Replacing the legacy F18s with new build Super Hornets
But that is exactly what they have been doing for the last few years - and continue to do. That’s above and beyond the upgrade programme above.
http://www.stltoday.com/business/loc...8aeec8a0a.html
....”Dan Gillian was upbeat during a tour of Boeing’s north St. Louis County factory this month.
Maybe it was good news in the budget deal hammered out by Congress that cheered the vice president of Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet attack fighter and electronic warfare Growler. Signed by President Donald Trump that morning, it removed caps on military spending put in place earlier this decade by Congress under the Obama administration. And word on the street was that Trump would request another 24 Super Hornets in his fiscal 2019 budget request, an ask made far likelier to get funded given the higher military spending authorized both this fiscal year and the next in the budget deal.
Last week, the president did indeed request another two dozen fighters for next year,
on top of the 24 congressional budget writers have already included in this year’s budget. Beyond 2019, the U.S. Navy says it wants to buy 86 into 2023.“......