The thing that troubles me is that the F18E/F is now approximately a 20 odd year old design so the avionics etc will be in need of a refresh/update hence all this 'Silent Hornet' stuff which suprise suprise is going to cost additional money. So if you want an equivalent to the avionics packages in the F35 and the data linking and global maintenance network for which the r&d and testing of the software and firmware will be the main cost there will be an indeterminate development period while Boeing go and redevelop the wheel that LM has already expensively designed. Given how long software and firmware take to develop I can't say that I'm suprised that Boeing haven't self funded development and have been trying to flog the concept to a buyer for the past two years.