The first Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) F/A-18F Super Hornet takes off from Lambert International Airport in St. Louis July 20 to begin its initial flight. Boeing [NYSE: BA] unveiled the aircraft July 8 at the company's Integrated Defense Systems facility in St. Louis.

Boeing will complete delivery of the first of 24 F/A-18Fs to the RAAF later this month, three months ahead of schedule. The remaining 23 Super Hornets, each equipped with the Raytheon-built APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, will be delivered to the RAAF throughout 2010 and 2011