A modern carrier strike could use F-35s for precision attack, EA-18G Growlers to suppress air defences, and heavily loaded Super Hornets to deliver the larger bomb load. The F-35's internal carriage is valuable but limits the quantity of ordnance available for a heavy strike. A Super Hornet has eleven hardpoints and a nominal external load close to the Intruder's, at 17,750 pounds versus 18,000, but the total alone is misleading. Wingtip and outer-wing stations cannot accept every large store, and recovery limits may force unused ordnance to be discarded before landing. Many smaller attachment points therefore do not reproduce five stations designed around heavy attack loads.
Notable Point · 22:34-24:43
Reassembling the Intruder's attack package with modern aircraft
The F-35, Growler, and Super Hornet can divide the Intruder-era strike problem, but hardpoint placement and internal carriage show why nominal payload totals do not equal identical flexibility.