Geez.. this plane was concieved when I was and probably be around when I'm gone.
Posted on 05/14/2010 10:23:47 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Pentagon on Tuesday told Congress it expects to save $590 million through 2013 by signing a $5.3 billion multi-year procurement agreement with Boeing Co for 124 of its F/A-18 fighters.
"The Navy is in receipt of a viable offer from the F/A-18 prime contractor and is actively pursuing award of the (multi-year procurement) to achieve substantial savings," Ashton Carter, the Defense Department's chief weapons buyers, told lawmakers in a letter dated Friday.
The Navy's decision to proceed with the multi-year deal, first reported by Reuters last Thursday, will save 10 percent compared to the cost of signing four separate single-year contracts, Carter wrote in the letter, which also was signed by Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.
Boeing and its backers in Congress have been pushing for a third multi-year contract for the F/A-18 fighter because it gives the company a more stable funding source and shores up jobs in local economies.
Boeing welcomed the decision and said it would work closely with the Navy to finalize the new four-year contract. It said it expected to sign the four-year fixed-price contract with the Navy by September 30, the end of the current fiscal 2010 year.
In their letter, the Pentagon officials said they were asking lawmakers to extend the current May 1 deadline for wrapping up the negotiations through the end of September.
The proposed multi-year deal covers the purchase of 66 F/A-18E/F twin-engine fighters and 58 EA-18G electronic attack aircraft, based on the same airframe, that the Pentagon already plans to buy over the next four years. It does not include the cost of the electronic attack kit.
The contract would complete the Navy's plans to buy a total of 515 F/A-18E/F fighters, also known as "Super Hornets," and 114 EA-18G electronic attack planes, or "Growlers."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Geez.. this plane was concieved when I was and probably be around when I'm gone.
Who cares, The Usurper deals in B;’s and T’s, not M’s!
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So is the F35 a failure? Why all the F18s? I thought this plane was going to be phased out. What gives?
This is just a “stop gap” measure until the F-35 goes online.
590/154 = 3 million per plane.
Total cost 5300/154 = 34 million per plane.
So, about a 10% savings.
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No, these F/A-18E/F/Gs are not stop gaps until the F-35 comes online. These are the last of the long planned Super Hornet purchases by the Navy.
The F-35 will replace the remaining F/A-18A/B/C/Ds that are in the Navy/Marine Corps inventory. It was never meant to replace the Super Hornets.
Because of the age of the older Hornets, and the delays getting the F-35 delivered, there has been talk of a Navy "fighter gap" that they wanted to fill with additional Super Hornets, but that has not been funded yet.
Here is the Navy Times article about this same multiyear deal, and they discuss the still-unfunded fighter gap, and Gates' questioning if it even exists. (No posting allowed from Navy Times, hence link only.)
The B-52 was conceived well before either of us, and you could say the same thing about it.
Very true! We definitely got a good return on investment with that design.
Thanks for the info
And the clearfication
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