General Electric F404

Derived from GE's YJ101 demonstrator, the F404 became the original F/A-18 Hornet's engine and, in its non-afterburning and export variants, went on to power a wide spread of light fighters and trainers including South Korea's FA-50/T-50 and India's Tejas Mk1A.

In service since 1978

Compiled from public sources ·primary reference ↗ ·last verified 2026-08-10

kN thrust

989

8.12

T/W

Procurement snapshot

Availability & export

US ITAR-controlled

Export needs U.S. State Dept (DDTC) approval; end-use & re-transfer restrictions apply.

Channel: Foreign Military Sales (FMS) or Direct Commercial Sale

Fielded & proven

Operator data not public

In service since 1978. Status: active.

Lifecycle cost (est.)

No public unit price to model from. Why so few systems publish one →

Interoperability

No standardised NATO calibre / datalink detected in public specs.

Derived guidance from public data, export regime by country of origin, lifecycle from the GAO ~30% acquisition rule. Verify eligibility, pricing and offsets with the manufacturer and your acquisition authority.

Overview

Figures above are for the F404-GE-402 afterburning variant used in the F/A-18C/D Hornet. The non-afterburning F404-GE-102 rates lower and powers South Korea's FA-50/T-50 Golden Eagle family. GE scaled the F404's core up into the higher-thrust F414 for the Super Hornet generation, and the two engine families are still marketed and sustained together.

Powers these platforms

Systems in the WeaponSpecs database that list the General Electric F404 as their engine.

Full specifications

Performance

Speed, range, altitude and engagement capability.

Performance specifications
Thrust-to-weight Engine thrust divided by loaded weight. Above 1.0 the aircraft can accelerate going straight up. On a standalone engine record, this is the engine's own thrust divided by its dry weight, the standard figure of merit for jet engines.	8.12 Stronger than 50% of engines

Physical

Dimensions, weight and crew.

Physical specifications
Length Overall length including gun/probe where applicable.	3.91 m
Width Overall width, matters for rail/road transport of vehicles.	0.89 m
Empty weight Weight without fuel, ammunition or crew.	989 kg

Propulsion

Engine, power and fuel.

Propulsion specifications
Thrust Total engine thrust (with afterburner where applicable).	79 kN Stronger than 15% of engines
Propulsion type Turbofan, turboshaft, diesel, gas turbine, solid-fuel rocket, ramjet…	Afterburning turbofan
Bypass ratio Ratio of air bypassing the engine core to air passing through it. Low ratios suit combat engines built for thrust and speed; high ratios suit transport engines built for fuel efficiency, so neither direction is simply better.	0.34

Specifications compiled from public GE Aerospace and reference sources ↗. Published defense figures are approximations, treat comparisons as directional. Last verified 2026-08-10.

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