 Mach. While two of the Hornets stood off, Navy Lieutenant Commander Mark I. Fox and his wingman, Lieutenant Nick Mongilio, turned into the enemy. Fox locked onto one plane, firing both a Sparrow and a Sidewinder, while Mongilio launched a single Sidewinder at the other. In a heartbeat, both Iraqi planes were destroyed. A mere 40 seconds passed from the initial E-2 warning to downing the Iraqi jets.

* note * this is while fully loaded .

Scubaguy027 · 46-50, M

@1GHOST i do believe Skipper Mongillo is now an Admiral. He was my CO in 2006 and he transferred shortly after deployment