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The F/A-18E/F aircraft are now being constructed with a skin of largely composite material. With this new configuration, the Navy required that the aircraft be evaluated for lightning vulnerability. The test was performed at the Navy Patuxent (Pax) River (MD) facility during the spring of 2001. The test was conducted in accordance with MIL-STD-464 using the test configuration shown above. Current was pulsed into the aircraft and returned via a unique coaxial return path. The current waveform was produced with a moderate capacitor bank (1.65 μF) discharged with a crowbar switch used to attain the double exponential waveform. A matrix of circuits were evaluated with both flight critical and mission essential systems considered as highest priority test points. The test was conducted with two current path configurations. The first path was the normal nose-to-tail path and the second was nose-to-wing, which included the wingtip-mounted AIM-9 missile.