Posted on 06/20/2016 6:51:10 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The U.S. could see the cost of new Boeing Co (BA.N) F/A-18E/F Super Hornets rise unless the government approves foreign sales of the jets soon, U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said on Sunday.
Mabus, in Germany for a NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea, told Reuters he was frustrated by delays in approving the sale of the Boeing jets to a close U.S. ally, warning that this could affect the cost of jets the U.S. Navy still wants to buy.
U.S. Navy and other defense officials have said they support the sale of 28 Boeing F/A-18E/F jets to Kuwait for an estimated cost of $3 billion, but this has stalled for nearly a year pending final White House approval.
Mabus said the delays could have an impact on the Navy's budget plans, since the foreign order was needed to augment U.S. Navy purchases and keep the production line running efficiently.
The U.S. Congress is expected to approve funding for as many as 16 Boeing F/A-18 jets as part of the Navy's budget request for fiscal 2017, which begins Oct. 1, but that would give Boeing less than the two jets a month it says needs for economical production. The Kuwaiti order would have filled this gap.
"I'm frustrated. A lot of people are frustrated," Mabus said. "The process is too long, too onerous in terms of getting weapons systems to our friends and to our allies."
Mabus said Boeing could likely continue F/A-18 production for some time without the foreign sales, but dropping below optimal production rates could affect future pricing.
The Navy had requested funding for two F/A-18 jets in its fiscal 2017 budget request and 14 more as part of its "unfunded priorities list".
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Of what use are F/A-18s to countries without aircraft carriers where payload and agility are sacrificed for the stronger airframe and landing gear necessary for carrier operations?
Odd.
It’s not as if Kuwait were going to use them against Israel or something like that. Unlike all the arms we are providing the terrorists in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria under various false names and false organizations.
Or maybe BECAUSE Kuwait said it would not use them against Israel!
0bama regime solution:
"Let's 'sell' some to the Iranians to use for suicide flights and bombings and we can get some of OUR $150 BILLION we gave them, back."
Seven countries operate the Hornet other than the U.S. and none of them have carriers. The F-18 is a good, solid, well performing fighter bomber available for a reasonable price. That's why countries like Canada and Spain and Finland and Australia and others have adopted it.
Australia has made good use of both the A/B models as well as the F/G models.
Some of us still remember when it was the McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18. . .
Resistance is Futile. You will be enBoeicated. . . (grin)
How about when it was the Northop YF-17? My step-mother worked on that project.
No, the YF-17 was a different jet. It looks more like a twin-tail F-16 than the F/A-18. . .
Incorrect. The YF-17 was in competition with the YF-16 for the new Light Weight Fighter (LWF). The YF-16 was chosen by the USAF and became the F-16. The YF-17 was chosen by the USN and became the F/A-18 and was bought out by McDonnel-Douglas, followed by Boeing.
Short answer is they are not the same aircraft. They have lighter undercarriages, different fuel load, different wing hard points, different radar, different avionics and software, and other changes. When I was training pilots during the first gulf war and Kuwait made its first Hornet purchase our pilots were pissed because the Kuwait planes were lighter and more agile, but not as capable in all categories accept A/A maneuvering. Than again a Navy or Marine Hornet with a light fuel load is just as capable in the end.
Eff ‘em. Hire the guys who are sending up this new set of self-landing rockets. We’d have jets at 1/10th the cost and operating far better.
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