Debate over fighter jets intensifies

A debate over how large the Navy’s tactical aircraft fleet should be is heating up in Washington this year, with lawmakers concerned that the Pentagon is not planning for enough fighter jets.

Navy officials have told lawmakers that they anticipate a shortfall of more than 200 jets over the next decade, based on the age of their current fleet and the projections for purchasing new aircraft.

This comes at a time when Boeing, one of the nation’s two producers of fighter jets, is in danger of getting out of the business because it hasn’t yet been offered a multiyear contract for its F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet fighter jet.

{mosads}Some defense industry executives now worry that the aircraft industry and its suppliers find themselves under extreme duress in the aftermath of Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s budget announcement for fiscal 2010, which they fear could leave Lockheed Martin as the sole domestic fighter jet producer.

Beyond lawmakers’ parochial interests and Boeing’s bottom line is a debate about strategy and resources that could eventually allow Boeing to hang onto the fighter business for a while longer.

Congressional aides anticipate a fierce debate in coming weeks over the troubling shortfall — which in Boeing’s terms translates into more money for its supersonic Super Hornet planes.

The debate over the Super Hornets could lead to tension between Congress and the Pentagon and leave the Navy in the awkward position of trying to support a tighter defense budget while worrying about a diminished fleet needed for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Navy officials did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Ever since Boeing lost out to Lockheed Martin for the Joint Strike Fighter contract, the Chicago-based corporation has been fighting to keep its production line open for the Super Hornet fighter jets.

Boeing plays a major role in the production of the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor jets, but Gates is planning to cancel the production of the aircraft after the 187th comes off the production line in a couple years.

The cost of purchasing additional tactical aircraft during a recession will be weighed against the growing concern that with each passing year the Navy and Marine Corps are less prepared in the air.

The Navy has been briefing congressional staff that the shortfall could grow to 243 airplanes over the next decade for both military branches, according to congressional aides who have been briefed on the issue. The Navy’s shortfall alone could be 129 aircraft, the congressional aide said.

The Navy bases its fighter needs on three assumptions: that older versions of the F-18 (the A through D models) will fly for 10,000 hours (from an initially projected 6,000 hours) and won’t need to be replaced with the Super Hornet, the most advanced version; that the Navy’s variant of the new Lockheed Martin-built Joint Strike Fighter will be ready over the next decade; and that the Navy will be able to buy 50 JSFs a year.

{mosads}However, the Navy has uncovered problems with plans to extend the life of its older F-18s. The Navy last summer found that keeping the A- through D-model Hornets flying longer will require additional inspections and modifications, as well as a longer time out of service — a factor that also contributes to the jet shortfall.

The Super Hornet is expected to share carrier decks with the JSF until 2030.

It’s not clear whether Gates plans to speed up the Navy’s carrier version of the JSF, or F-35, which has received the lowest priority compared to the models designed for the Air Force and Marine Corps. The Navy’s version is scheduled to be ready to fly in 2015. Meanwhile, the Marine Corps is optimistic that it will start receiving its version of the F-35 in 2012, said the congressional aide.

For fiscal 2010, Gates announced that the Pentagon is planning to buy 31 F-18s, without offering details. That number, however, is nine fewer than what the Navy initially planned to buy in 2010. Out of the 31 aircraft, only nine are Super Hornets; the rest are the EA-18 G Growlers, which have the same airframe as the Super Hornets but are outfitted for electronic warfare, according to a source familiar with the make-up of the request.

The Navy’s complete plans will not be known until the complete Pentagon budget is sent to Congress in early May.

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, is concerned about the shortfall and considering funding more Super Hornets in the upcoming emergency war-spending bill. Murtha’s panel is holding a closed hearing on the supplemental request on Wednesday.

Boeing has been fighting for several years to get another multiyear contract for the Super Hornets it builds in St. Louis. Boeing will reach the end of a five-year contract with the Navy for Super Hornets this year. The company is also slated to deliver another 89 aircraft to the Navy beyond the multiyear agreement. Those remaining airplanes will be delivered by 2012, when the domestic requirement for the Super Hornets would end.

To reach another multiyear contract for 149 aircraft, the Navy would budget for an additional 60 fighter jets above the 89 that Boeing already is under contract to build. Combining those numbers would create a quantity large enough to require a multiyear contract.

Boeing argues the Navy would save 10 percent by buying the aircraft under a multiyear contract versus buying the planes on an annual basis. Under the current five-year contract, Boeing is projecting to save the Navy about $1 billion.