June 9, 2009 -- The Navy's strike fighter shortfall is now expected to peak in 2015 -- two years earlier than originally predicted -- due to a doubling of man-hours required to extend the lives of legacy F/A-18A-D Hornets, Rear Adm. Allen Myers, director of naval warfare integration, told the Senate Armed Services airland subcommittee today.
“What we found is there are an additional 60 hot spots on those 38 aircraft” that have undergone inspections to extend the lives of the aircraft to 8,600 hours, Myers said.
“It's increased the time to get to that depot from 11,000 man-hours to about 24,000 [man-hours], so we're already starting to see that it's going to be a lot of work to get these aircraft at least to 8,600 hours,” the admiral said. Getting beyond that to the goal of 10,000 hours will be even more difficult.
If the Navy is successful in reaching 10,000 hours with half its aircraft, the service would see the shortfall peak at 70 Navy aircraft in 2015, with the shortfall starting to manifest itself in 2013, Myers said.
“What we're discovering by looking at these aircraft is the high flight-hour inspections are not passing as quickly, so we're going to have a shortfall a little bit earlier,” he added.
Senators spent much of the hearing discussing the strike fighter shortfall, which may now reach as high as 243 Navy and Marine Corps aircraft in the latter half of the next decade. Navy leadership has repeatedly faced questions as to why they opted to cut F/A-18E/F Super Hornet buys from 18 to nine in the fiscal year 2010 president's budget request. The Navy says it is buying enough aircraft to keep the production line open, and will make a more informed decision on the issue following the Quadrennial Defense Review due later this year. -- Dan Taylor
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