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ST. LOUIS, March 08, 2009 -- The outer skin of the first Boeing [NYSE: BA] F/A-18F Super Hornet for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is fitted to its forward fuselage on a pulse assembly line in St. Louis. The aircraft is approximately three months ahead of schedule and set for an early delivery date in July.

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a multirole aircraft equipped with the APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, is able to perform virtually every mission in the tactical spectrum. The RAAF has 24 Super Hornets on order.

Each of the more than 380 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets Boeing has delivered to the U.S. Navy has been delivered on or ahead of the original delivery timeline.