The first carrier-capable stealth fighter was introduced to the United States Navy in 2019 when the Lockheed Martin F-35C entered service. The Lightning II brought the Navy into the fifth-generation of air warfare, but the venerable Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet continues to serve as the workhorse strike fighter of Naval Aviation. Today, these jets serve on the same flight deck as complementary platforms despite the decades of technological disparity. If the Super Hornet is the workhorse, then the Navy's F-35C is a quarterback on the battlefield. Although the Lightning II is newer, the F/A-18 has evolved into a 4.5-Gen fighter…