Aviation Week is reporting the following:
“Boeing is offering the Navy what one Pentagon source calls a ‘tempting’ deal for an all-time-low flyaway price of $49.9 million for new F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. The cost is guaranteed for a third multi-year buy of 170 aircraft, but this is nearly double the Navy’s stated commitment for 92 more. Still, the deal ‘is going to be pretty tough for the Navy to turn down,’ says a Pentagon official.
“The proposal comes as Defense Dept. leaders worry that the cost of Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter will continue to grow. The Navy has told Congress it has a shortfall of 50 fighters, due in part to two factors–an accelerated burn rate of fighter hours combined with decreased projections of the design life of existing aircraft. Boeing could begin delivering the first aircraft from this deal two years after the award date. The offer would carry the production line to 2013; current work ends in 2009.”
Damn, what a steal. How is Boeing going to make ends meet? (I’ll bet they’re scrimping on food at the Paris Air Show chalets.) Although I swore I’d never be caught dead in a Hornet (wouldn’t fly an airplane that didn’t have a front seat), at that price I might just have to get a couple for me and the missus.
(Gouge: NC)
– Ward
a: All the tooling and NRE is already paid for, so the low additional flyaway cost makes sense.
b: Boeing will probably make considerable money servicing the planes, even if they made $0 on building them.
c: Don’t you mean “back seat”? And I think alot of the super-hornets the Navy is buying are 2-seaters.
It was a joke referring to the single seat model, Nicholas. Stick with me, boy.
Ward?.……Foghorn Leghorn?
AW’RIGHT!!!!!!
Yeah, but how many cup-holders (and can they handle a Big Gulp)? These are the important questions…
Seriously, this is a great hedge bet for the Navy, keeps the line open for Boeing and might light a fire under Lockheed Martin’s ass.
Hmm let’s see. The unit cost of an F-14A/B in 2006 dollars is $46.4 million. The unit cost of a F-14D in 2006 dollars is $126.6 million. You could buy two and a half Super Hornets for the price of a new Tomcat. Is the Super Hornet THAT bad?
F18 Super Hornet is one of the best fighters in the world today.. Also as Johnathan stated, that is a very good price when compared to previously purchased fighters in todays dollars.
One thing I do wonder about is if they buy more Hornets, then obviously they will cut back on JSF, thus increasing the price. This will not make the Airforce and Marines to happy. The Marines are defently relying on the JSF due to them thinking ahead to save money by not buying the super hornet and sticking with the more primative models.
Boeing’s been pushing for this for some time. JANES reported on a more stealthy Block 3 Super Hornet a while ago; AVIATION WEEK’s Ares blog reported something similar yesterday. Apparently, a Boeing spokesman says that computing advances allow the modeling of radar scattering of external stores, which might make it possible to cut the Super Hornet’s RCS by making ordnance, etc. more stealthy. You would basically hang RAM on the pylons, etc.
FWIW, I saw a similar statement about computer modeling and stores attributed to an EADS spokesman. Maybe it’s for real; or maybe, it’s just another way of flacking legacy airframes.
Win win for Boeing and the US economy. Boeing, should they sell the super hornets at the low cost, just covered their cost of overhead, thus making it possible for them to bring down the cost of other aircraft … beating aerobus with a smart flanking move… love it. GO USA!
Plan is for the Airforce to get some F-22’s while the JSF goes to the Navy, USMC, and Airforce to replace some of the F-18’s, and All of the USMC F-18’s and Harriers. I believe the JSF will also replace most of the Airforces F16’s and some F15.
The F-22’s in the Airforce will be few, but like the Spartans were to the Greaks.
Max,
The 22 isn’t suited for Naval ops, but the initial squadrons are being deployed in the Pacific (first one’s in Okinawa or back in Hawaii now) probably to keep the NORKs and CHICOMS honest while we are, um, occupied elsewhere.
Boeing is laughing their asses to the bank and most likely couldn’t be happier that the lost the JSF competition to Lockheed Martin.
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