In just a few months, the first electronic attack versions of Boeing’s F/A-18 fighter jet will make their way to Whidbey Island in Washington State.
The EA-18G will have state-of-the-art jammers and communications gear, as well as an arsenal of missiles and bombs, Boeing and Navy officials said this week at the Navy League conference. The Navy plans to buy about 80 Growlers, at a cost of roughly $8.7 billion, according to the official program plans.
The new jets will replace the aging EA-6B Prowler fleet, which pilots say is much harder to land on a carrier than its brand-new replacement.
This year, the Navy will hold operational evaluation testing, while also delivering planes to Whidbey Island so instructors can get ready to train the first squadron next year. The planes will come online officially in Sept. 2009, the projected date for Initial operational capability and graduation of the first class.
By then, Whidbey Island will have a four-jet training unit and a five-jet first squadron. However, the plane is already able to fulfill its duties if needed, said deputy program manager Capt. Paul Overstreet.
“In all honesty, they’re operational right now,” Overstreet said.
The Growlers take up about as much deck space as a Prowler, but they can carry a lot more fuel.
“For those who fly around the boat, gas is life,” Overstreet said.
Right now, test planes are flying at Navy bases on both coasts, at China Lake and Patuxent River, Md., the Navy’s main testing grounds. The new planes also posted strong results in a November 2007 exercise at Nellis.
Operators want to use the plane more aggressively, for more missions than ever envisioned in the planning stage.
“What we thought we were going to use this thing for is not what the guys who are flying today are saying,” Overstreet said.
– Rebecca Christie
I’ve also heard some rumors that the USAF might by some too as a stop-gap untill an electronic warfare variant of the F-35 becomes operational.
It’s funny to see a jet with so many propellers.
I don’t think we have any money left! Do we?
Sgt JFK, defense spending is 3% of GDP. There’s plenty of money. Getting funding approved is the problems, not the number of dollars we have to spend.
Being bombed around the clock, with entire army groups destroyed and two alliances marching inward on their territory, the Nazis still managed to produce enough heavy tanks and weapons to launch the Ardennes offensive with turned out the bloodiest of the war for the Americans.
Hence, there is ALWAYS room in the budget for more weapons.
“I don’t think we have any money left! Do we?“
Are you an accountant and an economists?
Matt, isn’t it a little higher then 3% of our current GDP with the current war time spending? I thought It was around 5%.
Again another very godd reason to consign F-35 to the scrap heap. The Super Hornet varients are the mainstay of the Navy, with Growler and the Tanker model supporting the Air and Ground mission. Cohesive, nearly identical maintenance and training regimens, SAVES MONEY!
I’m neither an accountant nor an economist, but GDP seems like the wrong measure of costs.
For 2007, 3% of GDP is about $426 billion (3% of $14.2 trillion). But the federal government’s receipts in 2007 were only $2.5 trillion (17% of GDP). So 3% of GDP is actually closer to 17% of the money that the federal government has on hand to spend.
Not that that stops Congress of the President. The 2007 fiscal budget was about $2.7 trillion, meaning we had to borrow $200 billion.
The Super Hornet is not a reason to toss out the F-35. They are not the same and do not have the same roles.
The Super Hornet is a striker first and fighter second — it can carry tons of the latest and greatest ordnance and hold its own in most any situation, but it can’t turn and burn. The F-35 is more of a purebred fighter with a secondary strike role, like the F-16.
Now if you combine F-35s for fighter cover with Super Hornets for penetration strike, you have something going…
Military expenditures (DoD alone) were already at 4% GDP in 2005
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html#Military
and have risen since then.
.
Much of DHS and many other costs like the supplementary bills need to be added to that figure.
.
Considering that the USA has a balance deficit equaling its overall offense/defense costs it’s plain wrong to say that more military is affordable. The military as it is isn’t even affordable for long.
If you want to compare GDPs, consider that the UK was spending upwards of a third of their GDP on military upkeep at the height of their power in the 1800’s in order to maintain a navy as large as the next two closest powers combined. For whatever that’s worth, we spend comparatively little on defense while accounting for 50% of worldwide defense spending. Kinda boggles the mind actually.
Grandjester,
How much money will we be saving when all the F/A-18s are shot down by superior enemy planes, where as the F-35 would be doing the killing in the future? Price and value are not the same.
The combat air crafts just need a small readjustment, you need to change the most delicate but esential element in them.
The amount of different possible maneuvers in each combat mission is infinite, so I
The combat air crafts just need a small readjustment, you need to change the most delicate but esential element in them.
The amount of different possible maneuvers in each combat mission is infinite, so I
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