I've never been a Hornet fan Ken, but that's simply personal preference, I'll not discount the fact though, that the F/A-18 is good at what it does, I'll never deny it credit that's due. And while it's a moot point to compare the XL to the F/A-18E/F..the XL'll never be produced unless the JSF falls flat on it's V/Stol nozzle. But It's definitely interesting to compare the two..the Hornet's instaturn versus the F-16's sustained turn. My cousin and I have this debate all the time, I own Jane's USAF upgraded to be a bit more realistic..if only people could watch how those battles turn out. I'd like to say one thing though..and while unfortunately all of my F-16 experiance comes from various Simulators... (Falcon 4.0 being my favorite and the most realistic)...replacing the F-14 with the Super Hornet wasn't a very wise decision, the '14 is faster, and it carries that 100+nm weapon, the grand ole AIM-54 Phoenix. Should we ever get into an air battle with our carriers, it'd not take much to send in a couple squads of the newest Flankers and MiGs, and put any Carrier group in serious jeopardy, this situation could easily be resolved with the '14 and the AIM-54, as far as I know, the Super Hornet is lacking any pylons to lug that monster mach five missile around.