Originally Posted by
Maus92
One of the interesting things that the Navy did this week was to place 14 additional Super Hornets on its unfunded priorities list, along with two F-35Cs. The F-35C is supposed to replace legacy Hornets (they are wearing out faster than anticipated causing a Strike Fighter shortage,) yet the Navy is choosing to purchase Super Hornets over F-35C. It seems like the perfect justification to order additional F-35s when the DoD/OSD is desperate to pump up the F-35 order book. Certainly the Navy (and others) are concerned about losing industrial base, but the department is on record claiming that this does not drive its acquisition strategy. Perhaps it is the cost differential between the F-35C and the Super Hornet: ~135M (+ concurrency costs) vs. ~85M. Or maybe the F-35C just isn't ready for service - it will not be able to employ the breadth of weaponry that the Super Hornet can until later blocks due in the 2020s - which is my personal opinion, and supported by statements by from naval aviation leadership. How many forward sensor nodes do you need?
Well did the "Navy" really ask for more Super Hornets- or did congress? The unfunded priorites list likely involves lots of politics, and sure it might be the services list, but congressional staffer likely wrote it up. I wonder who could be involved? (sarcasm on)...wait for it.... ahh here it is.... the district that represents St. Louis- they just so happen to build Super Hornets there....and wait for it.....a congressman from Illinois. Now what company might have a big footprint in Chicago??? From here:
Lawmakers: Give US Navy More F/A-18s
"...Citing overtaxed naval aviation assets, Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Mo., and Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., asked the House Armed Services Committee to consider adding the aircraft through the 2017 defense policy bill expected to be drafted over the coming weeks. The chief of naval operations, Wagner said, will place the 12 aircraft on the service's unfunded requirement list.
“There is still a potential gap this year,” said Wagner, whose district is near where Boeing assembles the aircraft in St. Louis.
“Given the critical capability that the Super Hornet provides for ongoing wartime operations, any shortfall is dangerous to the Navy’s ability to project force throughout the world,” Wagner said. “This unfunded requirement request helps mitigate that shortfall, anticipating the Navy will follow through on its promise to add aircraft in the next year’s budget deliberations.”
Bost, whose district borders St. Louis, called the procurement of added Super Hornets, “critical to meeting the anticipated needs of the United States Navy and to keeping the production lines open as the United States prepares anticipated aircraft sales to allied nations.”
So perhaps this is not really about the F-35- it is about the pork going to congressional districts- and this is part of why the US has a huge spending problem. The "Navy" is being told what they want and get.
