Tripp
You think you hate it now...
Wow. The Navy is being uncommonly generous these days, with giving the aviators their own bird [woohoo!] and also giving old aircraft to the Air Guard and all...
quote:
Just How Much for That Fighter Plane?
For just $40,360,000, give or take a little, you could buy one F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, if you bought a couple hundred at a time. We know, because the Navy just did such a deal, for 222 of the magnificent fighters. They might be loss leaders, though. The Navy wants to be able to fill every seat of the Airbus superjumbo with an F/A-18E/F pilot; and it wants every one of those pilots to be able to jump into his own plane. [The rumored A3XX will have 555 seats, prob'ly. --ed.]
The Navy said in February that the virtually new version of its older brother, the F/A-18C, had passed flight tests with the highest marks ("F/A-18E/F Wins Collier Trophy," 02-14-00, ANN) and that the Super Hornet would be ready to go on deck in 2002.
SECDEF Cohen, in an unprecedented move, convinced Congress to just appropriate the money for a whole bunch of the jets at once, testifying in April that the annual budgeting/contracting process would end up costing $120 million more each year, over the course of the 5-year deal.. These 222 should all be deployed by 2006. The F-14s should be gone by then; and the F-18Cs will also be headed for Guard duty.
quote:
Just How Much for That Fighter Plane?
For just $40,360,000, give or take a little, you could buy one F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, if you bought a couple hundred at a time. We know, because the Navy just did such a deal, for 222 of the magnificent fighters. They might be loss leaders, though. The Navy wants to be able to fill every seat of the Airbus superjumbo with an F/A-18E/F pilot; and it wants every one of those pilots to be able to jump into his own plane. [The rumored A3XX will have 555 seats, prob'ly. --ed.]
The Navy said in February that the virtually new version of its older brother, the F/A-18C, had passed flight tests with the highest marks ("F/A-18E/F Wins Collier Trophy," 02-14-00, ANN) and that the Super Hornet would be ready to go on deck in 2002.
SECDEF Cohen, in an unprecedented move, convinced Congress to just appropriate the money for a whole bunch of the jets at once, testifying in April that the annual budgeting/contracting process would end up costing $120 million more each year, over the course of the 5-year deal.. These 222 should all be deployed by 2006. The F-14s should be gone by then; and the F-18Cs will also be headed for Guard duty.