U.S. Navy official eyes more Boeing F/A-18 fighter jet orders

Reuters By Andrea Shalal. November 3, 2015 8:33 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Tuesday underscored its desire to buy more Boeing Co F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in coming years to deal with higher-than-expected operational demands and past delays in the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet program.

Rear Admiral Michael Manazir, director of air warfare for the U.S. chief of naval operations, told lawmakers that the Navy was working to speed up maintenance of older-model F/A-18s, but would also need to buy more new F/A-18E/F jets to avert a shortfall in strike fighters for its aircraft carriers.

Manazir, testifying before the readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, echoed a call earlier this year by former Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert, who said the Navy would need two to three more squadrons of Super Hornets, or 24 to 36 more aircraft, to meet its needs.

U.S. lawmakers are poised to approve the purchase of 12 F/A-18E/Fs in fiscal 2016, which began Oct. 1.

Manazir said problems could be avoided if the Navy bought more Super Hornets in both fiscal 2017 and 2018, and was able to start using an initial squadron of F-35 fighter jets as now planned in August 2018.

F-35 delays forced the Navy several years ago to extend the service life of its older F/A-18C Hornets from 6,000 hours to 10,000 hours, a project that turned out to be more intensive and take much longer than expected.

Manazir's comments spell good news for Boeing, which needs more F/A-18E/F orders to extend its St. Louis production line beyond the end of 2017, when it is currently slated to end.

Manazir said it would not make sense for the Navy to accelerate its purchases of F-35 C-model jets instead since work had not been completed on the required Block 3F software needed for the jets to carry all the weapons required by the Navy.

Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley reassured lawmakers that the F-35C aircraft the Navy is buying in fiscal 2016 would be delivered in 2018 with the needed software package.

Boeing spokesman Todd Blecher said it was premature to comment on Manazir's comments since the Pentagon is still finalizing its fiscal 2017 budget plans.

If Congress finalizes the order of 12 jets in fiscal 2016, the Boeing F/A-18 production line will extend through mid-2018, while an expected order of 28 more jets from Kuwait could push production out until 2019 or beyond.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler)

http://news.yahoo.com/u-navy-officia...--finance.html

USN to continue buying Boeing Super Hornets as F-35Cs arrive

05 November, 2015 BY: James Drew Washington DC

The US Navy officials have reaffirmed plans to procure an additional 24 to 36 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets through fiscal year 2018 while also boosting F/A-18C life-extension rates, primarily due to delays in fielding the carrier-based Lockheed Martin F-35C.

Boeing has been trying desperately to shore up Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler production in St Louis, Missouri, but the company’s difficulty in securing international sales has raised doubts.

However, comments by navy officials at a congressional hearing this week suggest more F/A-18 orders in fiscal 2017 and 2018. That’s in addition to the dozen aircraft that are likely to be funded in the current fiscal 2016 budget.

“We have a strike fighter inventory management challenge,” says navy air warfare director Rear Adm Michael Manazir. “If you look at the demands in the strike fighters into 2030, we have a shortfall. The shortfall in the early part of the 2020s is about 138 airplanes.”

The navy expects to overcome that shortfall by life-extending the F/A-18C from 6,000h to 10,000h and through the procurement of “two to three squadrons” of Super Hornets.

The service has had difficulty life-extending those aircraft because of depot throughput limitations and an unanticipated amount of internal corrosion. Unlike shore-based aircraft, naval airframes must withstand corrosive seawater and the stress of arrested landings, making the life-extension process much more uncertain.

The navy overhauled approximately 30 legacy jets last year, according to Manazir, and throughput rates have increased by 40% this year. In 2017, the navy hopes to life-extend 104 F/A-18Cs.

All this activity relates to the delayed introduction of the F-35, which has been in development since 2001. The navy has pushed out its F-35C procurement profile, contending that aircraft without the Block 3F software load don’t meet the needs of the carrier air wings.

Block 3F includes the full complement of F-35 capabilities and weapons at the end of system development and demonstration (SDD), and is the configuration the navy intends to declare initial operational capability with in August 2018.

The navy eventually aim to field one F-35C squadron per carrier air wing initially, with those squadrons operating alongside Super Hornets and Growlers.

“F-18Es and Fs are the majority of our force going to 2035,” says Manazir. “We might even fly those airplanes close to 2040.”

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...-f-35c-418626/